Victoria’s Secrets PINK competition for Historically Black Colleges & Universities ended with a victory for Florida A&M University. As a result, the university will receive $20,000 in scholarship money.
FAMU competed against four other universities a part of the PINK Collegiate Collection including Howard University, Hampton University, North Carolina A&T State, and Southern University.
From Jan. 26 to Feb. 22 sales of the new HBCU Collegiate product were tracked at each university. The school that had the highest sales won the event. From Feb. 5- 26, every Thursday PINK announced the HBCU that had the highest sales on the Tom Joyner Morning Show and www.blackamericaweb.com. FAMU consistently came in first place each week.
The PINK Collegiate Collection, initially launched in July 2008, has been the largest retail deal ever offered to HBCUs. Included is a variety of co-branded apparel that features the brand iconography of PINK and 36 of the most prestigious universities in America. The apparel, which includes silhouettes that are identical to products offered in campus bookstores, consists of tees, sweats, hoodies, and shorts.
Sharon Saunders, FAMU’s chief communications officer said, FAMU’s Office of Communications worked closely with the FAMU Victoria’s Secret PINK Brand Ambassadors to market the apparel.
“Together, we organized the ‘Think PINK Fashion Showdown,’ where each of FAMU’s on-campus modeling organizations went head-to-head competing to see which one could represent the label the best,” Saunders said. “The fashion shows were held on Feb. 6, 13 and 20 on the FAMU Set.”
FAMU’s “Set,” was decorated with bright pink carpet and pink and white balloons, in lieu of the competition, and the WANM-FM 90.5 DJs helped to keep the crowd enthused about the event.
“I was on the Set,” said Mercedes Johnson, 19, a sophomore-engineering student from Orlando. “I knew about the competition so I was consistently checking every week to see where we stood.”
The Office of Communications’ street team also helped by serving pink lemonade and cookies to students, while the FAMU PINK Brand Ambassadors gave out the signature PINK stuffed dogs to students that answered trivia questions regarding the PINK competition correctly.
“FAMU also solicited help of alumni, sending a notice regarding the competition to them via our alumni email database,” Saunders said. “We also promoted the competition on our website.”
According to Richard Dent, chief operating officer of PINK, as well as a Florida A&M University graduate, customers will directly support their favorite HBCU by purchasing HBCU products from the PINK Collegiate Collection. A portion of proceeds from sales go directly to the respective university
FAMU gets 7.5 percent of each garment sold from the FAMU PINK collection through the Collegiate Licensing Company. The CLC reported a 30 percent increase in revenue for FAMU in the fourth quarter, ending in December
As part of the winning packet, PINK will visit FAMU April 3.
Some details are being kept secret for a surprise, but the first 1,000 students can receive Limited Edition tees, and a coupon to use in local VS PINK stores.
Also, PINK will have laptops on site to encourage students to sign up as a member of PINK Nation, an online network where they can receive the inside scoop of all that is PINK.