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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Jeffree Star, Tati Westbrook, and other influencers once ruled the beauty side of YouTube.</li><li>Now, they're taking over TikTok with lengthy livestreams focused on selling products.</li></ul>A livestream hosted by<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeffree-star-wyoming-from-la-mansion-yak-ranch-timeline-2021-8"> Jeffree Star</a> filled my iPhone screen during a late-night TikTok<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-study-finds-doomscrolling-leads-to-bad-physical-mental-health-2022-9"> doomscroll</a> in June.Wearing a baby-blue Western blouse with fringe detailing and a wig of the same shade, Star stood behind a pink desk with beauty influencer Paul Dao. Together, they promoted lip gloss and other products from Jeffree Star Cosmetics.It had been a long time since I'd watched Star's content, which usually highlights his lavish lifestyle and harsh but honest makeup opinions. He's also known for getting involved in internet scandals. As memories of<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dramageddon-youtube-jeffree-star-manny-mua-laura-lee-gabriel-zamora-2021-8"> "dramageddon"</a> in 2018 flashed through my mind, I shuddered and scrolled away.But 10 minutes later, TikTok showed me yet another livestream: this one from OG beauty YouTuber <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/youtuber-tati-westbrook-life-career-story-2020-11">Tati Westbrook</a>, who attempted to sell me a hair curler — a far cry from the cult-favorite<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tati-westbrook-new-makeup-brand-2019-10"> eyeshadow palette</a> she created in 2019 — through the small screen.I shouldn't have been surprised to see either peddling products. Influencers have always been, at least to some extent, glorified salespeople. Still, I couldn't help but cringe. Their voices sounded different, like anxious sales reps trying to get my attention. There was a blatant urge to sell, sell, sell.Some millennial-aged viewers shared similar, and often harsher, thoughts."I'm sad. I used to be able to trust all of your reviews because you were doing it for the love of the game. Not commission. ," one person commented on one of Westbrook's TikToks promoting her recent stream."You are getting worse than Kylie Jenner," another person wrote on one of Star's videos. "It's every other day some kind of BS sale or relaunch. I miss the old Jeffree Star, this new desperate JS sucks!!"I was right there with them. Seeing these larger-than-life figures go from the top of the beauty food chain to hosting flash sales QVC-style was jarring. But as I later realized, their tactic is also kind of genius: They're using a free platform to directly sell to consumers while also increasing their brand awareness.<h2 id="a37382ed-7f93-446c-af1a-672ba960b013">YouTubers turned TikTokers</h2>Rewind a few years and beauty influencers dominated the cosmetics industry alongside the audiences they built<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-beauty-everything-you-need-to-know-jeffree-james-nikkietutorials-2020-3"> on YouTube</a> — even when their careers were rife with scandal.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.forbes.com/pictures/gjdm45jih/7-michelle-phan-3-mil/">Forbes</a> reported Michelle Phan, who is widely credited as the first internet makeup influencer, as one of the top-earning YouTubers of 2015 with $3 million in annual revenue. Lucrative beauty businesses only exploded from there.YouTuber Jaclyn Hill famously collaborated with Becca Cosmetics on a glimmering highlighter in 2016, bringing the company <a target="_blank" href="https://wwd.com/beauty-industry-news/color-cosmetics/latest-becca-x-jaclyn-hill-collaboration-did-3-5-million-in-sales-with-online-launch-10438768/">$3.5 million</a> in online sales across five hours. Two years later,<a target="_blank" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2018/12/03/highest-paid-youtube-stars-2018-markiplier-jake-paul-pewdiepie-and-more/"> Forbes </a>said Star reached $18 million in annual earnings — partially because of one of his<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeffree-star-made-20-million-on-eyeshadow-palette-shane-dawson-2019-10"> stand-out products</a> brought in $20 million when it first launched, as Star told fellow YouTuber Shane Dawson.Star then created a collaboration line with Dawson, who's best known for posting controversial comedy sketches and videos exploring conspiracy theories. Before it was released in 2019, Star's team estimated the makeup line would make<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeffree-star-reveals-shane-dawson-palette-could-make-10-million-2019-10"> at least $35 million</a> if<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeffree-star-shane-dawson-makeup-sold-out-2019-11"> it sold out</a>, which it did almost immediately.However, after years of influencer feuds, multiple cancellations, and the pandemic, beauty YouTubers found themselves floundering, Alex Rawitz, the director of research and insights at the influencer-marketing platform CreatorIQ, said.Stars like Charles went from earning tens of millions of views on YouTube videos to just over one million per post, and TikTokkers like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mikayla-nogueira-background-controversy-feud-mascara-2023-1">Mikayla Nogueira,</a> with her nearly 16 million followers, stepped into their spotlights."They used to be at the top of our creator leaderboards, driving the most engagement for brands and being at the forefront of the industry," Rawitz told Business Insider. "They were replaced by people who still did tutorials but were doing very quick cuts and 20-second bite-sized things more adapted for modern attention spans."