Latest / The Curve / The Weekly: Shopped at ASOS? Your data could be out there & Victoria’s Secret’s comeback
Transcript
- 0:01Coming up in today's episode, we speak about cybersecurity, which before you fall asleep, is a problem that you need to be aware of.
- 0:09ASOS was hacked a few weeks ago.
- 0:11A week ago, we found out there was a sort of a hole in the internet, like 70% of websites were compromised.
- 0:17What does this mean for you, for businesses, for governments?
- 0:21It's a huge story and it's actually quite fascinating.
- 0:24And we'll also be talking about Victoria's Secret.
- 0:26Now I am sure that like me, your social media feed has been absolutely awash in images and videos from their latest catwalk.
- 0:35But we won't go into the business story behind the brand's pretty stark, pretty impressive revival after years in pretty steep decline.
- 0:45This is The Curve Weekly, where we read the finance news that you don't have to.
- 0:49I'm Sophie Hallwright, ex-television and radio producer who is sick and tired of not understanding how to invest, how to understand the economy or grow my wealth, so we started this podcast.
- 0:58And my name is Emma-Louise Boynton.
- 1:00I am a writer, broadcaster and newly published author, focused on opening up conversations about the topics we are typically taught not to discuss.
- 1:08But first, we have a word from today's sponsor.
- 1:12If KiwiSaver has been on your, I should probably sort that out list, for years, this is your sign.
- 1:18Book a no-cost KiwiSaver advice session with a Generate advisor by using the link in our show notes.
- 1:24And thank you so much to Generate for sponsoring this episode of The Curve Weekly.
- 1:28I need to start this episode by saying that I am having the most wild dreams this week.
- 1:36And I don't know, there must be something in retrograde because like I am having everything from like kind of sexy 15 year old, like low key nearly getting to like, do I say wet dream?
- 1:49Like it's not a wet dream, but I'm having kind of sexy dreams.
- 1:52But then last night I was so in the red in my dream because I was full noise on wedding planning.
- 2:00I, in the weekend, did the first ever, okay, I actually need to do something about this and like do a little bit of admin around this because I've done none.
- 2:08And then last night, all I did was dream about all the expensive things.
- 2:12It is so scary how much money goes into it.
- 2:15And I've talked about this as a third person completely uninvolved in the wedding industry up until now.
- 2:21And now you're like, and that's actually me.
- 2:23Now I'm getting some serious anxiety about it.
- 2:26Oh my God.
- 2:27I can totally imagine.
- 2:28So what happens in the dream?
- 2:29You're just spending the money.
- 2:31So the dream is me going through every line item and I'm having... That's so intense.
- 2:36It's so intense.
- 2:36At like three in the morning, you're there with your highlighter.
- 2:39It's like I'm having a foreign conversation in my head as well.
- 2:42It's almost like I'm having a meeting with myself on the budget all night long.
- 2:47Oh, wow.
- 2:48It's awful.
- 2:49And then you wake up exhausted because you haven't properly slept.
- 2:51Yeah.
- 2:52Because it feels like you've been doing... You know, your brain kind of hurts in your sleep because you're really thinking.
- 2:57I find that...
- 2:58I get that a little.
- 2:58I almost feel like my best thinking happens in my sleep.
- 3:01And then I wake up and can't remember any of the key thoughts I had, except for the fact it was stressful.
- 3:06So...
- 3:06I mentioned before a couple of weeks ago, I'm doing the artist's way at the moment.
- 3:09And one of the things that she says to do, so it's written by Julia Cameron.
- 3:12I actually should go back and do this.
- 3:14It's such a brilliant book.
- 3:15It's honestly, it's so fabulous.
- 3:16I'm loving doing it.
- 3:17I'm really behind, but whatever.
- 3:18Skate over that.
- 3:19But one of the things she says to do is before you go to bed each night, write down a few of the questions that you have that you really want answered.
- 3:25And then in the morning, and when you do your morning pages, you will have answers to those questions and just write what comes out.
- 3:31That's a great idea.
- 3:33And I sort of think it's true.
- 3:34Like if I have a serious burning...
- 3:35like work question, life question, whatever, it tends to come off my dream.
- 3:39And listen, I don't think dreaming me is always like the total smartest, most strategic version.
- 3:44But sometimes I'm like, wow, thanks girl.
- 3:47Okay, so I am super excited to talk about this hacking cyber...
- 3:52security story it doesn't sound exciting it really is fascinating it doesn't but it is because also when you begin to dive into it which we will do you realize how vulnerable we all are and i have started to realize recently that i am getting so much more spam email um text messages across all digital communication channels i am noticing an uptick in the amount of spam i get now and
- 4:18And I feel like this is presumably related to what we're about to talk about.
- 4:20Honestly, I was saying, like, even last week I was getting these calls.
- 4:23There was probably, and I'm not exaggerating, about 15 missed calls from random numbers.
- 4:27And I was like, no one calls me anymore.
- 4:29I know all my friends, everyone at work, it's WhatsApp, you know.
- 4:31So I knew that it was spam.
- 4:33And finally I picked up and I was like, hello.
- 4:36And this lovely poor woman was like, Hi, it's Sandra here from Sweet Peas Flowers.
- 4:41A friend sent you some flowers.
- 4:43And I was like, I am so sorry for my absolutely horrendous comms, but I'm getting spammed on all fronts.
- 4:50On the spam front, what my phone now does, because you know it does the transcription of voicemail messages.
- 4:55Oh, yeah.
- 4:55It's transcription service is so bad.
- 4:57So whenever I go into the transcription thing of like people who've, and often it's like delivery drivers or someone who's outside.
- 5:03And it leaves like really dramatic messages.
- 5:05Once my mum had called me and she'd like had the radio on the background and it was the news and it was talking about a war of something was going.
- 5:11And so I just got this message from mum being like, you know, so-and-so killed, stabbed.
- 5:15And I was like, oh my God, what is going on?
- 5:17Called my mum and was like, what's going on?
- 5:19And then was like, ah, this is...
- 5:20So the whole – and I get a lot of those from spam numbers where they call and the message is just like really – feels like very cryptic and kind of spooky.
- 5:28You know, it used to be really obvious and easy to spot a spam email, a spam message.
- 5:35It was a dodgy looking email address.
- 5:37There was spelling mistakes.
- 5:39But now –
- 5:40sophisticated.
- 5:41It's so sophisticated to the point where I was even speaking to someone in the weekend who works in privacy.
- 5:47They got basically spammed out of their home deposit and they got it back through insurance, but he works in the industry.
- 5:52There was one letter that was different in the
- 5:57was accurate and correct.
- 5:58So basically the point is here is that cybersecurity and hacking, you may think that this is not something that impacts you.
- 6:05It's impacting.
- 6:06It's everyone's problem at this point.
- 6:08And what used to be this conversation like, oh, my poor granny is going to get spanned.
- 6:12It's like, no, actually all of us.
- 6:14I mean, I'm so for sure going to fall for this.
- 6:17But today what I want to...
