It’s been a while since I’ve devoted a column to marketing and pop culture—two topics I’m well versed in, yet which some business leaders still consider minor matters compared to balance sheets, investments, and corporate decisions. That disdain strikes me as a miscalculation, because the Victoria’s Secret fashion show, held in California this Sunday, deserves attention precisely because it brings together two forces that account for much of American commercial success: the ability to turn a brand into a cultural phenomenon and the talent for translating that fascination into money.
Decades ago, the United States understood something that many markets still treat as a secondary consideration. People buy products, of course, but they also pay for symbols, aspirations, and a sense of belonging. Hollywood, music, professional sports, and major consumer brands are part of a cultural machine that fuels business, creates jobs, and attracts capital. The Victoria’s Secret fashion show is part of that tradition, in which a company gets millions of people to pay attention to a brand even before they consider making a purchase.
Anyone who views the fashion show merely as a succession of models, outfits, and celebrities has missed the point entirely. The company sells lingerie, but its greatest commercial asset lies in the identity it has built around its products. The wings, the exuberant aesthetic, the recognizable models, and the staging all form a language that the public recognizes without even needing to read the brand’s name.
The return of the Fantasy Bra—a piece valued at $50 million and championed by a member of the Kardashian clan—helps illustrate this logic. No one needs to shell out such a sum to purchase a garment like this, and therein lies part of its commercial value. Its extraordinary price fuels headlines, sparks curiosity, and draws attention back to a brand that needs to stay relevant. The piece functions as advertising turned into an object, with a symbolic value that far exceeds its potential everyday utility. In marketing terms, few tools are as powerful as an image that the public remembers and the media reproduces.
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The United States deserves recognition for having turned entertainment into a global industry. Its cultural influence fuels tourism, advertising, music, film, retail, and businesses associated with celebrities. From New York to Los Angeles, part of its economic power rests on its ability to export cultural references that other societies consume, imitate, and discuss. There’s no need to idealize the country to recognize the magnitude of this commercial machine.
Beyond the return of Adriana Lima and Alessandra Ambrosio or the presence of Barbara Palvin, Victoria’s Secret offers a lesson for any entrepreneur who still separates culture from business. A brand needs to sell, but it must also create a reason for the public to remember it. The spectacle may open the door; the quality of the product, management, and financial results determine how long it remains open.
That’s why it’s worth talking about fashion again in a business column. When a fashion show manages to capture the world’s attention and the company succeeds in converting some of that interest into commercial value, the event ceases to be merely a night of entertainment. It becomes a marketing lesson that few markets have been able to deliver as effectively as the United States.