<div type="image" title="James Charles, Tati Westbrook, Jeffree Star" height="946" width="1887" msid="112708547" hostid="261" sizebytes="98822"></div>Some of YouTube's best and brightest<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/james-charles-jeffree-star-comeback-canceled-youtube-over-2023-7"> attempted to resurface</a> in 2023, like Charles, who made a splash with a Cosmopolitan cover story, and Star, who opened his combination<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeffree-star-store-grand-opening-review-photos-casper-wyoming-2023-7"> meat and makeup store</a> in Wyoming.But OG beauty influencers really cracked the comeback code when they entered the wild world of TikTok livestreaming, earning them revived reputations and revenue.Star began hosting virtual events on the platform in 2023, and Westbrook hosted<a target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@tatiwestbrook/video/7354803488783715627"> her first livestream</a> in April of this year. Fellow beauty YouTubers James Charles and Laura Lee also followed suit. These creators have often taken an interactive sales approach with their streamed events.Star, for example, has hosted makeup masterclasses alongside professional artists so that viewers can learn how to use specific products from his brand, Jeffree Star Cosmetics, and then receive discounts on them via<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-shop-better-at-keeping-customers-than-temu-shein-2024-4"> TikTok Shop</a>.Charles, on the other hand, has focused his efforts on making his brand's cosmetic sponge the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@jamescharles/video/7403479049974205727?lang=en">top-selling makeup blender</a> on the platform.Westbrook and Lee have taken a different approach, seemingly partnering with companies to sell products for them on the TikTok commerce platform at discounted rates. Still, they've made their efforts personal.Lee, like Star, has packed orders by hand on camera during their livestreams, and Westbrook has demonstrated the tools and makeup she's promoted on herself.In doing so, Rawitz said that these creators merge the old-school ways of long-form YouTube content with the modern, quick-moving platform of TikTok."They don't necessarily have to learn new tricks or try to adapt with creators who are coming up within the short-form video ecosystem," he said. "Instead, they can have a more discursive stream with their followers where they're talking about whatever comes to mind, talking about their day, but also selling product."<div type="image" title="Influencer Laura Lee hosts a TikTok livestream." height="2600" width="1290" msid="112708545" hostid="261" sizebytes="138176"></div>Star, Westbrook, and Lee all go live at least once a week — with Star often streaming a few times weekly across two accounts: his personal and brand page. And when they do, it can last for hours. A TikTok live on the Jeffree Star Cosmetics page hosted on July 24 lasted around four hours, while Westbrook was live for eight hours straight on July 10.Leah Spector, the director of communications and content at CreatorIQ, said these lengthy livestreams are strategic for earning revenue, maintaining engagement, and attracting new fans."The longer you go live, the more likely you are to capture new viewers throughout," she told BI. "When I see that there's 20,000 people watching a live, I'm like, 'Oh, something interesting must be happening. Let me join in.' It's simply a numbers game of getting more people to join, even if they drop out pretty quickly."<h2 id="a8007cff-9f23-437a-8383-dbe38a08fe16">Influencers don't care if it's cringe — and they shouldn't</h2>Westbrook, in particular, has been inundated with criticism and cringe callouts each time she's promoted her livestreams on TikTok."This feels like HSN," one person commented on her page, while others joked she's in her "QVC era."Influencers, however, seem to be in on the joke. Westbrook posted a video on July 10 poking fun at her livestreams."Clearly, creators don't mind and are leaning into the potential cringiness of the format," Rawitz said. They can do so with the help of longtime fans standing behind them. Mazaiah Hutchinson, a 27-year-old from Pennsylvania, has watched beauty influencers for over a decade. She told BI that, naturally, she's followed stars like Westbrook to TikTok.She views livestreams as a way to connect with her favorite creators and finds the QVC style of selling to be nostalgic."We look up to these creators, so it's really nice to be in their presence," Hutchinson said. "You can send a comment and immediately get a response back. You can actually see in real time what they're doing."In some ways, I understand the appeal.While writing this analysis, I tuned into a livestream hosted on the Jeffree Star Cosmetics account. As random makeup artists loudly did product demos for two hours, I found myself wishing something more exciting would happen — like an appearance from Star himself.<h2 id="e3f6e400-9adc-4054-8222-87334c14392b">Beauty business moves</h2>TikTok livestreaming is a big business with big money attached.ASMR influencer Lucy Davis <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-do-tiktokers-make">previously told BI</a> that she earns between $20 and $300 each time she streams, while Jakey Boehm, a TikToker who streams himself sleeping, said he's earned $34,000 in a single month.Rawitz said that while it's unclear exactly how much these beauty influencers are personally earning through these live streams, hosting them has obvious benefits. They have the potential to earn money through products they sell, donations sent by viewers, and new fans who become regular consumers.In the words of one fan who commented on a post from Star: "You bring the beauty, I'll bring the debit card.""If they're devoting this much time to it, then it is likely profitable for them and likely, in the end, profitable for the brand," he said.That's not to mention how crucial TikTok Shop has been to the success of beauty labels in 2024 — especially when influencers promote their products.According to CreatorIQ, Jeffree Star has generated at least $686,298 in<a target="_blank" href="https://www.creatoriq.com/blog/earned-media-value-emv"> Earned Media Value (EMV)</a> for E.l.f. Cosmetics via TikTok this year so far. EMV is a metric used throughout the social media industry — and analyzed with proprietary technology at CreatorIQ —to help determine the value of any creator's social-media content about different brands. Ultimately, the benefit of these lengthy live streams seemingly exceeds profit.Creators who once needed expensive lighting rigs, scandal-proof scripts, and hours to edit YouTube videos can now casually hop on live streams without any of that. Better yet, they can also have employees host for them.Live events, especially those that last hours, aren't always recorded, so the chances of becoming embroiled in a scandal are arguably less likely.But maybe most importantly, beauty influencers no longer need audiences to worship them, watching every clip they post across every social media platform. Instead, they just need us to stick around long enough to make a purchase.