- 6:17Sorry, by the sounds of it, you're being quite rude to the potential.
- 6:20I'm being rude.
- 6:21I'm being rude to everyone.
- 6:22I think just be rude to it.
- 6:23Be just generally quite universally cynical.
- 6:26And then I think...
- 6:27But I'm very gullible.
- 6:28And, you know, the complexity and the sophistication with which a lot of these hackers are getting into our email systems, our WhatsApp, getting our numbers, getting all sorts of information that you assume people could only get if they were legit.
- 6:42That's the main problem here.
- 6:44Yeah.
- 6:45So basically, a few weeks ago, did you get the notification via the ASOS app?
- 6:49About the hack?
- 6:50I didn't get it via the app.
- 6:52I got an email from ASOS saying that they'd been hacked.
- 6:56Right.
- 6:56And I then saw the news stories around.
- 6:59And so I felt very aware of the ASOS hacking story.
- 7:01I was like, okay, this is something.
- 7:02And felt then really annoyed at ASOS.
- 7:04I was like, you have all my card details.
- 7:07You being hacked actually, like, isn't a joke because you've got everything.
- 7:11Right.
- 7:11And basically they initially said, oh, don't worry, like the hackers only have really basic information.
- 7:16And then they leaked a bunch of information to the BBC, which was way more detailed, you know, like birth dates, credit card details.
- 7:24So anyway, this was several weeks ago.
- 7:26At the time, I remember thinking, gosh, this is really odd that this is happening to such a massive reputable brand.
- 7:32Yeah.
- 7:33And what I realized is that all of these hacks, so a lot of this happens and has up until not happened behind closed doors.
- 7:40So basically what hackers do is they get inside a business, the backend, they get access to all of this customer data and then they threaten the business with the whole point.
- 7:49It's almost like a digital ransom, you know, in the same way people might have, I don't know, abducted someone and then they call and they're like, transfer me a million dollars or...
- 7:58you're never going to see your niece again.
- 8:00You know, like the whole concept of cyber hacks is that they're extortionists and they're getting money out of businesses behind closed doors.
- 8:08And they have no option really but to pay out because they're so scared about the overarching damage and what it could do.
- 8:15So anyway, this was something that happened publicly.
- 8:18I was in Spain and Luke's sister had it.
- 8:21And then so we went down a rabbit hole of like, what is going on here?
- 8:24How crazy that this is public.
- 8:26Yeah.
- 8:26The whole point was is they went public on purpose.
- 8:29It was like a deliberate move because they weren't getting what they wanted.
- 8:31So the hackers went public basically to hold ASOS to ransom saying, we're actually going to embarrass you by revealing how much information that we have to force ASOS's hand.
- 8:41Yeah.
- 8:41So they basically contacted, they put a push notification through the platform, which basically had like a thing that came up and spooked all of the customers.
- 8:50And at first, yeah, ASOS basically wasn't playing ball.
- 8:53And so that's where they went public and direct.
- 8:55Wow.
- 8:56But it's just crazy.
- 8:57I didn't realize this happens all the time.
- 8:59The recognizability of a brand like ASOS and just that it suddenly feels very close to home when it's like that.
- 9:04Suddenly something so innocuous, aka shopping for your holiday shorts, suddenly feels risky.
- 9:09It's like, oh, actually, just in purchasing that, this outfit, that up and having all my information stored on this site that I use regularly because I have the premium thing, next day delivery, woohoo.
- 9:18Actually, that becomes like dangerous.
- 9:20Kind of creepy and scary.
- 9:21Really creepy and scary.
- 9:23Just to pare it back on a basic level.
- 9:25Yeah.
- 9:25I have an ASOS account.
- 9:27I have all my credit cards uploaded onto ASOS.
- 9:30I have automatic pay.
- 9:31My address is on ASOS.
- 9:32What should I be doing as a customer to protect myself in this scenario?
- 9:37So definitely change your password.
- 9:38That's what everyone said.
- 9:39Go and change your password.
- 9:40I didn't remember the first one to begin with.
- 9:43I don't remember any of them ever.
- 9:44I am every cyber security's perfect target.
- 9:47The hell?
- 9:47hell are we supposed to remember the 150 passwords?
- 9:50Unless I get it tattooed on my forearm.
- 9:52But also, all of which need to be so complex now.
- 9:55Which I'm just like, the hackers have gone past passwords, surely.
- 9:58Oh yeah.
- 9:59Even like, when I was speaking to this guy yesterday, the one who works in privacy, is saying, you know, even QR codes, if you scan a QR code, they instantly can get access to everything.
- 10:08Like, they're in your phone.
- 10:09They can get into your emails.
- 10:11They get into your bank.
- 10:12Like, it's crazy.
- 10:12So there's apparently some hackers that are putting little stickers and things over the top of other...
- 10:17QR codes.
- 10:18I cannot.
- 10:19Isn't that terrifying?
- 10:20Okay, so...
- 10:21Sorry.
- 10:21What do I do?
- 10:22So I change my password.
- 10:23Change your password.
- 10:24You should be... Change all my cards?
- 10:26I mean, like, I actually don't know if that's, like, extreme or not, but I would just say take it off.
- 10:32Like, why not?
- 10:33They've been hacked.
- 10:33You may as well get rid of your details.
- 10:35I also think, regularly, again, this is not official advice.
- 10:38Yeah.
- 10:38So take this as a pinch of salt.
- 10:39But I do think it's quite good to regularly say to your bank that you've lost your card and get a new one so you cancel it.
- 10:45Just because the regularity – think of how many platforms you're putting your card details into regularly.
- 10:50So how many probably kind of insecure platforms you're putting the details into.
- 10:54So I just think getting an updated card every now and again.
- 10:56Well, there is actually plans for disposable cards to come in.
- 11:01Oh, that's smart.
- 11:01So that you've used it once, it's almost like a Kleenex.
- 11:05We've used it, throw it in the bin, which makes a lot of sense, right?
- 11:07I cannot begin to compute the level of password memory.
- 11:11So surely you run out of numbers, right?
- 11:13I can't.
- 11:13If you think everyone and you, every transaction.
- 11:16The admin.
- 11:16But it makes sense because the thing is, it's like this is happening in real time.
- 11:19So you've got all these hackers trying to get in.
- 11:22You've got all of this AI with like kind of the good guys and they're trying to do their best to patch up all of the things to stop bad stuff from happening.
- 11:29Yeah.
- 11:29So you've got AI on both sides doing like more work than what anyone could ever do before because you've got these agents on absolute crap that can work day and night.
- 11:40So it's great because you've got both sides that have the power of AI to kind of go against each other, but it's just wild.
- 11:46It's wild.
- 11:47So when I was looking into this, I was thinking surely like most companies don't actually pay the ransoms because also what proof do you have that they've actually gotten rid of your data?
- 11:56Yeah.
- 11:56Yeah.
- 11:57Like, nah.
- 11:58So apparently 80% of ransom scenarios, like, victims hand over the money.
