Trashy Lingerie hopes to show Victoria's Secret a thing or two about selling on the Web when it launches its first DM campaign later this spring.
The 25-year-old Hollywood company will be the first commercial customer to use a new technology called sellONstream when it distributes 10,000 25-minute movies featuring models in various outfits to prospective new customers. With this campaign, which is set to launch in late April or early May, Trashy Lingerie is looking to promote its new e-commerce site (www.trashy.com) while adding new names to its database.
This also marks the first-ever marketing campaign for Trashy. In the past, it has relied solely on word-of-mouth to promote its retail location.
“We are going to be handing out the CDs somewhere in a public arena,” said Mary Loomis, director of operations at Trashy.com. “We believe this is going to be a very new and unique concept in the world of direct marketing.”
The piece will be a CD-ROM containing a mini-movie, “Trashy Lingerie's Hollywood House Party 1999,” featuring models wearing Trashy's lingerie, police outfits and doctors and nurses uniforms at a party. Designed by ImaginOn, San Carlos, CA, the CD — which includes the video engine, browser and branding message — will link directly to the retailer's Web site.
“Without a significant number of bandwidth users on the Internet, this is the best way to deliver real television-like commercials to people on the Web,” said David Schwartz, president and CEO of ImaginOn.
While watching the movie, the consumer can click on the “SHOP ONLINE” button and be linked directly to the buy page on the Trashy.com Web site. Of Trashy's 8,000-piece product line, it will offer 50 on the CD.
“This is kind of like an electronic catalog, but it is live and seamlessly integrated,” Schwartz said, adding that the movies can run up to 60 minutes.
Loomis said the design of the piece will allow it to be seen by a number of people beyond those who initially receive it.
“If people like it, they are going to tell their friends about it and then pass it along to them,” she said. “Hopefully, it is going to create a good word of mouth and start a buzz.”
Trashy only started taking part in e-commerce three months ago, but Loomis said that business generated from the Web has doubled each month. She said she could not reveal any revenue numbers generated from the Web site, but that the one retail location does several million dollars of business each year.