Beauty YouTube creators turned TikTok into QVC

<ul><li>TikTok has released its first year-in-review report that summarises how 2019 was for the platform.</li><li>It includes the top 5 creators, viral videos, occasions, celebrities, challenges, content categories, tracks, campaign, music artists and breakout creators that stood out in engaging the community in 2019, bringing TikTok into the mainstream of India’s thriving creative economy. </li><li>According to the platform, the report has been released to ‘applaud what made TikTok India community click, like, share and create in 2019.’</li><li>These are TikTok's top 5 breakout creators in 2019, from high school students to popular vine stars have found a second life on Tiktok.</li></ul>1. Fiza Abdi 
	
	
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 With 2.6 Million followers, Fiza Abdi AKA Faby Makeupartist, is known for her quirky ways of giving makeup tutorials. 2. Mridul Madhok 
	
	
	<div type="image" title="mridhoul" msid="72831702" hostid="261"></div>







 Mridul Madhok is followed for his beauty tips such removing blackheads, tan removal, getting even skin tone, and much more. While guys are shamed for caring about their skin and following beauty tips, Mridul is charting a difference with his TikTok videos. He now has 6.5 million followers. 3. Gunjan Taneja 
	
	
	<div type="image" title="fitness tiktok" msid="72831728" hostid="261"></div>







 AKA Gunjan Shouts, Taneja has 3.5 million followers for her fitness routine. 4. Mahendra Dogney 
	
	
	<div type="image" title="motivation on tiktok" msid="72831836" hostid="261"></div>







 MD Motivation spreads a few positive words on the medium, helps people see how the glass is always half-full. He is now 2.8-million-strong. 5. Khan Tariq 
	
	
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 AKA ‘UR Smartmaker’, Khan Tariq gives photography hacks in less than a minute. He has 5.5 million followers on TikTok.