- 12:04So of all of the small and medium-sized businesses, there was around 5,700 that were surveyed.
- 12:1127% of them had been targeted by ransom.
- 12:13So, like, this is happening literally everywhere.
- 12:16I'm just imagining if a hacker tried to ransom me with sex talks and I'd be like,
- 12:21what do you want to take?
- 12:22Be like, no customer.
- 12:24But that's actually a good point because the biggest and most dangerous like businesses that are like really going to fall victim to this like healthcare, can you imagine the amount they have to pay in insurance to protect their consumer data?
- 12:36NHS must because it also is going breached.
- 12:38So scary.
- 12:39And finances.
- 12:40So like banks, you know, like digital banks, all of that.
- 12:43But only 60% of businesses who paid, like paid their rents and get
- 12:48all their data back.
- 12:50What does it mean to get your data?
- 12:51Well, I guess it's access on everything again.
- 12:54Like really knowing that you've got everything back and it's safe.
- 12:57You know when people have the, they used to like send a little USB of like, I know you cheated on your wife, here are your images and photos.
- 13:04It's like...
- 13:04How do you not know that you copied this with every device?
- 13:06Millions of copies.
- 13:07Oh, my.
- 13:08This is very, like, movie.
- 13:09I feel like Hollywood predicted this a long time ago.
- 13:12It's so interesting.
- 13:13And what we'll get to in a second is a much bigger story around a huge cybersecurity hole in the internet that basically, like, 70% of websites are run on.
- 13:22And there was this huge scandal that happened last week.
- 13:25We'll explain what happened.
- 13:27But, yeah, essentially...
- 13:29Hackers can do anything.
- 13:31I don't know if you saw, but the UK government came out saying, have five days' supply of water and food, because we're going to see these hacks happen more and more and more.
- 13:39And you have no idea what they could do.
- 13:40They could disable all payment systems so no one could pay for anything.
- 13:44Power could go down.
- 13:45The defense sector has just said, we've got to prepare for war in a thousand days.
- 13:48Well, the idea is that it's like the war on data.
- 13:51You know, if you think back to like 30 years ago, for example, the bank, there was actually security guards standing at the door that were stopping robbers going in and getting access to the money.
- 14:03Now that everything is online and digital, AI has been this incredible resource to grow and scale and be way more productive.
- 14:11So there's all this positivity that's coming out of AI.
- 14:14But then you think about the people that have always been hackers, that have always been on the Internet.
- 14:18They're just this scary guy in a little coding room.
- 14:20They now have the power of AI.
- 14:22So they can swarm websites.
- 14:24They can swarm businesses.
- 14:25And what used to be they would just target big banks or like the big massive institutions.
- 14:31Now they can do medium and small size businesses.
- 14:34So everyone is at risk of kind of having data stolen or basically dodgy people being on the inside of their business.
- 14:43In the UK, we're talking about this increasing risk of these sort of data breaches alongside actual physical war with Russia.
- 14:50But if you think of it, this is also a weapon of war.
- 14:53Exactly.
- 14:53So these sorts of hacking, if you can infiltrate our energy systems, if you can infiltrate electricity.
- 14:59Governments.
- 15:00But also basic security, they were saying the other day, so many people's house security...
- 15:03like cars and everything is now done kind of digitally.
- 15:07I always thought that was crazy.
- 15:08I think just use a key, like for me, keys.
- 15:09So we've got probably a thousand days until we're potentially at war with Russia.
- 15:12Bizarre.
- 15:14If you think that there's going to be a hybrid warfare where, yes, we've already seen there's like boots on the ground with Ukraine and Russia, but if you think of it, it's going to be both like drone, actual like physical warfare, whatever that looks like today, alongside these like cyber...
- 15:28threats.
- 15:28It's just the mind boggles.
- 15:31It's crazy.
- 15:32Yeah, you're right.
- 15:33It's like it's it's this new world where businesses have to protect themselves from people who have really bad intentions.
- 15:40Like you think about whether it's Russia, North Korea, there's all these people that are trying to get access to information in different countries because it gives them, you know, like that film, The
- 15:50And they're trying to basically infiltrate and find and decode the messages so that they can know one step ahead of what the opposition or the enemy is going to be doing.
- 16:00It's kind of the same premise.
- 16:02If you can get access to someone's data or what they're talking about or anything that is not meant to be public knowledge and secret information, you have an upper hand.
- 16:11So it's a risk to governments.
- 16:13It's a risk to us as individuals.
- 16:15It's massively for companies.
- 16:17So there's so much to this that I just really –
- 16:20didn't realize how much of a big deal it was.
- 16:22But for anyone that missed it, all over the news in the last week, and I must say I absolutely skipped over this story because I didn't really understand what was going on until I looked into it.
- 16:32Basically, there's a business called PHP
- 16:35that has been around forever, like 70% of global websites.
- 16:39It's basically, without going into detail, it's like the infrastructure that websites are kind of built on.
- 16:44So it's not something that you'd see.
- 16:45But if you've booked something online, paved something online, you've used these technologies, essentially.
- 16:52So there was a cybersecurity floor found where there was almost like a hole in the technology of the business that was like a huge cyber risk.
- 17:02So
- 17:03If hackers were able to find this and get through it, the access they would have had, you can't even, yeah, you cannot even imagine how dangerous this would have been.
- 17:11It was like the biggest risk within a decade, the worst case of like, this could have been a total disaster.
- 17:17So there was a whole lot of people freaking out last week, whereby basically there was this hole in the internet.
- 17:24So say you were in a house and there was a leak in a pipe.
- 17:27You may never, ever, ever find that because in the house you're kind of like just using all the taps.
- 17:32It's fine.
- 17:32Running around.
- 17:33Things are kind of seemingly working on the front end.
- 17:34The taps are working.
- 17:35Yeah.
- 17:35But with AI and the amount of agents that are so, so clever, they almost wouldn't have even found this hole if they didn't have AI because it was so deep in the tech, if that makes sense.
- 17:45Yeah.
- 17:45And so there's this thing called like tech debt, which is basically where people build stuff and it's like they may know that there's a bit of a flaw or like a weak link, but they build on top of it because it's kind of like whatever.
- 17:58Yeah.
- 17:58So they keep building.
- 17:59And the more that you build and make these programs bigger and bigger, you're like, I was trying to think about an analogy.
- 18:06It would almost be like if you're building a house.
- 18:08And the foundations were a bit shaky, but you built on top of it and you didn't really know about it.
- 18:13There is a risk that something could go wrong, but it's so forgotten about and underneath all of the layers that it kind of – but because of AI, they found this hole.
- 18:24The people who found it.
- 18:25Was the good guys.
- 18:27And when we say good, do we mean they're working for government?
- 18:29They're working for business?
- 18:30They were basically, they were doing it to protect businesses.
- 18:33Fine, okay.
- 18:33So it wasn't like the dark red.
- 18:35The security side of things.
- 18:36Because I very, in the background, was kind of engaged with the stories.
