# Victoria's Secret cast creators directly into its 2024 Fashion Show, skipping the traditional model pipeline entirely *The brand treated influencers as runway talent, not audience, turning seeding into a broadcast stage.* By **Jenny Huang Goodman MPA MSc MHSA, Principal** — The Stash Edge, Hako Shikin LLC. Published 2026-06-28. Canonical: https://www.pops4.com/stash/articles/victorias-secret-2026-06-28t09-1 Subject: Victoria's Secret Tags: influencer marketing, event marketing, creator seeding, product launch, content production --- Victoria's Secret opened its 2024 Fashion Show to creators as primary casting, according to Glossy. Instead of booking through traditional modeling agencies and casting directors, the brand recruited influencers directly to walk the runway alongside professional models. The move bypassed decades of industry gatekeeping and turned influencer seeding into a performance channel. The brand ran creator casting as a parallel track to its traditional model pipeline. Influencers with audiences in beauty, fashion, and lifestyle were invited to audition and rehearse for the show. Those selected walked the runway in broadcast segments, wore the product on camera, and posted behind-the-scenes content to their own channels. The show became a multi-platform event: live broadcast, creator posts, and traditional press coverage running simultaneously. The mechanism works because it collapses three separate marketing budgets into one activation. Traditional influencer seeding sends product to creators who post from home. A fashion show books models and pays for broadcast. A creator partnership negotiates content rights separately. Victoria's Secret combined all three: the creator is the model, the show is the content, and the seeding is the performance. The brand gets runway footage, influencer posts, and earned media from a single casting decision. The second lever is audience alignment. A professional model brings editorial credibility but often a small personal following. A creator brings a built-in audience that already trusts their taste. When a creator walks the runway, their followers see the product in a high-production context and in the creator's everyday posts. The show elevates the creator's authority, and the creator extends the show's reach beyond the broadcast window. A small physical-product brand runs the same play at local scale. Identify **five to eight** creators in your category with engaged audiences between **5,000 and 50,000** followers. Invite them to participate in a live product launch event, pop-up, or panel as featured guests, not just attendees. They appear on stage, demo the product, or co-host a segment. In exchange, they post pre-event, live, and post-event content. The event becomes the content studio, and the creator becomes the talent. The setup costs less than a traditional seeding campaign. Instead of sending product to **twenty** creators and hoping for posts, concentrate resources on **eight** who commit to live participation. Venue cost can be a rented studio, a retail partner's space, or a co-working event room for under **$500**. Provide the product, a run-of-show, and a clear content brief. The creators get a marquee moment for their own channels. The brand gets live content, creator posts, and a repeatable event format. The next move is to record the event as a content asset. Even a single-camera setup captures the creator interactions, product moments, and audience energy. That footage becomes email content, paid social ads, and retailer pitch materials. The brand now has proof of creator enthusiasm in a controlled, high-quality environment. The event is the seeding. The seeding is the content. The content is the sales asset. ## The takeaway Treat influencers as event talent, not just seeding targets, and the activation becomes the content. --- ## Publisher **Hako Shikin LLC** — Virginia Beach, Virginia. Founded 1997. ASI 217876 · DUNS 18-204-6339. Principal and author: **Jenny Huang Goodman MPA MSc MHSA**. - Author: https://www.huanggoodman.com/about - LLM context: https://www.pops4.com/stash/llms.txt - MCP endpoint, for AI agents: https://mcp.pops4.com/mcp - Client dashboard: https://dashboard.pops4.com/ - Catalogue: 70,000+ products, 200+ brands