These are 2019's biggest breakout Indian creators on TikTok

<ul><li>TikTok has launched a video featuring some of its popular creators such as Aawez Darbar, Mridul Madhok and Anmol Bhatia in an edgy avatar. The advertisement has been created by Ketchup, lead by Kulteja Ponnada. </li><li>#TikTokRewind2019 film is a reflection of its creative canvas and diversity. It gives a sneak-peek into how the year 2019 went for the platform. </li><li>The video has already garnered close to 37 millions views on YouTube within three days of launch. </li></ul>2019 was full of ups and downs for TikTok. Mid-year, Bytedance’s TikTok was asked by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to be taken down from Google and Apple app stores. However, TikTok got Sandhya Sharma on-board to keep a check on government policies and relations in India and the matters were later settled in court with a promise of self-regulation. After dodging that bullet, the second half of the year was when TikTok emerged as one of the leading platforms in the country. Millions of people participated in entertaining, quirky, and joyful moments. It grew 120-million-strong in June and later, brands like Pepsi, Lays, Calvin Kein, Realme, and most recently, UN Women India joined TikTok. The application has been a great opportunity for people beyond Tier II to express themselves, which also gives brands an opportunity to latch on to. TikTok has released an advertisement summarising how the year went and taking pride in its diverse content and community. According to TikTok, its #TikTokRewind2019 film is a ‘reflection of the huge creative canvas that TikTok is’. Users from all walks of life have embraced the platform to showcase their talent and express themselves creatively. With tools and features available to create this diverse content, including innovative filters, trending music tracks, and in-app challenges to support social causes, TikTok reminds the audience how there is room for every kind of content creator on its platform. It also highlights how the platform has helped its users overcome their inhibitions. The film has an edgy look and graphic visuals that aims to encapsulate the diversity of its users. It is for the first time that TikTok has launched a horizontal video in a 2:15-minutes-long campaign and seems to target Gen Z. 
 <div type="Youtube" id="VP_qW0q4k_8" title="#TikTokRewind2019 - Let there be fun." thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VP_qW0q4k_8/mqdefault.jpg"></div>