- 18:40I think I listened to a podcast about it.
- 18:42And the thing that struck me was that there had been some sort of leak.
- 18:46The fact of this hole in the plumbing had been shared publicly.
- 18:49Had it not been shared publicly.
- 18:51They could have fixed it without this being in a shoe.
- 18:52Exactly, but because it had been revealed publicly, that was what, it meant like everyone was kind of rushing to get to the hole.
- 18:58Well, because they knew that all the hackers were doing their best to get through the hole, basically.
- 19:02Honestly, this is the scariest thing ever.
- 19:04This is so dystopian.
- 19:05It's so freaky.
- 19:06This is so weird.
- 19:07We have just absolutely marched into the weirdest, wackiest future.
- 19:11I like it.
- 19:12I honestly, does it not make you sort of want to go and just like use your hands and start like chopping wood in a forest and be done with tech?
- 19:20It actually makes me fascinated by it.
- 19:23I hate to say it, but I'm finding it fascinating.
- 19:26I know it's genuinely dangerous, but they're basically saying this is just going to be so regular now.
- 19:31There's going to be so many massive like scares like this.
- 19:35You've got all these businesses and tech products that are being built in the world.
- 19:39that are leveraging AI and moving in this direction.
- 19:42And it will just be really interesting to see like, what do we trust?
- 19:45And what, because of course that you think about ASOS and like customer trust is now down the toilet because of that.
- 19:51And like their share price dropped quite a bit initially and then it's sort of leveled back out again.
- 19:55But yeah,
- 19:56I'd actually push back on that stuff.
- 19:57I don't know how many people would be that hot on this.
- 20:00Do you think?
- 20:01I would be really curious, actually, for everyone listening.
- 20:04Let us know.
- 20:05Is this on your radar?
- 20:06Because I think, actually, we're in such an information glut era.
- 20:11That like you can hear a story of like ASOS hat, NHS hat, you kind of hear these hacking stories and they can become a little bit part of the background noise.
- 20:18So that as a consumer, you don't necessarily know the extent of the risk that this potentially entails.
- 20:25Well, that's why talking about it is so interesting because the main issue that hasn't been resolved is who pays for the insurance when this goes wrong.
- 20:33You know, like think about driverless cars.
- 20:36They still don't even really know who pays.
- 20:38If those crash, is it the person that owns the car, the person that invented the technology?
- 20:42Like whose responsibility is it?
- 20:44And it's the same with these hacks.
- 20:45Like, you know, if someone's using one of these products and they get hacked and all their money's taken, who is responsible and who has to claim insurance for?
- 20:53Yeah, because it's like as a consumer, do you need like personal, like is it business insurance that you have?
- 20:58Is it the company that you're, the platform that you're using?
- 21:00Or is it your fault for putting your details in?
- 21:03But then I don't think, I think if you're using a platform, like you're trusting that the platform is secure.
- 21:07So a slightly tangential, like parallel example, but one that feels resonant to this is, you know, Lime bikes.
- 21:14We all use Lime bikes.
- 21:16If you crash into someone on a Lime bike, Lime is not...
- 21:21responsible so there's been a few cases recently in the papers which i think are fascinating because it kind of speaks to this like where does like press like like is it the user or the businesses issue yeah so it's so and i think i think it should be live i think it's crazy that you have these like high powered like bikes that anyone can get on the street so there have been a few cases recently where people have been crashed into so there were two pieces i think i read two pieces in the times about this
- 21:44And the person, the victim who was crashed into has had life changing injuries.
- 21:49So sad.
- 21:50And they have not been able to do anything because they can't sue Lyme because Lyme is like, we're not liable.
- 21:56So the only thing they have to do is to then sue the individual who is like riding irresponsibly.
- 22:00And in both cases that I read about recently, the victims were like, they were kids, right?
- 22:05I'm not going to sue a child anymore.
- 22:06And that's where I think it's a really interesting, because again, it's like tech, these tech platforms not really taking responsibility for like what they're creating and the way it's impacting people.
- 22:16Yeah.
- 22:16So there's been some really interesting kind of pushback then also kind of like local government level of like, who should be responsible for this?
- 22:23Like who should have to step in?
- 22:24I guess it kind of, and this is the same example.
- 22:26Where does the buck stop in terms of obviously as consumers, we need to be safe.
- 22:31So when you ride a line bike, you need to like obey the laws.
- 22:33You need to like ride safely.
- 22:34when you're using this new technology, you need to like be mindful that you're changing your passwords.
- 22:38You're like, you know, trying to be as safe as possible.
- 22:41But I don't know.
- 22:41I think that the platforms that we are entrusting with our information have the ultimate responsibility to keep us safe.
- 22:48It's super interesting because it's almost like this line on the balance sheet or your P&L that has not been factored in until now because this hasn't been a risk.
- 22:57Yeah, there was a crazy story about Jaguar Land Rover where...
- 23:01where it was reportedly finalizing its cyber insurance policy when it was attacked last year.
- 23:07They had like $200 million of lost production because of what happened.
- 23:11Oh my God, I remember that.
- 23:12And it was something crazy.
- 23:13Like the cost of the cover versus like the excess they had to pay was like $10 million.
- 23:19You know, it was just like insane.
- 23:20If you think about businesses and what they have to pay for as, you know...
- 23:23production costs of a product, all of those things.
- 23:26Also global businesses.
- 23:27You just think the size.
- 23:29Like security for cyber has now become this enormous cost that has to be factored in in terms of insurance, but also like, yeah, so it's crazy.
- 23:41It's not just us as individuals, but it's businesses that now have to fork up a lot of money to protect themselves.
- 23:49And it's, yeah.
- 23:50Anyway, it's so fascinating.
- 23:52With an investor hat on, should we, like whose share price is basically benefiting from this?
- 23:59Are there businesses that I should maybe be having a look at to invest in?
- 24:03Obviously, this is not advice.
- 24:04So please do your own research.
- 24:06Don't just go and invest in these.
- 24:07I'm just using these as examples to show like how much this industry is benefiting off the back of what is hugely scary.
- 24:14There's a lot of businesses that work in the space of trying to protect and stop this kind of thing from happening.
- 24:18So...
- 24:19One of the biggest cybersecurity companies, it's in the NASDAQ, so the U.S. stock exchange that's often for, like, tech businesses.
- 24:28The ticker is P-A-N-W.
- 24:30It's called Paolo Alto Networks, and they're basically trying to protect company networks from being attacked.
- 24:36They're up 64% this year and 31% over the last five years.
- 24:40So obviously people are like, we need you.
- 24:44help.
- 24:44There's another one on the NASDAQ which protects laptops and phones and servers from attack and it's up 82% this year and 224% over five years.
- 24:54And that one is called CrowdStrike.
- 24:56The ticker is CRWD.
- 24:58So these are just some examples of some stocks individually that are doing really, really well because they're being used but also all of a sudden so many more people need cybersecurity within businesses.
- 25:08And then we spoke about insurance like
- 25:12Cyber insurance is a huge growth market.
