June 3, 2009
Claudia Chan on Shecky’s and Shopping
By Denise Tong
Shecky’s Media, Inc. is working as hard as ever to make sure women have no excuse to forgo a night out with their girlfriends. This summer, the company is continuing its hugely popular multi-city Girls Night Out event, which allows young, stylish women to enjoy specially discounted fashion and beauty items, cocktails, and the famous overstuffed Shecky’s goodie bag—all for a reasonable ticket price.
Originally a publisher of nightlife guides, Shecky’s became a multi-platform company in 2002, adding events and original editorial Web content to its offerings. In addition to Girls Night Out, other popular events include Beauty Night Out and Beauty Week, both in New York City. And all year round, Sheckys.com keeps women in the know with content such as fashion articles, how-to makeup videos, and bar and club recommendations.
Co-owner and president Claudia Chan has discussed the ever-growing enterprise with numerous media outlets including The Today Show, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe. She took the time to talk to CurrentVine.com and share what Shecky’s has up its sleeve for summer.
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CV: Shecky’s stays on top of the trends; which ones have you been keeping your eye on lately?
CC: Affordable luxury is where everything is at right now—getting the look for less. Sample sales are everywhere right now—I just went crazy at the Bottega Veneta sale and bought way too many things! Even your Diane von Furstenbergs are starting to have more affordable pricing. It’s so interesting to see the world of luxury meet affordably priced clothing. It’s all converging.
CV: You’re continuing to expand the number of cities that offer Girls Night Out. Does the vibe of each city affect how the event plays out?
CC: Our brand is all about fashion, beauty, and having fun with your girlfriends; we create this incredible night with all those things under one roof and at a value. We’re in about 18 markets this year and we do about 80 nights a year of Girls Night Out across those markets. Every one is different; each will bring its own flavor to the event. The demographic is women in their 20s and 30s but even some in their 40s attend now—the event resonates with women of all ages. But you’ll see some demographic changes dpending on the market you move into. For example, our events are from 5:00 to 9:00 or 10:00 p.m., but in Miami it’s harder to get girls out that early on a weekday night because they’re more of a late-night marketplace. Then you’ve got Atlanta, where a lot of 23-year-olds are moms. So it depends.
CV: What do you have planned for Beauty Night Out this year?
CC: Every year in October we announce our Best in Beauty Awards—the best in brand. We launch the awards on Sheckys.com and then the October event brings the awards to life. A lot of the winners are invited to participate at the event, set up tables, give out samples. It’s still girls coming with their girlfriends and we also have some light fashon components to it too. It’s one of the only beauty award shows operating on a high-volume basis; we have so many beauty brands and so many attendees—about 4,000 that come over the course of those nights. We haven’t brought Beauty Night Out across the country because getting beauty companies to travel is a bit more challenging. However, traditional retail is getting hurt so badly that we’re looking our business model to see how to innovate our event offerings in all the markets.
In terms of this year, we’re working right now with a company called Yes to Carrots; we’re seeing a lot of stuff coming out of natural and organic companies. Some traditional brands are going 100% natural, and all the drugstore brands are super innovative; they’ve got the budgets behind them to do great stuff at great prices.
CV: What other events do you have in the works?
CC: We just signed a deal with Bacardi, which is launching its raspberry mojito cocktail. We’re doing a series of parties with them this summer in four markets, and it’s going to be about getting girls together to get ready before they go out. We’re going to accessorize women with our fashion designers and have a beauty and hairstyling partner to get them ready for their night on the town. And these mojitos are a delicious summer cocktail that’s all ready for them to drink while they do that. So that’ll be a lot of fun.
We’re also doing more localized events—for example, in New York, we’ve started wine tours. In an economy like this, women want inexpensive indulgences and ways to get away. We also partner with a lot of department stores and are working on doing events in their stores. So locally and nationally we’re doing more this year.
CV: You went from being a publishing company to a multi-platform company; can you talk a bit about its development?
CC: Growing a business is endless in the sense that it always evolves. The nightlife guide started for fun about 10 years ago when my business partner [founder and CEO Chris Hoffman] was a trader on Wall Street. We noticed a huge female audience and started doing girls’ guides and shopping guides, and then we started doing events. We became a women’s company where we ultimately are the largest consumer event across America. It’s definitely evolved a lot.
We also have plans to expand it digitally and we’re excited about that. It’s such a great brand and we have such a loyal, engaged audience. We work with over 1,200 sponsors, partners, and clients a year. The next few years are going to be really exciting.
Photo: Jeffrey Bucari.
