Victoria’s Secret Hires Condé Nast Creative Director Raúl Martinez

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Victoria’s Secret Hires Condé Nast Creative Director Raúl Martinez
Victoria’s Secret Hires Condé Nast Creative Director Raúl Martinez

In its latest attempt to revive the business, Victoria’s Secret is tapping Condé Nast’s Creative Director Raúl Martinez.

Martinez will assume his new role as creative director at Victoria’s Secret starting in January 2021 and will report directly to Martin Waters, CEO of Victoria’s Secret.

Martinez has been serving as Condé Nast’s creative director since 2015 and has worked closely with Anna Wintour on magazines such as Vogue, GQ and Vanity Fair. Over the last two years, Martinez has led the creative team at CNX, Condé Nast’s creative services arm. Martinez also co-founded a creative agency in 1996 called AR New York.

As the creative director at Victoria’s Secret, Martinez will manage the lingerie line’s visual merchandising and will work closely with the creative teams within the Pink and beauty divisions at the company.

The news follows a string of recent senior-level promotions at Victoria’s Secret, which has marked its effort to reinvigorate the business. Martin Waters himself was recently promoted to CEO after John Mehas stepped down.

While the company continues to be the leader in the U.S. women’s intimate apparel business, Victoria’s Secret’s market share has steadily declined over the last five years. According to Euromonitor International, the lingerie giant controlled 32 percent of the market in 2015, but in September, market research firm The NPD Group reported that Victoria’s Secret’s share had fallen to 16 percent.

With its market share declining, the company has continued to shutter hundreds of its store locations during the pandemic, including its Hong Kong flagship store, as it has sought to cut costs and improve liquidity. The company has also sold majority stake of Victoria’s Secret U.K. business to Next Plc and has cut over $400 million in expenses by reducing corporate staff.

In February this year, L Brands revealed its plans to sell a majority stake of the Victoria’s Secret business to Sycamore Partners, a private equity firm for $525 million. However, due to the pandemic, the deal did not follow through.

L Brands then later decided to spin off the Victoria’s Secret business into a private company, leaving Bath & Body Works to be a stand-alone public firm, but the company has yet to finalize the date. 

Some of the other steps the company has recently taken include featuring plus-size models in its marketing and offering up a greater selection of comfort-based styles to better appeal to consumers who are spending more time at home due to COVID-19.

The company’s efforts seem to be paying off. Its comparable sales were up by 4 percent in its last quarter compared to the same period last year.

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