- 25:14In the UK alone, it was worth...
- 25:18$521 million in 2024, and that's forecast to be $2.4 billion by 2033.
- 25:25So it's booming, and there's quite a few examples of businesses that are doing crazily well.
- 25:31Yeah, so it's a huge industry.
- 25:32But I think the main thing that I wanted to bring up, because investing in individual stocks is way, way, way riskier than doing indexes or investing in funds.
- 25:42If you are in a global index, you invest in all the companies that are public.
- 25:45Yeah.
- 25:46You'll already, like, if you're in a global tracker, you probably have, like, a little bit of a lot of these companies already because they're really doing so well.
- 25:54But I just think it's an interesting thing to think about.
- 25:57Like, cybersecurity we've talked about for a long time.
- 26:00And for me, I felt super disconnected from the whole industry.
- 26:04I'm like, yeah, cybersecurity, whatever.
- 26:06It's basically just security.
- 26:07You know, it's like security for businesses.
- 26:10It's so broad now.
- 26:12It's booming, as you can see with those share prices.
- 26:15Yeah.
- 26:15But it feels like we're at this real intensifying point because of the rapidity with which AI is becoming so ubiquitous in which we're all using in our day-to-day lives.
- 26:24Just the amount of information that we are so readily handing over to these AI bots and businesses.
- 26:31Businesses have to adapt to protect and think about how are they going to move with the fact that this –
- 26:38is an amazing resource to fast track so much productivity and output.
- 26:43And it's so positive in so many ways.
- 26:46Last week, Claude was my best friend.
- 26:48I rebuilt my personal website, rebuilt my business website, rebuilt my – just did unbelievable amounts of output.
- 26:56with co-work on AI.
- 26:58In a weird sense, I actually think it's never been a better time to be a solo entrepreneur, building a small business.
- 27:03I agree.
- 27:04And being able to utilize these tools to basically have a kind of mini team.
- 27:08The platform that I've built for the curve, and when I say I, like Luke has a business called Outsource, which actually there's a few people who contacted us wanting to...
- 27:17work with him because he's created a platform for the curve that we would have paid no joke upwards of like 700 grand to get built before AI was made this accessible like there's no way we could have built the infrastructure that we now have but also like the the pro of being a small business now is that you know that example I was saying about how you can build on tech and it can almost be like you can build on like faulty foundations kind of and then you spend all this money building on top of it.
- 27:43If you are a huge business and then you're trying to implement AI, what you have to unravel is just so much more intense.
- 27:51Whereas if you're a small team, you can implement stuff so much faster.
- 27:55The rapidity with which this is all happening is just...
- 27:59It's so fast.
- 28:00That's what's, it's just so fast.
- 28:01But then in the background, we're like, existential.
- 28:04Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 28:05Oh, my God.
- 28:05Also, if we're at war in a thousand days, is where streeting is warning us.
- 28:08Okay, that is fascinating.
- 28:10I have so much, I'm going to go home and change all my passwords to ones I won't remember.
- 28:14So I'll have to change it again.
- 28:15Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 28:16And maybe cancel some cards that might have been affected.
- 28:19You never know.
- 28:20Shall we move on to our second story, sir?
- 28:22Yes.
- 28:22Let's give a little tease and then come back after the break.
- 28:25What are we talking about?
- 28:26Perfect.
- 28:26Perfect.
- 28:27So after the break, we're going to be diving into Victoria's Secret.
- 28:31So I'm sure, like me, your social media feed has been absolutely covered wall-to-wall in coverage of their very glitzy, glam recent fashion show, which culminated in none other than Kylie Jenner walking down the runway in a $50 million bra as partner Timothée?
- 28:51Timothée Chalamet and Kris Jenner applauded from the front row.
- 28:54In a post-MeToo era, some are saying that the show is kind of a relic from the past, while others are celebrating what feels like a pretty nostalgic cultural comeback for a very Northeast-coded brand.
- 29:05Of course, we're interested in the business story, so we'll be deep diving into what this very opulent recent show reveals about the brand's turnaround after a period of pretty bad decline.
- 29:15I'm actually so excited, but first we do have a quick word from today's sponsor.
- 29:18Okay, the stat is absolutely wild.
- 29:21Consumer New Zealand rated Generates KiwiSaver scheme number one for customer service with 90% satisfaction.
- 29:29In second place, I will just say, only got 75%, so it's not even close.
- 29:34Honestly, in a world of AI chatbots, sometimes it's really nice to speak to a real person.
- 29:40So if you would like to book a no-cost KiwiSaver advice session with a Generate advisor, you can see a link in the show notes.
- 29:47And just a quick thank you to Generate for making this episode of The Curve Weekly possible.
- 29:53Okay, first of all, surely your social media has been just Victoria's Secret everywhere.
- 29:59Yes, it was.
- 30:00And I really felt it was such a throwback.
- 30:02I thought I kind of almost forgot that it was a thing.
- 30:07And I also didn't realize how enormous the break had been between shows.
- 30:11Did I care that much?
- 30:13Was I so invested?
- 30:14I think probably no way near as much as I had been when I was, you know, like five, eight years ago.
- 30:21I feel a little bit like it didn't touch the sides in terms of zooming in and feeling embarrassed or like, you know, judging myself and my body on what I saw.
- 30:29Like I felt...
- 30:30Same.
- 30:31I felt more detached from the whole thing.
- 30:35Same.
- 30:36Isn't that interesting?
- 30:37I guess maybe it's like our age and maturity and just how wonderfully wise and brilliant we now are in our mid-30s.
- 30:43Because same, I looked at them and I was like, I don't care.
- 30:47Yeah, it was cool.
- 30:48Honestly, it felt very nostalgic.
- 30:49That early noughties period that felt so reminiscent of that time where the angels were just such big cultural figures and it was such an accolade to be appointed to an angel.
- 31:00Can I say?
- 31:00Whereas now I was like, it doesn't seem that cool.
- 31:02I was about to say, I almost felt like it's kind of, I think it's a bit embarrassing to be an angel now.
- 31:08I don't know why I felt that.
- 31:10I've designed it on a basic level.
- 31:12Oh my God.
- 31:13Also, in my mind's eye, Victoria's Secret as a brand just is quite tacky.
- 31:18And like this.
- 31:18I used to think it was cool, though.
- 31:20When I was younger, I was younger.
- 31:22But not now.
- 31:22Like now it just doesn't feel chic, doesn't feel luxury because it's had so much and we'll go into it.
- 31:28But just bad press has surrounded the brand for a hot minute.
- 31:31So maybe let's just take a step back.
- 31:33Yeah.
- 31:34Because you mentioned just there that you didn't realise the gap that has existed in terms of when the last show was.
- 31:40Yeah, when was it?
- 31:41So, I was under the impression that this was the first show after a pretty significant hiatus.
- 31:47Is that what you thought?
- 31:48Oh, totally, yeah.
- 31:49Okay, it's not.
- 31:50So, it actually relaunched in 2024.
