Victoria's Secret spent an estimated $12 million on its 2024 fashion show in New York, according to Glossy, and allocated the majority of that budget to recruiting and activating creators rather than buying platform ads. The brand brought in influencers across fashion, lifestyle, and body positivity verticals, gave them backstage access, and turned them into distributed broadcast nodes. The show generated over 1 billion impressions in 48 hours, per the brand's internal metrics, without a single dollar spent on Meta or Google.
The mechanics were simple. Victoria's Secret invited 150+ creators with audiences ranging from 50,000 to 5 million followers to the event. Each received VIP treatment, branded gifts, and content licensing terms that let them post freely. The brand did not demand exclusivity or script the posts. Instead, it built an environment worth documenting and let the creators do what they do. The result was a flood of organic posts, Stories, Reels, and TikToks that reached audiences the brand could never affordably access via paid media.
This worked because the brand recognized a structural shift in how attention is distributed. Platforms sell reach, but creators sell trust. When a creator posts about an event they attended, their audience receives it as testimony, not advertising. The engagement rate on creator-generated content from the Victoria's Secret show averaged 8.2%, according to Glossy, compared to the typical 0.5-1.5% on paid social ads in fashion. The brand got distribution, credibility, and content it can repurpose across owned channels for months.
The same logic applies at any scale. A small physical-product brand cannot afford a $12 million fashion show, but it can host a $2,000 creator event at a local venue or warehouse. Invite 10-15 micro-creators in your category with 5,000-50,000 followers. Offer them product, behind-the-scenes access, and a reason to post. Do not script the content. Instead, design the environment to be visually dense and emotionally generous. Give them something to show their audience that feels exclusive. The cost per impression will be 5-10x lower than paid ads, and the content will carry social proof paid media cannot manufacture.
The broader pattern is luxury brands pulling spend from platforms and redirecting it into owned experiences and direct relationships. Canali, the Italian luxury menswear brand, appointed a new creative director in 2024 to focus on leisurewear for younger buyers, according to Retail Insider. Victoria's Secret is rebuilding its brand identity through in-person events rather than digital campaigns. The lesson is that platforms extract rent; owned media and creator relationships build equity. The next move is to map your creator pool, design an event or unboxing experience worth documenting, and let them distribute it for you.
The takeaway
Spend on experiences creators want to document, not on platform ads they scroll past.
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