Bianca Mashal has been a longtime Victoria’s Secret PINK shopper. She frequently wears the brand’s sweatpants, T-shirts and tanks when lounging around. When she found out on Facebook her freshman year that she could be a campus representative for PINK Nation, she immediately applied.

‘I thought, ‘Wow, this would be a great opportunity for public relations and the fashion industry,’ which is what I want to eventually go into,’said Mashal, a sophomore public relations major.

This year, as one of two campus representatives for Syracuse University, Mashal will manage the ‘PINK Spring Break Out’ event happening Wednesday in the Milton Atrium of the Life Sciences Complex from noon to 3 p.m.

The event will promote PINK Nation, the Victoria’s Secret PINK loyalty program that informs members about exclusive offers, content and events, said Nicole Vendetti, PINK’s other SU campus representative and senior public relations major.

Vendetti said the PINK Collegiate Collection was launched in 2008 with an exclusive assortment of college co-branded merchandise. The original collection included 33 schools and became so popular that 59 schools are now part of the collection.

This PINK campus representative program has been up and running for three years, said Caroline Wilson, a marketing assistant for the organization. According to PINK Nation’s website, the current number of members reaches nearly 2 million. This is only the second year SU has had campus representatives.

‘It’s not as big on our campus as it is in others,’ Mashal said.’We’re working to make it bigger.’

Vendetti and Mashal will be stationed at a table in the Milton Atrium with balloons and laptops set up for girls who want to sign up immediately for PINK Nation. They will also raffle off some Collegiate Collection clothing and hand out freebies.

‘We’re going to be standing, you know, in our little PINK corner,’ Vendetti said with a laugh. ‘We’ll be having pink cookies, pink candy, very pink oriented.’

The event will be three hours long, and Vendetti said students can stop by on their way to class to sign up, pick up a free product and learn more about the organization.

Emily Clinton, a self-identified PINK shopper, said though she wasn’t aware of the event, she’s interested in attending.

‘I like Victoria’s Secret, I’m kind of surprised I didn’t know about it,’ said the sophomore magazine journalism and psychology major.

Mashal said she and Vendetti update the ‘Syracuse Loves PINK’ Facebook page and Twitter account, @PINKatSU, several times a week, where students can get the latest news on PINK.

The event will give the campus representatives the opportunity to tell students the inside scoop on the organization’s future events and the upcoming PINK Major League Baseball and National Football League lines, Wilson said.

Wilson also said the representatives will tell students about the upcoming PINK Collegiate Showdown, which runs from April 1 to 20. During this time, students will have an opportunity to vote for PINK to host its annual back-to-school concert. Students must be members to vote.

Last year, the winner was West Virginia University, and the school won a free concert with a performance headlined by Drake.

Vendetti said she hopes Wednesday’s event will encourage SU students to join PINK Nation.

‘It’s free and it’s fun,’she said. ‘And it’s just something that we’re trying to create more buzz on campus about.’

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Published on March 29, 2011 at 12:00 pm