TikTok takes pride in its diverse content creators

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Victoria's Secret seemingly has a plan to attract Gen Z shoppers and revive its relevance.</li><li>Its efforts focus on blending nostalgia and legacy with modern trends and stars.</li></ul>During a recent visit to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/victorias-secret-rise-and-fall-history-2019-5">Victoria's Secret</a>, Julia Quang bought three things: Bombshell perfume, flavored lip gloss, and whale-tail thongs."It brought me so much nostalgia," she said about perusing the store. "I was like, 'Oh my God, these products are actually really cute, and I remember how fun they used to be.'"The 23-year-old content creator told Business Insider that she grew up shopping the store's semi-annual sales with her mom and viewed Victoria's Secret as the epitome of sexiness, femininity, and status.That reputation faded around the same time the brand canceled its <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-the-victorias-secret-fashion-show-2016-11">annual runway show</a> in 2019 — an infamously rough year for the lingerie company. It then faced the aftermath of widespread criticism for its lack of diverse models, limited clothing sizes, and transphobic comments by its <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/victorias-secret-transgender-models-comment-apology-ed-razek-2018-11">former CMO, Ed Razek, in 2018</a>.Victoria's Secret began damage control, which mostly created more confusion. It replaced its famous Angels with a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-women-replacing-victorias-secret-angels-2021-6">collective of spokespeople</a>, swapped its runway show with <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/victorias-secret-runway-fashion-show-returns-in-movie-format-2023-5">a fashion-focused documentary</a>, and started selling its products <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/victorias-secret-push-up-bras-underwear-available-shop-on-amazon-2023-6">on Amazon</a>.Some branded these efforts as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lizzo-speaks-out-after-victorias-secret-announces-fashion-show-return-2023-3">performative</a>, while others completely lost interest. (The brand's yearly net sales <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.victoriassecretandco.com/news-releases/news-release-details/victorias-secret-co-reports-fourth-quarter-2023-results/">decreased by 3%</a> between 2022 and 2023.)Victoria's Secret has been slowly turning things around this year, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/victorias-secret-beats-q2-earnings-143400757.html?">surpassing quarterly revenue estimates</a> in Q2.Ironically, the brand's nods to the past are convincing customers like Quang to reintroduce Victoria's Secret to their regular shopping rotations. <h2 id="15aa60b2-faef-4a03-abdb-f40e24f22ecd">Embracing the positives of a rocky past</h2>Gen Z loves old-school fashion that they never experienced in its heyday. Just look at the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-convinced-me-to-buy-shoes-ive-never-worn-2024-7">ballet flats</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/brat-summer-over-gen-z-fall-office-fashion-wish-list-2024-9">maxi skirts</a> they've advocated for and the brands like <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-coach-purses-became-popular-again-2024-6">Coach</a> and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/abercrombie-and-fitch-stock-turnaround-millennials-weddings-wall-street-sales-2024-6">Abercrombie &amp; Fitch</a> they've revived.Returning to Victoria's Secret would be a natural next step for young shoppers — so long as the brand gives them something to yearn for.That's likely why Pink, the younger, secondary brand to Victoria's Secret, has been reintroducing its <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@jojokx373/video/7398360393741012254?is_from_webapp=1&amp;sender_device=pc&amp;web_id=7394903114639590955">logo sweats</a> and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@iluvchelsey/video/7422697792260410667?is_from_webapp=1&amp;web_id=7394903114639590955">bedazzled foldover leggings</a> — which were popular throughout the early aughts — in recent months.Similarly, the brand's nostalgic beauty products have reached the top of teen wishlists thanks to popular <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@victoriassecret/video/7408623571809029422?is_from_webapp=1&amp;sender_device=pc&amp;web_id=7394903114639590955">social media posts</a>. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.pipersandler.com/teens">Piper Sandler</a> even named Victoria's Secret as the third most popular fragrance brand with young people in its 2024 Gen Z survey.Victoria's Secret lingerie is also slowly returning to form."They're bringing back these very colorful, lacy pieces, and I really appreciate it because that is Victoria's Secret," shopper Elizabeth Lyons, 21, told BI. "You want to feel sexy and very feminine when you wear it."The fact that these garments are reminiscent of old-school Victoria's Secret styles but still modern enough to work with fashion trends —think balletcore, coquette, and old money — is key to success, <a target="_blank" href="https://hurraykimmay.com/">Kimmay Caldwell</a>, an undergarment educator, told BI."Intimates are part of fashion," she said. "Just as clothing trends change, so do undergarment trends — mostly to serve the style of popular clothes." Victoria's Secret is also blending nostalgia and modernity in its marketing efforts.The brand has embraced popular memes like <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAi3-YLOPH0/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link">Brat Summer</a> to sell its designs on Instagram and has crafted aesthetically pleasing visuals to boost brand awareness on <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@victoriassecret/video/7422302478923861291?is_from_webapp=1&amp;sender_device=pc&amp;web_id=7394903114639590955">TikTok</a>. It's also going back in time with the reintroduction of its annual runway show on Tuesday night.Considering that <a target="_blank" href="https://pro.morningconsult.com/analyst-reports/fastest-growing-brands-2023?utm_source=mc_comms_outreach&amp;utm_medium=mc_comms_referral&amp;utm_campaign=fastest_growing_brands">Morning Consult</a> named Victoria's Secret the 20th fastest-growing brand among Gen Z in December 2023, these recent efforts seem directly targeted at the burgeoning fan base.<h2 id="b21ca97d-125d-4c14-8256-a4b270bc015f">The power of pop stars and angels</h2>Victoria's Secret once boasted a clique of thin models who sported massive wings on their backs to serve as brand ambassadors.While it <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-women-replacing-victorias-secret-angels-2021-6">disbanded its group</a> of Victoria's Secret Angels in 2021, the brand isn't done with its most famous stars.Tyra Banks, Behati Prinsloo, Candice Swanepoel, and Jasmine Tookes are among the former Angels returning to the Victoria's Secret stage, this time as <a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=79b82d9a5d8098c6c5f182243ee5532a8a515aa04869323e246fb66480af3041&amp;postID=670937e7434c477c232a7de2&amp;postSlug=victorias-secret-using-gen-z-nostalgia-to-become-relevant-2024-10&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.victoriassecret.com%2Fus%2Fvs%2Fvsinsider%2Ffashion-show%2Fcandice-swanepoel-joins-cast">"iconic models,"</a> according to the brand's website.They'll join Paloma Elsesser, Devyn Garcia, Ashley Graham, and other fan favorites to create a more diverse and inclusive cast than any to walk for Victoria's Secret before.Off the runway, Victoria's Secret has tapped influential stars like Sabrina Carpenter to promote its products.The "Espresso" singer has been wearing the brand's lingerie during each stop of her current tour. Caldwell described her as a "perfect fit" for the intimates brand."She has that '90s vibe about her with her hair and makeup, and she oozes sexy, cute, and fun — which is what Victoria's Secret really wants to get back to," she said.<div type="image" title="Sabrina Carpenter wears Victoria's Secret on tour in New York City." height="1980" width="2640" msid="114258508" hostid="261" sizebytes="902670"></div>Olympic gymnast <a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=3006072c4278292d5a3559025982ed6b9390af4ae4b39de52ab30186a734245c&amp;postID=670937e7434c477c232a7de2&amp;postSlug=victorias-secret-using-gen-z-nostalgia-to-become-relevant-2024-10&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.victoriassecret.com%2Fus%2Fvs%2Fvsinsider%2Ffashion-trends%2Ffavorite-influencers-in-vsx">Suni Lee</a> has also regularly sported the brand's athleisure, and influencer <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CsllhPHuiPC/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&amp;igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==">Alix Earle</a> previously starred in one of the brand's social media campaigns.These stars still fit a classic mold. Like Victoria's Secret's usual models, they're successful, beautiful, and live mostly unattainable lives. They're also undeniably influential."We had those years where, if you were aware, it wasn't actually cool to support this company," Caldwell said. "But when you see someone who you love, respect, and who's really the epitome of cool to you being like: 'I love them, and I wear them,' then you're like, 'Oh, I guess it's OK for me to wear this brand, too."