- 31:52This is the third of, like, its recent relaunch shows.
- 31:54No way.
- 31:55I was totally oblivious to the previous two years of shows.
- 31:58Who were the angels?
- 31:59Couldn't tell you.
- 31:59Wow.
- 31:59I mean, I could in my notes, but...
- 32:02I could blow all the details here.
- 32:04But it's so strange to me.
- 32:05So I went into my research being like, you know, my first hook was like, Victoria's Secret Show is back.
- 32:10And then obviously went into the research and I was like, hang on a second.
- 32:13No.
- 32:13So it relaunched back in 2024.
- 32:14Well, they obviously had a terrible PR team because like, I didn't see a thing.
- 32:20Okay, so can we rewind for a moment?
- 32:22The company was doing badly.
- 32:24The last I remember was that they got enormously cancelled.
- 32:28Something to do with Epstein.
- 32:29Something to do with it just being a bad place and it was no longer – you would have had to –
- 32:36pay or like you probably couldn't have even paid anyone to walk on the show.
- 32:39That's how bad the brand damage had been.
- 32:40Oh, that is interesting that that is your impression of it.
- 32:43Because I can't even really remember what the decline came from.
- 32:46Like I can't remember, but my overarching feeling was I thought this had been cancelled forever and it wasn't coming back.
- 32:53Okay, fascinating.
- 32:54So
- 32:55Yes and no.
- 32:57So to give you a bit of context, the show broadcast to nearly 10 million viewers in 2013.
- 33:03So that's a kind of period that we're, you know, back in kind of more noughtish period, it was at its height.
- 33:09So 10 million viewers tuned in and there was a kind of cultural celebration of the angels.
- 33:14And we watched it live, didn't we?
- 33:16I feel like it was...
- 33:17The telly.
- 33:18It was on the telly box.
- 33:20It was pre-Netflix.
- 33:21It was pre-Netflix.
- 33:22We tuned in to watch it.
- 33:24By 2018, that figure had dropped to a record low of 3.3 million viewers.
- 33:29That still seems like a pretty high number to me.
- 33:32Surely it was like 90% million though at that point.
- 33:33Yeah, I mean, the viewers at that point may not be their target audience.
- 33:37And all that cost a fortune, as you can imagine, for the brand to produce around $20 million by 2060.
- 33:43Just for the show.
- 33:44For the show.
- 33:44God, that's a lot of money.
- 33:45Which is a huge amount of money.
- 33:47And it really did little to boost by then lagging retail sales or reverse a drop in market share.
- 33:52I think that reflected the brand's declining cultural relevance.
- 33:56So in 2019, the show was put on a hiatus and then returned, as I said before, in 2024.
- 34:02Essentially what happened is the ROI was too poor.
- 34:04And a lot of things happened in that period.
- 34:06So let's talk about the brand's decline, which as you've kind of alluded to in terms of your kind of outside impression, which really mirror mine, it just felt like it sort of, it just didn't keep up with changing.
- 34:17It was a bit lame.
- 34:18It also, you know, close to me too.
- 34:21It felt very male gaze and that shouldn't be surprising because it was really run by men.
- 34:26It was a kind of the embodiment of how men view women's sexuality.
- 34:30And while in the kind of toxicity of,
- 34:33of the early noughties that was celebrated.
- 34:36Then a post-Me Too era, it suddenly felt like that just didn't really sit right with consumers in the same way.
- 34:42So yes, it kind of fell out of favor in that people in the post-Me Too era, the world was moving on.
- 34:46It had such narrow representations of bodies.
- 34:49Oh God, that's right.
- 34:50And then the then chief marketing officer, Ed Razek, made some comments in Vogue in an interview dismissing plus size and trans models.
- 35:00I remember that.
- 35:01That's right.
- 35:02And that really kind of cemented this.
- 35:04What an actual idiot.
- 35:06Idiot.
- 35:06Sorry, but who did not give that guy any kind of media training?
- 35:10Even if you didn't, even if you believed that, surely you knew that that was going to absolutely bury your brand.
- 35:16What arrogance?
- 35:17Didn't care.
- 35:18He was so insulated from shifting cultural norms and I would say basic human morality.
- 35:24that he had the arrogance to say that there was no place for trans and plus-size models.
- 35:29So when he made those comments, it just really solidified that the brand's sort of just feeling a bit passé.
- 35:34The company also relied really heavily on traditional bricks and mortar stores, all while consumers were increasingly, obviously, shopping online.
- 35:42Again, the brand just felt like it didn't keep up with shifting consumer patterns.
- 35:45So they'd relied so heavily on that kind of shopping experience, and their consumer was now shopping online.
- 35:50Its main strategy to compete with other retailers –
- 35:53began to be sweeping promotional deals, which immediately kind of lower the perceived value of the product.
- 36:00So they just relied on discounting products very heavily, which obviously hurt profit margins.
- 36:05But also makes it look tacky.
- 36:06Well, why would I ever buy something full price if I know in two months it's most likely going to be 49% off?
- 36:13It gives the sense of failure.
- 36:14Like if a shop is always heavily discounting, those pieces are not premium.
- 36:20So you can see now that basically the brand was not- It's suffering enormously.
- 36:23It's suffering enormously.
- 36:24It was not keeping up with changing patterns.
- 36:26And then the cherry on top of the cake, a little bit of extreme misogyny.
- 36:30So to cut things off, the company's owner, Les Wexner, faced intense public scrutiny and reputational damage because of his long-term financial ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
- 36:41Yes.
- 36:42He is mentioned multiple times in the Epstein files.
- 36:46So he's not been convicted of anything to do with Epstein, so I should say that from a legal perspective.
- 36:50But his name comes up a hell of a lot in the epstein.
- 36:52Let's just say, would we want someone like that designing female lingerie and clothing or anywhere near anything that's speaking to women?
- 37:00Probably not.
- 37:00And so just for a bit of background, Les Wexner isn't the founder of Victoria's Secret.
- 37:04He actually headed up a company called L Brands.
- 37:07And L Brands took over Victoria Secrets in 1982.
- 37:12So he bought it from the founder, Roy Raymond, for one million because the company at the time wasn't doing that well.
- 37:16So he wasn't the founder, but he did take over the company.
- 37:19And then, yes, so when he was implicated heavily in the Epstein files and just he had a quite close personal relationship with Epstein, which didn't really go down that well from a kind of public perception standpoint.
- 37:30Am I right in thinking, like around 2020, that it sold, and I don't know if it sold the whole thing, but it sold to a private equity company?
- 37:37Basically, someone saw it as an opportunity and thought, let's buy it.
- 37:40We can turn this around.
- 37:42Yes.
- 37:42And then COVID.
- 37:43So in 2020, Victoria's Secret's parent company, Elle Brands, that's the one that Les Wexner was head of, they agreed to sell a 55% controlling stake in the lingerie brand to private equity firm Sycamore Partners in a deal that valued the brand at $1.1 billion.
- 38:00Then COVID hit.
- 38:02Sycamore tried to pull out.
