NEW YORK [November 23, 2021] - Saks Fifth Avenue today celebrates the launch of its holiday campaign in support of the Obama Foundation’s Girls Opportunity Alliance. The campaign kicks off with the unveiling of Saks Fifth Avenue’s iconic holiday window display and ten-story-tall theatrical light show at its New York flagship, featuring a special appearance by former First Lady of the United States and founder of the Girls Opportunity Alliance, Michelle Obama, and a performance by the Young People’s Chorus of New York City. The event, presented by Mastercard for the benefit of Saks, can be enjoyed online by viewers across the globe on Saks Live starting at 7 p.m. EST on Tuesday, November 23.
“The holiday season is an important time for Saks to connect with our customers in a meaningful way through unique and memorable experiences,” said Marc Metrick, CEO of Saks. “This year, we are proud to support the Girls Opportunity Alliance and to champion the program’s mission to empower adolescent girls around the world through education. Our support of the Girls Opportunity Alliance is the perfect way to capture the joy of this time of year and we look forward to sharing this innovative, one-of-a-kind campaign with our customers across all Saks Fifth Avenue channels.”
GIRLS OPPORTUNITY ALLIANCE* CAMPAIGN
The Girls Opportunity Alliance, a program of the Obama Foundation, seeks to empower adolescent girls around the world through education, allowing them to achieve their full potential and transform their families, communities and countries. Saks Fifth Avenue’s support includes a $1 million donation to the Obama Foundation in support of the Girls Opportunity Alliance, a curated multi-vendor merchandise collection, holiday window displays at the Saks New York
flagship, a Saks career shadowing opportunity for three young women from the Girls Opportunity Alliance community from Girls Inc., and a digital campaign featuring special content throughout the holiday season.
“In the spirit of holiday giving, Saks is making a generous donation that will help so many adolescent girls all over the world,” said Michelle Obama, former First Lady of the United States and founder of the Girls Opportunity Alliance. “This contribution to the Girls Opportunity Alliance will help these girls to reach their full potential—and that’s especially important as the pandemic continues to threaten their education, which would set us all back in the years and decades ahead. I’m excited to see the impact of this wonderful gift from Saks and how it can help support the work of the Girls Opportunity Alliance around the world.”
The multi-vendor merchandise collection, curated by Saks in support of the Girls Opportunity Alliance, features products across all categories including women’s and men’s ready-to-wear, accessories, kids, home and beauty items. Participating designers include Bond No. 9, Brandon Blackwood, Christopher John Rogers, Fear of God, Jason Wu, NEST New York, Oscar de la Renta, Phillip Lim, Posh Peanut, and Sergio Hudson, among others. 100% of this collection’s net proceeds** from online sales on saks.com and at participating Saks Fifth Avenue stores will be donated to The Obama Foundation in support of the Girls Opportunity Alliance.
The holiday window installation featuring the Girls Opportunity Alliance is located on 49th Street at the Saks Fifth Avenue New York flagship, on display now through the end of December.
Throughout the season, Saks will highlight special holiday content featuring the merchandise collection and background on the Girls Opportunity Alliance across its digital channels. On Giving Tuesday, November 30, designer Phillip Lim and Executive Director of the Girls Opportunity Alliance Tiffany Drake will host a virtual event on Saks’ digital events platform, Saks Live, to discuss the importance of giving back this holiday season and the meaningful work the organization does to empower adolescent girls.
Additionally, Saks will provide a career shadowing opportunity to three young women from the Girls Opportunity Alliance community from Girls Inc. to get a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to operate a luxury ecommerce platform. The program will kick off during the 2021 holiday season, and continue with learning opportunities with multiple teams across the Saks business throughout 2022.
SAKS HOLIDAY WINDOWS & LIGHT SHOW
For the twelfth year, Saks’ holiday windows and light show are presented by Mastercard. This year, Saks’ legendary center six windows on Fifth Avenue are inspired by the theme of reconnecting with family and loved ones during the holiday season. To bring this theme to life, Saks asked New York-area children, including members of the Madison Square Boys & Girls Club, to draw and describe what they dream of doing with loved ones for the holidays. Their responses—including carnivals, sweets, games and getaways—have been brought to life in over-the-top, artful and fantastical ways in the world’s most famous windows.
Saks’ spectacular light show is synonymous with the holiday season in New York and each year draws visitors from across the globe. This year’s light show, on display now through Tuesday, January 4, features a dazzling display of over 700,000 programmed LED lights on the ten-story-tall facade of the building. The music accompanying the light show is an energetic medley based on the theme of reconnecting with one another this holiday season, featuring Darlene Love’s “Christmas--Baby Please Come Home” and The Turtles’ “So Happy Together,” as well as Carol of the Bells, The Nutcracker’s Russian Dance and more.
ASSETS
- Click here to access unveiling event imagery *courtesy of BFA for Saks Fifth Avenue
- Click here to access window imagery *courtesy of Luis Guillén for Saks Fifth Avenue
- Click here to access merchandise collection imagery *courtesy of Saks Fifth Avenue
About Saks Fifth Avenue
Saks Fifth Avenue is the premier destination for luxury fashion, driven by a mission to help customers express themselves through relevant and inspiring style. Since 1924, it has delivered one-of-a-kind shopping experiences, featuring an expertly curated assortment of fashion and highly personalized customer service. Saks Fifth Avenue’s unique approach combines an emphasis on the digital customer experience with a strong connection to a network of 41 extraordinary stores across North America for seamless, all-channel shopping.
Shop on saks.com and the Saks app, or visit saks.com to find a store location near you. Follow @saks on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, and @thesaksman on Instagram.
About the Girls Opportunity Alliance
The Girls Opportunity Alliance, a program of the Obama Foundation, seeks to empower adolescent girls around the world through education, allowing them to achieve their full potential and transform their families, communities, and countries. When girls get the opportunities they deserve, amazing things start to happen: poverty goes down, economies grow, families get stronger, and babies are born healthier, the world, by all accounts, gets better. Join the Girls Opportunity Alliance to take action to help adolescent girls and the grassroots leaders working to educate them.
*The Girls Opportunity Alliance name, logo and copyrighted materials are used with its permission, which in no way constitutes an endorsement, express or implied, of any product, service, company, opinion or political position. For more information about the Girls Opportunity Alliance, a program of the Obama Foundation, please visit www.obama.org.
**From November 23, 2021 - January 1, 2022, Saks will donate one hundred percent (100%) of net proceeds from all sales to the Girls Opportunity Alliance, a program of the Obama Foundation. Regardless of the actual sales, Saks will donate a minimum of $100,000 and a maximum of $160,000. Net Proceeds means the purchase price of the product, excluding costs of goods sold, taxes, discounts, returns, credits, cancellations, lost, stolen or damaged merchandise, bad debt, shipping and handling charges and purchases using gift cards or gift certificates.