<h2 id="ffcca178-de4a-432f-acdc-20ee3ae0351f">The Victoria's Secret comeback isn't official — yet</h2>Rewind a few years and Victoria's Secret seemed to be on uneven footing.According to Victoria's Secret, its net sales, which reached $7.5 billion between February 2019 and February 2020, plummeted to $5.4 billion during the same timeframe the following year. Those sales then failed to surpass $6.7 million between 2021 and 2023.But the intimates brand is now showing progress in sales and customer interest.Its <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.barrons.com/articles/victorias-secret-stock-new-ceo-3603ccc2">stock rose</a> in August for the first time since 2021 when former Savage X Fenty CEO <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://puck.news/can-the-new-victorias-secret-ceo-save-the-nike-of-bras/">Hillary Super</a> took that same role at Victoria's Secret. Days later, the brand also reported improved sales for the fourth consecutive quarter — the first time that number's grown year-to-year since 2021.A Victoria's Secret representative told BI its loyalty program has also been largely successful. They said it relaunched last year and now has over 32 million members who drive about 80% of weekly sales.<div type="image" title="Victoria's Secret ditches its Angels" height="1062" width="1500" msid="114258509" hostid="261" sizebytes="322988"></div>Lauren Sherman and Chantal Fernandez, the authors of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250850966/sellingsexy">"Selling Sexy: Victoria's Secret and the Unraveling of an American Icon,"</a> told BI it's unclear which of the brand's marketing and sales strategies are working best to boost those numbers.Now that Super has entered the company's sphere, Victoria's Secret's game plan could change entirely. Both authors said the CEO has her work cut out for her."I think it's too soon to say what her priorities are," Fernandez said of Super. "She is probably still figuring them out herself because she's only been there a month or so, and this is a massive business that can't be changed overnight."But there are ways that Victoria's Secret can turn consumer interest into bigger, long-term success.First, the brand can't rely solely on Gen Z shoppers — no matter how interested young people are in its products at the moment."The reality is that you want everyone in this market to look at your stuff because it's so fragmented," Sherman said. "You need people who are 15 and people who are 50 buying it."The brand seems to be doing just that by introducing <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.vogue.com/article/victorias-secret-atelier-designer-in-residence-altuzarra">Joseph Altuzarra</a> to its workforce. The atelier designer will debut a ready-to-wear clothing collection at the brand's fashion show, targeting a new group of customers with a wide interest in clothes and an appreciation for luxury goods.Nostalgic customers also shout about their wants and needs from Victoria's Secret online. The brand simply needs to pay close attention.Fernandez and Sherman pointed to the brand's popular loungewear as an example. While Victoria's Secret now offers its foldover leggings in neutral colorways with slight bedazzling, they're not exactly like those from the brand's past with massive logos, neon colors, and bold animal prints.Customers, as they've been saying on social media, want to buy the latter. Victoria's Secret would be remiss not to seize this opportunity and others like it.A Victoria's Secret representative says the brand — which boasts a board of directors of 89% women — is working on that."Victoria's Secret celebrates and supports all women," the representative said. "We strive to make sure women feel represented in everything we do — from our products to our marketing to our advocacy programs.""We have evolved into a more inclusive brand from the inside out, and we continue to keep our customers — both old and new — at our core and listen to their needs so that we remain a brand they love and can see themselves in," the representative added.Victoria's Secret is still far from being the retail powerhouse it once was. Still, the brand is starting to catch people's attention, which is more than it could say two years ago.

