Invitations to the top shows of the four major international fashion weeks are usually not sold to the public, and of course, some important front-row positions are occasionally auctioned off in the name of charity, and it is unknown whether the money is actually used for charity. The reason why invitations are not sold publicly is, on the one hand, that the number of guests invited to these top shows is limited, at most one or two hundred, and as few as a few dozen. On the other hand, it is also to maintain a high-end style, and I don't want anyone to mix in.

However, this Victoria's Secret show is completely different, the Lexington Avenue Arsenal, which was originally able to accommodate 5,000 people, has been renovated by the Victoria's Secret project team, and the number of guest seats in the venue has still reached 1,000. The project team held several seminars on how to distribute the 1,000 invitations, and the special guests who had been identified for the show included celebrities, media professionals, critics, business partners, etc., together were less than 200 people, and finally more than 800 invitations were vacant.

Although Victoria's Secret is only a mid-range brand, after several months of hype, with the current popularity of the Victoria's Secret show, even if it adopts the strategy of selling invitations at a high price of $10,000 in the previous life, it will definitely be sold out, and there is no shortage of high-end consumers in this world. But in that case, even in the name of charity according to the 'convention' of the industry, it will definitely be ridiculed by the media for wanting to go crazy for money.

The project team finally decided to accept open applications on the Yahoo website, and selected suitable guests to issue invitations.

However, the premise is that the guests who receive the invitation letter donate at least $1,000 to the charity designated by the Victoria's Secret brand, and the Victoria's Secret project team does not directly handle the donations, so as to avoid the criticism of the circle of money, in Western society, except for a small number of outliers. Most businesses or celebrities are very careful and must take care to maintain their public image, which is why countless charities have appeared. Although the Victoria's Secret project team only set a minimum donation amount of $1,000 and will not disclose the donation amount of any guests, it also adds an additional article that the 100 guests with the highest donation amount will be directly invited to the Victoria's Secret show Afterparty.

From the end of September to the end of October, the project team was stationed in New York for more than a month, under the skillful media operation of the marketing team organized by Eric. The continuous news events surrounding the Victoria's Secret show pushed the topic of this fashion show to the peak step by step.

Throughout October, with the strong advertising effect brought by the Victoria's Secret show, the sales of hundreds of Victoria's Secret stores in North America soared by 100%.

Last year, the sales revenue of the entire LTD group was only about 1.5 billion US dollars, of which the sales of the Victoria's Secret brand were about 1 billion US dollars. But this year, from the first half of the year gradually by the Victoria's Secret show advertising effect driven by the steady increase in sales, the Victoria's Secret brand sales in the first three quarters have exceeded 1 billion US dollars, compared with the same period last year, an increase of more than 30%, is expected in the last quarter of the Victoria's Secret show to hold this more powerful marketing offensive, LTD Group's single Victoria's Secret brand annual sales will exceed last year's revenue of 1.5 billion.

Meantime. As 1995 approached, in preparation for the IPO, Yahoo began to disclose the company's various operating data to the outside world.

Although the entire Internet industry has begun to emerge, and with the exception of Yahoo Portal. Similar websites have begun to follow suit in the industry, but Yahoo is the only one with tens of millions of users. Morgan Stanley, which took the initiative to contact Eric to try to represent Yahoo in its IPO, boldly publicly offered a valuation of $5 billion, which was more than five times the price offered by Bill when he tried to buy Yahoo in the first half of the year.

Looking back at New York, since mid-October, the rehearsal of the Victoria's Secret show has suddenly become tense, facing the first such large-scale fashion show. Although the preparation is very thorough, all kinds of small problems still come during the rehearsal, and in the face of this situation, it is estimated that no one will have a good temper, although Eric tries his best to endure it. But on average, they have to lose their temper several times a day, and the Victoria's Secret angels have gradually formed a very uniform name for Eric in private, tyrant. An angel even inadvertently shouted out in front of Eric, who finally twitched the corners of his mouth in the face of the girl who realized that she had made her face pale with fright.

On October 31, the traditional Halloween in the West, the Victoria's Secret annual show held its last rehearsal in the Lightsington Avenue Arsenal, with 40 Victoria's Secret angels, live performance guests and 120 behind-the-scenes co-ordinators, photography and makeup teams all assembled, and there were a small number of guests in the audience.

As the British guard of honor in red dresses beat the first drum, the entire arsenal moved in front of and behind the scenes, and all the scenes such as the busy backstage, nervous models, and gorgeous stages were displayed on the eight surveillance screens in the central control room.

The final Victoria's Secret show will be cut into a standard 43-minute playback format, but in reality, the full six performances and the change of scenery in between will take more than an hour, and when all the processes are finally completed, Eric is finally relieved.

Picking up the walkie-talkie, informing the executive director to let everyone gather next to the stands, Eric wiped his forehead and shouted finely, went into the bathroom and washed his face, and then walked towards the front desk.

At this time, the stage of the Victoria's Secret show has undergone earth-shaking changes from when it first arrived, the entrance and exit is a huge hard rear projection screen, the tall arches are dotted with various eye-catching lighting, the catwalk is sprinkled with dazzling silver sequins, like a gorgeous carpet covered with diamonds, and the precisely arranged lighting will "cut" the catwalk and the grandstand clearly.

Eric stepped out of the arch backstage, looked around, and thought about it for a moment. I didn't remember what needed to be improved during the rehearsal just now, so I looked at the staff gathered in the stands.