- 38:03They were basically saying, this is very store heavy.
- 38:06This is a retail store business.
- 38:08Oh, and everyone is going to be stuck at home.
- 38:09And then people aren't going to be at home.
- 38:11So people aren't going to be buying stuff.
- 38:12So the deal was terminated in May 2020.
- 38:15Victoria's Secret was instead spun off as its own listed company in 2021.
- 38:21And Les Wexner then stepped down from his leadership roles during the corporate restructuring.
- 38:25Can I just say, what a tip.
- 38:25terrible time just a shit show at that point would you not just be like oh my god wow like the fact that from a reputation standpoint that they were able to get any anyone cool to walk in these shows in the last few years is fascinating to me because when i read that 1.1 billion dollar valuation i mean i see billion i'm like whoa that's a ton
- 38:48But actually, even though that sounds like a lot, just five years prior, so five years prior to this almost private equity deal happening, L Brand's total market capitalisation peaked at around 29 billion.
- 39:00And so Victoria's Secret was part of that.
- 39:02It was an unseparated subsidiary of the public company.
- 39:05But it was a massive driver of revenue for that big company.
- 39:09So it's fair to say a billion, selling for a billion is like pennies.
- 39:13Yeah, the business was annually driving sales of $7.7 billion.
- 39:18And that accounted for roughly 63% of LRAS's overall revenue at the time.
- 39:22This is at the peak, right?
- 39:23Yeah, that was at the peak.
- 39:24So by the time it's 2020, it's kind of what it was being valued at actually had taken quite a significant amount.
- 39:29I really would love to know at that point in time as well if anyone was even buying it.
- 39:33I can't imagine anyone sitting at home during COVID 2021 too thinking, what am I going to do?
- 39:39I'm going to go buy Victoria's Secret.
- 39:41I mean, at that point, that was when Savage Fenty and like the Rihanna label came around and there was all these really cool, actually diverse in terms of,
- 39:52the types of people that they were built for, the way that they were marketed.
- 39:55There was just so many cool lingerie brands.
- 39:58The last one I would have bought from would have been Victoria's Secret.
- 40:01And also, I mean, I'm like, I want to buy female founded.
- 40:03Actually, it's interesting that you mentioned Fenty Savage, Brianna's lingerie brand, because it's actually two people plucked from that company that got brought on by Victoria's Secret that have totally...
- 40:13Totally turns the company around.
- 40:14Oh, well, clever.
- 40:15So clever.
- 40:15I mean, that makes...
- 40:16I was about to say, can we please get to the point in which it's obviously started to make a comeback?
- 40:20Because how the actual hell did they do that?
- 40:22Yeah.
- 40:22Taking people from that brand makes a lot of sense to me.
- 40:25Exactly.
- 40:25Also, before we get into this, because it wasn't bought by private equity, it's still a public company, right?
- 40:31Yeah.
- 40:32Like it's listed.
- 40:32If it had been bought by private equity and was private, it'd be really interesting to see what was happening now.
- 40:38Because they've actually had to adjust and reinvent themselves in the public eye and with the scrutiny of everyone looking at what they're doing.
- 40:45It's honestly kind of amazing that they have managed to do anything.
- 40:48Totally.
- 40:49So let me tell you the figures of this turnaround, which are quite amazing.
- 40:54At its lowest point, the stock fell to around 13 to 14 a share, dragging its market value down to nearly $1 billion.
- 41:01Today, the stock trades at roughly $88, bringing the company's total market value to about $7.05 billion.
- 41:10Wow, that's amazing it's gone up that much.
- 41:12So it's a pretty big turnaround.
- 41:14It's now actually listed on the stock exchange as VSXY, so V-Sexy.
- 41:20It's quite a rush.
- 41:20Previously VSCO, that was one, which I quite like that change.
- 41:26And that was one small kind of, I think, quite funny change by their now new CEO, Hilary Super, who took over in autumn 2024 after leading Anthropologie and Savage X Vantage.
- 41:37So she basically came in with a brand new strategy around kind of reclaiming leadership in the bra category, expanding into beauty and modernizing how the company markets its products.
- 41:46They also hired a man called Adam Selman as the chief creative officer who previously was also working at Rihanna Savage XFMT.
- 41:54So you have these two kind of powerhouse leaders who'd been huge, working with Rihanna previously, who were then brought on by Victoria's Secret, who came in with a new kind of strategic vision for how the company was going to work.
- 42:05I quite like that they didn't just bring, you know, a female CEO in.
- 42:10You know, there's so many stories about the female CEO being caught in when it's doing shit.
- 42:14And, like, what I actually would love to know is the fact they've brought the show back.
- 42:18And I know you're saying it's been now three years.
- 42:20They did 24, 5, and 6.
- 42:21Yeah.
- 42:22How did they justify the return on investment of a 20 million show?
- 42:26I'm just surprised that that made the comeback in general.
- 42:29So I don't know how much they spent on that, but I was actually really surprised at the ROI of the show.
- 42:34I would have just thought that it's like the days of that is not worth it.
- 42:37You're not going to get – I wouldn't see the Victoria's Secret show and then think I'm going to go buy some product.
- 42:43You know, I actually don't know if I agree with that because I think now we're seeing it clipped up on social media and we're seeing the celebrities associated with the show.
- 42:51I mean, they had big celebrities this year.
- 42:53The fact that Kylie Jenner closed the show in the $50 million bracket, like that image of her, that was reported in every publication.
- 43:00It meant you had Timothee Chalamet was there, Kris Jenner.
- 43:03Bringing in the Jenner, like from a social media imprint perspective, it was huge.
- 43:09But last year's show, so this is second since it's come back.
- 43:11Which I'm still not convinced it happened.
- 43:13I couldn't have told you who was in that.
- 43:15But it drove a reported 60% plus year-over-year traffic lift to its websites and more than 15% increase in new customer conversions on show day.
- 43:25So it does have an impact, like a kind of quite direct measurable impact.
- 43:30So the recent one, we do have figures on this just in terms of viewership.
- 43:34But apparently it reached an audience.
- 43:36Because at its high, you said it was 10 million.
- 43:38Yeah, so at its high, it was 10 million.
- 43:40And remember, they cancelled it when it reached a low in 2018 of 3 million.
- 43:44It was 3.64 million viewers.
- 43:46This time?
- 43:47This time around, in 2026.
- 43:48So it remains lower than in the linear television broadcast days, which frequently surpassed 9 to 12 million viewers on CBS.
- 43:56But it...
- 43:58I guess by virtue of it being a very kind of social media first show and how much it was clipped up, it was still able to have a decent ROI.
- 44:05Also, the viewership, I'm not sure if you were just saying that that 3 million is across... That's live streaming.
- 44:09Yeah, because you think about the eyeballs.
- 44:11Exactly.
- 44:12It's like you wouldn't have actually had anywhere near that reach in the height of it.
- 44:16The 10 million views would have been almost purely from people watching it.
- 44:20Exactly.
