Law And More: Lesson from Hulu’s “Victoria’s Secret”

The Hulu documentary “Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons” presents a comprehensive chronicle of what, after an amazing rise, brought down that innovator in female intimate garments. Later, of course, there had been brand extensions into other products.

That documentary, plus the resilience of the negative impacts of The Jeffery Epstein Factor, likely helped trigger the current restructuring of the corporation. In the process, 160 managers have lost their jobs. Does Victoria’s Secret have a comeback in its DNA? I am not optimistic. The world has changed too much.

All this is a two-fold warning to executives: 1) Be cautious about who’s on your network and 2) anticipate how what you’re up-to will play out on a documentary.

Yes, documentaries are a power tool for eliciting change.

Book exposes are not where it’s at anymore. It’s the visual. That’s why the prospects for reform of Wall Street aren’t too rosy for the expose due out at the end of August – “Bully Market.” It’s by former Goldman Sachs managing director Jamie Fiore Higgins. The author may achieve some fame. But as for impacts, don’t count on any movement of the dial.

The classic example on no movement of the dial is “The Caesars Palace Coup” by Sujeet Indap and Max Frumes. It’s a detailed vilification of Wall Street players such as Apollo and Big Law firms such as Kirkland & Ellis and Paul Weiss. It arrived on the scene with plenty of buzz. That included the popular Vanity Fair article which alleged that Paul Weiss attempted to interfere with freedom of speech. There was plenty of gawking. For those who love the dirt, a good time was had by all.

Meanwhile, everyone featured negatively in the book likely felt some heat. Maybe even a lot of that.

But there were no shakeups as there had been at Victoria’s Secret.

Apollo is thriving under the leadership of the CEO of Marc Rowan. He replaced former head Leon Black in a scandal related to Epstein. Among his accomplishments is expanding the Apollo brand to credit.

The law firms have had impressive Profits Per Equity Partner for 2021:

Firm		PEP
1. Wachtell		$8.4M
2. Kirkland		$7.388M
3. Davis Polk		$7.01M
4. Sullivan & Cromwell		$6.366M
5. Paul Weiss		$6.162M
6. Simpson Thacher		$5.980M
7. Cravath		$5.803M
8. Quinn Emanuel		$5.746M
9. Latham		$5.705M
10. Cahill		$5.533M

But the outcomes from looking under the hood of how Wall Street and Big Law operate could have been quite catastrophic had there been a documentary. Or even a movie version of “Caesars.” 

Book exposes could be useful to the careers of the authors. But currently, unlike the old days of Ralph Nader’s “Unsafe at Any Speed,” they don’t create platforms for what is perceived as needing reform.

We are in a visual era. The visual is sticky. Embedded in my memory bank are the images from “Victoria’s Secret” of the corporation’s CEO Les Wexner and financial giant Black being linked to Epstein. 

Currently I am working on an article for a retailer magazine on how to market to GenZ. Obviously, one key aspect of that is the video on TikTok, YouTube, Snapshot, and Instagram.

But all influence for all gens has moved on to the screen. In discussions about anything with my fellow boomers there is inevitably a reference to something from Hulu, Netflix, TikTok, or YouTube. Not one in the past 14 months has introduced a book into the conversation. 

Discover how amazing results can happen in your marketing communications. A client told me that I made shipping containers sound “sexy.” (That drove sales.) Complimentary consultation with [email protected]. Text 203-468-8579.