The Victoria's Secret angels, who were surrounded by hundreds of people in the center and wore pink silk nightgowns, all had a little apprehension in their expressions, as if many of them were recalling whether something had happened to them just now.

Eric wanted to jump off the catwalk, but after stretching out his foot, he simply sat down on the catwalk and looked at the more than 100 people in front of him who were quietly waiting for him to speak. He smiled slightly and said, "Today is Halloween, have you ever thought about what to dress up in at night?"

Many people looked at Eric's somewhat abrupt reaction, and some chuckled 'cooperatively'.

Eric pointed to Diane Kruger in front of him, "Diane, do you have any plans?"

"Ah, I'm ......" Diane Kruger didn't expect Eric to suddenly click on him, and he was a little flustered, and said, "I, I'll go back to sleep." ”

"Haha......"

There was a burst of chuckles in the room.

Eric smiled as well. Nodding his head, "This is also a choice, after a busy few months, everyone must be very tired, and I have to face a 'tyrant' who will go crazy at any time, if it were me, I would also choose to sleep well after everything is over." ”

With another chuckle, Eric continued, "Still. I'm sure you've all felt the changes that have happened to you lately, Diane. What endorsement invitations have you received lately?"

Diane Kruger is a little embarrassed that Eric always asks herself to speak, of course she knows that she is not favored by the project team when Victoria's Secret Angel is selected, it was Eric who personally selected her and asked her to be one of the five spokespersons of your Victoria's Secret. Originally, she thought that Eric had something special in mind about her, and she was expecting Eric to offer to date her, but a few months passed. None of the expected things happened, but Eric's somewhat peculiar attitude towards her didn't change much. Although the forty Victoria's Secret angels are like sisters on the surface, she knows very well that almost everyone in private is jealous of Eric's special care for her, and there are even some scandals between her and Eric.

I thought so in a mess. Diane Kruger didn't dare to ignore Eric's question, however, there are so many endorsement invitations she has received recently, even she doesn't know very well, most of them are handled by agents, and after thinking about it, she replied cautiously: "It seems that there are Chanel, Armani, Dior, ......"

Diane Kruger paused as she spoke, even feeling the jealous gaze on her body. Everyone in the room knew each other well, and Diane Krueger was undoubtedly the lucky one to make it to the top. Before joining the Victoria's Secret show, not to mention Chanel, Armani and other top international brands, Diane Kruger didn't even have an endorsement for an ordinary first-line brand, more often than not, he just shot TV or print advertisements and participated in some catwalks like many ordinary models.

Seeing Diane Kruger stop suddenly, Eric didn't ask, and looked at everyone: "I think everyone has received some brand cooperation invitations more or less now." Perhaps, once in a while, you may feel that it is not enough to share the impact of this big show from among 40 people. But I can say with certainty that you are definitely the lucky 40 of the hundreds of thousands of models in the world, and while spending a few months on this Victoria's Secret show will make you earn a lot less this year, I'm sure that by next year, your income will definitely be multiplied. And, most importantly, your professional lifespan will also be extended by many years with the influence of the Victoria's Secret show. Of course, the premise is that you continue to be interested in working with Victoria's Secret next year. ”

Noticing that a Victoria's Secret angel sitting in the front row was obviously trembling when he heard Eric's last words, Eric couldn't help laughing, looked at the face that looked a little like Audrey Hepburn, and said with a smile: "Paulina, don't be so nervous, I can tell you now that I will definitely not direct the Victoria's Secret show in person next year, and after the accumulation of experience this year, the preparation time for next year will not need to be so much this year, so you will get more generous pay next year, but at the same time, the work will become easier." ”

A Victoria's Secret angel named Paulina gave Eric a charming smile and said, "Mr. Williams, I'll definitely be back next year." ”

Eric smiled, changed his position slightly, clapped his hands and said, "So, now, let's talk about the rehearsal just now, I am very satisfied with everyone's final performance, as long as in two days, everyone still performs today's level, then, I'm sure, we will definitely make everyone greatly amazed." ”

In the excited cheers and applause, Eric pressed his hands and said to everyone: "So, tomorrow everyone has a day off, of course, tonight's Halloween, although it is not forbidden for everyone to go to all kinds of parties, I still hope that everyone can go back and have a good rest as Diane just said, I don't want any of you to have an accident in the last two days." Now, let's disband. ”

With that, Eric stood up on the edge of the catwalk and walked backstage. Most of the people in the scene waited for Eric's figure to disappear into the archway, whispering excitedly, and got up and walked outside.

Emily, Edward Lazek, and Eric's assistant Kelly had just been quietly listening to Eric's speech from behind the archway, and they all came up to greet him.

"Eric, do you think there's anything else that needs to be adjusted?" Emily had been scheduling on the spot just now, and didn't stay in the central control room with Eric, and then she couldn't wait to ask, seeing the marketing ability displayed by the Victoria's Secret show, Emily now attaches much more importance to the Victoria's Secret show than Eric.

Eric shook his head: "No, all the shooting effects have been tested, I just watched the whole rehearsal and didn't find any problems." Moreover, there is no such thing as a 100% perfect thing in this world, and if there are any regrets, it is better to keep them. We're going to have to give the media something to talk about in the future. ”

Emily gave Eric a blank look, and didn't mention it anymore, and said with a smile: "So what about you now, are you going to East Hampton to spend Halloween with them?"

"I just want to go back to sleep now," Eric replied, glancing at Kelly beside him, "Come back with me, I have some things to discuss with you." (To be continued.) )