Victoria's Secret could be the next brand Gen Z brings back from the dead

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Childhood friends Nate Houghteling, Kai Hasson, and Zach Blume founded Portal A as a digital video production company in 2008.</li><li>Despite having no formal advertising experience, they grew with YouTube at a time when marketers were hungry for low-budget projects.</li><li>Their first successes were originals like "White Collar Brawlers," a series about boxing coworkers that was later acquired by Esquire Network.</li><li>In 2011 they launched the popular annual "Rewind" series and became one of the first agencies to pair brands with video creators.</li><li>Now, Portal A splits its business into branded videos to promote products and originals that are sponsored by brands, like a series starring Olympic skater Adam Rippon and NBA star Steph Curry.</li><li>In 2019, the company sold a minority stake to Wheelhouse Entertainment, a talent and content company in which Jimmy Kimmel is a partner.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summary">Click here for more BI Prime stories</a>.</li></ul>Well before YouTube's launch in 2005, college roommates Nate Houghteling and Kai Hasson were experimenting with creating bare-bones comedy sketches, inspired by "Saturday Night Live's" Lonely Island trio.Today, despite having no formal training in advertising, they and fellow partner Zach Blume now run Portal A, a profitable and growing business that has created videos for clients including NFL star Odell Beckham, HBO, Twitter and, most significantly, Google, where Portal A has overseen all of YouTube's "Rewind" series that recaps the most popular videos of the year.In 2019, the agency, named for the Portola playground where the three played basketball growing up, brought in $20 million in revenue and sold a minority stake to production company Wheelhouse Entertainment, whose partners include Jimmy Kimmel and reality TV mogul Brent Montgomery of "Pawn Stars" fame. Their success while working outside the traditional holding company model mirrors the ad industry's shift toward digital and mobile over the past decade.<h2>The agency got on YouTube early making viral hits</h2>The team's first brush with fame came via video called "Ghost Ride the Volvo" that promoted "Huge in Asia," a series documenting their post-collegiate motorcycle trip through the subcontinent, to fans of their hometown Oakland A's.The video quickly went viral in late 2006 and served as an introduction to YouTube for many people only weeks after Google acquired the platform for $1.65 billion."Back then, when you got a million views on a video, you went on CNN," Houghteling told Business Insider.Publisher Lonely Planet eventually bought the rights to the "Huge in Asia" series, but at the time, monetizing this sort of work, much less collaborating with advertisers or creators, was still a new concept. After returning from Asia, Houghteling and Hasson worked in media while Blume became a political consultant. Yet they were drawn back to the burgeoning business of digital video.They settled in San Francisco and began to experiment with new ideas. Their next hit came in 2010 with an episodic series called "White Collar Brawlers" that starred Houghteling and Hasson as office workers who trained to become boxers after-hours. As before, the team drew attention to the work with YouTube sports and pop culture mashups <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyVdbfyvwso">like this cover</a> of the San Francisco Giants' onetime anthem "Don't Stop Believin'.""We need to make the best videos to get the most views," said Houghteling when describing Portal A's model at the time.Portal A began to earn ad revenue from YouTube. Esquire Network eventually purchased "White Collar Brawlers," which ran for two seasons and attracted sponsors.<h2>Portal A built a business - and enduring YouTube franchise - on the cheap </h2>The US economy was in a deep recession, and Portal A benefitted as advertisers increasingly saw potential in low-budget digital videos that didn't require traditional ad buys.In its early days, Tres Agaves Tequila paid the trio and their friend Hasan Minhaj of "Patriot Act" $20,000 to travel to Mexico and film a six-part video series titled "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XApS3ksekjk">Tequila Academy.</a>" The success of "White Collar Brawlers" also attracted interest from Bay Area brands like Banana Republic and Benefit Cosmetics, which wanted to try their hand at the new online video game.A mutual connection introduced them to YouTube's internal marketing team in late 2011, which led to the first "Rewind" starring accidentally viral singer Rebecca Black.Houghteling said the rushed, monthlong production established a longstanding relationship between Portal A and Google. In addition to <a href="https://www.insider.com/youtube-rewind-2019-company-explains-new-format-and-direction-2019-12">the increasingly controversial "Rewind,"</a> the agency has also worked on campaigns for Google Education, Pixel, and Chromebook and internal YouTube projects."We were three people working out of a basement who really understood this medium," Houghteling said of the 2011 sessions. "It almost seems quaint now."Around the same time, marketing consultant Steve Wolf suggested that the trio move away from web videos in favor of a brand new phrase: YouTube creators.<h2>Portal A collaborated with creators like comedian Ryan Higa</h2>In one of Portal A's first major creator-driven projects, it promoted YouTube itself with comedian Ryan Higa, who was the most popular creator from 2009 to 2011, by filming a fake trailer for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEo2ipzypTQ">a live-action version of anime classic Naruto</a>.The company finally moved out of Houghteling's apartment the following year and opened its first office in San Francisco as its model evolved alongside YouTube.At that point, the days of uploading no-budget clips and hoping they'd go viral were long gone. Portal A began working with young creators because they were "the de facto TV channels," and brands needed their distributive power to make waves online.Portal A eventually used this familiarity with creators as a key selling point for advertisers.Blume said the agency has since begun finding brands to sponsor ideas for original series such as "Break the Ice," which stars Olympic skater Adam Rippon and features frequent Smirnoff Vodka breaks, or "Life, Lived," an Infiniti-sponsored series with NBA star Steph Curry.YouTube remains the foundation of Portal A's business, but Instagram now plays a role in every project. The agency has also worked extensively across TikTok, Snapchat and Twitch, with a yearlong campaign for an unnamed brand coming on the Amazon platform, and recently sold a yet-to-be-announced 10-episode series to one of the aforementioned platforms.The agency also drew on Blume's political roots, working on a get out the vote effort for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in 2016 after a Google introduction and creating a full-length documentary on the LGBTQ rights movement called "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J48BIRaG7A">State of Pride</a>" last year.<h2>Portal A is a nontraditional agency</h2>The three friends were among the first to figure out how to turn cool videos into a business, but today they face more competition from digitally oriented ad agencies like VaynerMedia and production companies such as MediaMonks and Tool.The company, which now employs 50 across two offices, regularly competes with other independent, digitally oriented agencies. Houghteling said Portal A has always worked on a standalone-project basis and rarely participates in "mass cattle call RFPs" with 20 or more competitors fighting over a yearlong contract.And while holding companies have to contend with the splintering of online video as young viewers move away from broadcast TV, Portal A faces its own challenges from firms with deep celebrity ties. One of the biggest benefits of the Wheelhouse connection, Blume said, is greater access to such talent.Portal A also has to keep proving its value by targeting consumers across multiple platforms, tracking their engagement down to the individual frame, and demonstrating business results, not just views."It's not the Wild West anymore," Hasson said. "You don't make a video now that just pops off around the world."

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