- 44:20Whereas the sort of trailing content that comes from that, the eyeballs would surely have...
- 44:27gone over 10 million.
- 44:28And one more thing they did, which I think is super smart, is, and again, I have not seen this because such is the saturation of the digital world, you just miss everything.
- 44:36But the sellman who I mentioned, he'd been at Savage X Fenty previously.
- 44:41So he created a new social first reality show for the brand called Angels Among Us, which premiered on YouTube on the 27th of September.
- 44:50Now, the premise of the show was a kind of old school, trying to find a model to walk in the show.
- 44:55Wow.
- 44:56And they had thousands of applicants, more than 100,000 people applied to be an angel.
- 45:02And the first episode, which Lord could be anything worse, by the way.
- 45:05Sorry.
- 45:05You actually couldn't pay me to walk in that show.
- 45:08You could pay me to walk in the show.
- 45:09Do you think?
- 45:10I don't think you.
- 45:11I actually don't think I would do it.
- 45:12I would.
- 45:13Right now.
- 45:13For millions.
- 45:14If they said to me, here's five million and you have to walk on the show.
- 45:18And I know that everyone would clip up me looking kind of naked.
- 45:21And it would be, I would not.
- 45:22I don't think I would do it.
- 45:23For millions.
- 45:23No.
- 45:24No.
- 45:24The fact they had so many people apply again shows the efficacy with which in the past few years they've made the brand feel relevant again.
- 45:32To a younger audience.
- 45:33So the woman who won the competition and she walked in the show, she's 21.
- 45:38Cameroon born and living in Maine and her prize includes an exclusive IMG models contract.
- 45:43So this is kind of the making of someone.
- 45:45I mean it's clear though right because you're also doing it.
- 45:47It's like it's old school like scouting for talent which I quite like.
- 45:50Just the fact that the bra that Kylie was in was 50 million.
- 45:54The fact that they had Barbara, I cannot remember her last name, who was walking the runway six weeks.
- 45:58Sorry, six weeks or six months after she- Barbara Palvin, six weeks postpartum.
- 46:03In general, there's no way if that company was being led by Lenny or Lex, whatever his name was, that they would have evolved the brand and the business in this way.
- 46:12And so I think-
- 46:13Whether you like the brand, whether you agree with who walks the runway, they've done a pretty amazing job at reviving something that I thought was completely dead.
- 46:21They have managed to come back feeling like a brand that has maintained relevancy.
- 46:26I will say I'm not quite there yet.
- 46:27I have not forgotten.
- 46:29I'm still not 100% convinced that I like it.
- 46:32I mean, I actively don't like it as a brand.
- 46:35But I just, I still, for me, I haven't forgotten.
- 46:39Yeah.
- 46:39And I think that it will take a while to move really, really past that.
- 46:43Agreed.
- 46:43But they've done an amazing job at getting it to this point.
- 46:45And I think actually what they want is the Gen Z shoppers.
- 46:49And I think for a young audience who don't have that same historical context that we have, and also the nostalgia of being connected to that very toxic early noughties period, I actually think for Fresh Eyes...
- 47:01this new iteration of the brand might feel quite exciting and glossy.
- 47:05What we then want to look at long term, is it able to maintain its economic growth?
- 47:10Is it able to maintain its share price?
- 47:12Remains to be seen.
- 47:14Quite fascinating, though.
- 47:16I would love to know if there's anyone listening who was pre, maybe is actually Gen Z, who
- 47:22Do you see straight through this or do you actually look at it and have friends that are buying the brand into it think that it's cool?
- 47:28If you're listening, I would love to see like a comment online because like just, yeah, I'm really curious to know because even if I just compare it to like the Nike saga when they had all the like.
- 47:38absolute blowout with all the sweatshops and like i mean i still remember that and it was so long ago i just don't know if one generation down is enough space but it'll be interesting to see i think in today's world i think our memories are short we're so overstimulated i think my guess is people are quick to forget can we do a quick round robin would you kate would you buy victoria secret not really not really yeah
- 48:08Oh, oh my God.
- 48:09Lucy just said I'm wearing that bra right now.
- 48:11Oh wait, can you come here?
- 48:13Okay, we just... Stop, that's so funny.
- 48:14Okay, wait.
- 48:15Can I have such a bra?
- 48:16Lucy, we need to talk.
- 48:18We need to talk.
- 48:18So Lucy's wearing a bra.
- 48:19Talk to us about this.
- 48:20When did you buy it?
- 48:21Why did you buy the bra?
- 48:24It's just a really good bra to wear under your T-shirts and stuff.
- 48:27And they're very comfortable.
- 48:28And you can get two for 50 pounds.
- 48:31Now, I apologize if that was not the most amazing audio quality.
- 48:34Poor Lucy has been sick and probably leaning far away from the microphone.
- 48:37But yes.
- 48:37They also have really good seamless.
- 48:40Okay.
- 48:41Okay.
- 48:41Update.
- 48:43Listen, brand revival, be real.
- 48:46Okay, right.
- 48:46Well, let's say.
- 48:47Well, let us know.
- 48:48Anyone listening, tell us your thoughts because obviously there's been a lot of discourse online from a feminist perspective that the show is not relevant because it still does promote a kind of singular body image.
- 48:59So I'd love to know if you're listening.
- 49:00I'd love to know too.
- 49:01What do you think?
- 49:02Has the brand successfully revived itself?
- 49:04Is it culturally relevant?
- 49:05Does it feel like a relative in the past that we no longer want?
- 49:07Yeah, I would love to know.
- 49:09So let us know.
- 49:10And for anyone that is interested in the property podcast, on Friday, we have an episode with Hannah Hart coming out.
- 49:16And it was all about buying at auction.
- 49:18All of the tips and tricks that you should know if you're planning on buying a property in an auction.
- 49:23It was so fascinating because I learned a few tips and tricks when I bought property at auction and she shared some of hers.
- 49:28So that's coming out on Friday.
- 49:30But have a great week, everyone.
- 49:31And thank you so much, Emma.
- 49:32Thank you so much for having me.
- 49:33This was a joy.
- 49:34It was a really fun.
- 49:35So interesting.
- 49:36Lots to think about.
- 49:37Thank you so much for listening to this episode of The Curve.
- 49:39Feel free to leave a comment to let us know what you thought.
- 49:41We always love hearing your feedback.
- 49:43New episodes are out Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so make sure you're subscribed to be notified whenever a new episode drops.
- 49:49In the meantime, we're around on socials so you can find all the links in the show notes.
- 49:53Hope you have a great week, and we will see you for the next episode.
- 49:56Okay, quickly, the Curve was created to empower and educate you about investing, but we are not financial advisors.
- 50:02Our platform exists for educational purposes only, and it doesn't provide personalized investing advice for your individual needs and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision.
- 50:11And always remember to do your own research before making any investment or financial decision.
- 50:16We're here for any knowledge and support you need, but the final call is always yours.
- 50:20And thanks for being here.
- 50:21You got this.
- 50:22Yeah, we know you got this.