Victoria’s Secret Adds Chat to PINK Nation App To Target Millennials

Mil­len­ni­als can con­nect and chat through the brand­ed mobile app.

Lisa Lacy By Lisa Lacy. Join the discussion » 0 comments

Victoria’s Secret has become first brand to inte­grate chat fea­tures from ephemer­al mes­sag­ing start-up Frankly into its PINK Nation app, which will allow mil­len­ni­als to con­nect and chat through the brand­ed app.


Victoria’s Secret is per­haps bet­ter known for ephemer­al garb than mes­sag­ing, but the brand has nev­er­the­less teamed up with Frankly, which calls itself an ephemer­al mes­sag­ing app and chat tech­nol­o­gy that brings “per­son­al­i­ty, emo­tion and pri­va­cy to mobile mes­sag­ing,” to pow­er chat in the former’s PINK Nation iOS and Android apps.

Frankly says the part­ner­ship marks the start of its new focus on “bring­ing chat tech­nol­o­gy to oth­er app devel­op­ers through its new­ly launched Chat SDK,” which it says pow­ers chat for brands. Victoria's Secret app

Vic­to­ri­a’s Secret is the first brand to inte­grate Chat SDK into its exist­ing mobile expe­ri­ence, said Har­ri­son Shih, vice pres­i­dent of prod­uct and mar­ket­ing for Frankly. How­ev­er, he notes Frankly has worked with “oth­er major brands like KISS FM and top tier social media stars” to help engage with fans through mes­sag­ing.

We are cur­rent­ly work­ing close­ly with strate­gic ear­ly part­ners to bring chat to their users,” Shih said.

Frankly enables con­sumers with the PINK Nation app to con­nect dig­i­tal­ly through the app. Per Shih, Frankly is “cus­tomiz­able and reflec­tive of emo­tions.”

You can shout and whis­per using dif­fer­ent fonts, col­ors and emo­jis. You can send dis­ap­pear­ing text, video and voice, or pin to keep the mes­sage,” he said. “If you want to recall or unsend your mes­sages before they’re seen or read by the receiv­er, that is your choice.”

In addi­tion, Shih said Frankly lets users have con­trol over their “dig­i­tal foot­print,” which allows them to be open and hon­est “with­out wor­ry of leav­ing a per­ma­nent mark.”

Beyond com­mu­ni­cat­ing with friends, Shih said Frankly’s “Super­group” fea­ture allows “theme-based chat­ting” as a way for users to meet new peo­ple, and find new friends with sim­i­lar inter­ests.

We offer app devel­op­ers the abil­i­ty to add a chat func­tion to their app through our Chat SDK,” Shih said. “With that, fans can engage inter­ac­tive­ly with the brand, inside their own app.”

Frankly’s inte­grat­ed chat expe­ri­ence with brands and oth­er appli­ca­tions enables mil­len­ni­als to chat where they already are, Shih said. That means that rather than switch­ing app expe­ri­ences to var­i­ous mes­sag­ing and/or social apps, young con­sumers can instead par­tic­i­pate in con­ver­sa­tions and engage with the com­mu­ni­ty they already are in.

Frankly has over 2 mil­lion down­loads to date and is avail­able for iOS and Android devices. Shih said Frankly’s core demo­graph­ic is teenage girls.

Frankly has stood for expres­sive­ness that repli­cates real world con­ver­sa­tions, which has been a huge draw for mil­len­ni­als,” Shih said.

In a release, lifestyle brand Victoria’s Secret PINK says it is “ded­i­cat­ed to the inde­pen­dent and inspired col­le­giate girl.”

Per Google Play, PINK Nation has 1 to 5 mil­lion down­loads.


What do you think of this brand­ed ephemer­al mes­sag­ing fea­ture?

Lisa Lacy

Written by Lisa Lacy

Lisa is a senior features writer for Inked. She also previously covered digital marketing for Incisive Media. Her background includes editorial positions at Dow Jones, the Financial Times, the Huffington Post, AOL, Amazon, Hearst, Martha Stewart Living and the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.

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