Linda Dillman
QVC announced yesterday that Linda Dillman has become its chief information officer, reporting to QVC president and CEO Mike George. Ms. Dillman most recently served as senior vice president, global IT, at Hewlett-Packard. Previously, she was executive vice president and chief information officer at Wal-Mart, where she had a lead role in modernizing the supply chain management model for Wal-Mart and the retail industry as a whole. QVC Press Release Jan. 9, 2012
Retail and digital media executive Cary Deacon has been appointed to the board of directors of PNI Digital Media, the company announced in a press release yesterday. PNI Digital Media supplies major retail chains with a software platform that enables consumers to order photo prints, personalized photo gifts and printed materials either online or in-store. Mr. Deacon, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, served in several senior positions at ShopNBC/ValueVision Media, including president.
OK, that’s an exaggeration, but Women’s Wear Daily certainly serves up another gushing, if brief, retrospective of CEO Mindy Grossman’s successful five-year run at the number-two shopping network. Stefani Greenfield, chief creative officer of The Jones Group Inc., who has worked on two collections for HSN, provides the loving quote, calling Ms. Grossman “an extraordinary leader, humbly brilliant, an amazing motivator and a visionary.” Women’s Wear Daily Nov. 12, 2011
QVC's Beth Rubino
The press release announcing the promotion cites Rubino’s role maintaining a “team-oriented and customer-centric workplace culture” throughout the company, even as it has entered new markets. In addition to her global responsibility for HR, Rubino oversees QVC’s corporate communications, community affairs and corporate social responsibility functions. In the statement announcing the promotion, QVC CEO Mike George said, “As the chief steward of our people, Beth ensures that QVC is a great place to work and a place where talented people come to build their careers.” QVC Inc. Press Release Nov. 12, 2011
Singer, songwriter and talent scout Mariah Carey returned to the HSN network yesterday to pitch her everything-but-the-kitchen-sink collection of jewelry, shoes, accessories, fragrance and fashion. While ostensibly selling, she repeatedly referred or alluded to the prospect of viewers editing her appearance into mock tributes to be distributed online. That, of course, is exactly what happened after her last appearance on the network in July. Ms. Carey also complains about the difficulty of wearing an earpiece and demands stage direction from the control room in the middle of a presentation. The Hollywood Reporter captures some of the amateurish spectacle in a minute-long video clip here.
Hey, Ms. Carey, you’re a star. Act like one!
While promoting her new, QVC Wildlife Jewelry Line in Los Angeles yesterday, supermodel Heidi Klum told RadarOnline that she thinks the branding suits her because she leads a “wild” and “exciting” life. She also revealed that the Eureka moment came while she was performing one of the most mundane chores in a jet setter’s life — reviewing entry requirements and customs forms prior to landing on an international flight:
I was on the plane and I was coming from overseas and I was thinking about names and I couldn’t come up with anything and I was reading the form when you come into the country, fruit, wildlife and it really popped out from that page. And then I thought it is also a double word, it is like having a wild life.
Ms. Klum makes a habit of designing her fashion pieces, which are priced from $43 to $200, on Saturday mornings, before joining her children for karate and ballet. RadarOnline Nov. 21, 2011
Singer/songwriter Mary J. Blige will perform on HSN at 12:30 am and 10 pm EST, next Wednesday, November 30, in celebration of her upcoming album My Life II … The Journey Continues (Act 1). This will be the first time Ms. Blige sings — as well as sells — on the TV shopping network. But she will still sell and those efforts will support the debut of My Life Blossom, which is a follow-up to her initial foray into the fragrance business. That first offering, called simply My Life, made a successful debut on HSN last year and was developed in cooperation with health and beauty marketer Carol’s Daughter. My Life Blossom — billed as “a continuation of the My Life spirit in a softer, white floral accord with a warm vanilla heart” — will be sold in Fragrance Holiday Gift Sets as a part of HSN’s 24 Hour Beauty Gift Event.
HSN’s 24 Hour Beauty Event will feature beauty gifts from brands such as: Benefit, Phillip B, Wei East, Korres, Deborah Lippmann, Lancome and others. HSN Press Release Nov. 21, 2011
Homeshoppingista alerts casual HSN viewers to three seemingly-new show hosts: Anji Corley, Lesley Ann Machado and Carrie Smith.
Homeshoppingista also reports that Katie Rooke, the erstwhile GemsTV and JTV presenter, has moved up in the world to a very un-GemsTV-like retailer. She reportedly posted on her Facebook page that she is “…the newest member to the Tiffany and Co. family.”
The story in the link below about pawn shops attributing an increase in business to the halo effect of cable TV shows like Pawn Stars and Hard Core Pawn got me wondering if the big shopping networks ever considered a behind-the-scenes, reality program about their business. The image makeover of the DRTV networks from cheap jewelry peddlers to showcases for respected designers and brands may already be complete, but that shouldn’t take the air completely out of this trial balloon.
A reality show on a major broadcast or cable network would begin with some clear advantages, including: a base audience of the retailer’s customers and — this is key — the non-manufactured drama of live television. Season-long story arcs could revolve around the development of a new show or brand, the introduction of a new product category, or the selection and training of new on-air talent. Can anyone tell me that the camera wouldn’t love following Mindy Grossman into and out of meetings with colorful designers — and that she wouldn’t enjoy it too? So, which of our talented show hosts will have the chance at a step up the entertainment ladder during the next new season?
In the 1990s, while working in promotions for ValueVision Media, I fielded a call from the producers of the movie Bridget Jones Diary, who were looking to film scenes involving TV shopping at one of the actual networks. This was before the industry’s image improvement was complete and my bosses were worried about being made to look silly. So we foolishly declined. Today most everyone beats a path to the DRTV studios, and few disdain them for doing it. So, if Snooki can do what we do — and Homeshoppingista reported a bunch of Snooki sellouts last night — does anyone doubt that we can do what Snooki does, too?
Cincinnati Business Courier Nov. 11, 2011
Jennifer Coffey’s former hometown newspaper, The San Antonio Express-News, sketched an impressive picture this week of the new QVC host’s background in Texas — before she beat out thousands of other would-be presenters in auditions for the network. Coffey owned and operated several successful clothing boutiques, which she aggressively promoted using social media, which in turn landed her some fashion-and-event gigs on a local cable TV station.
There is little doubt that the natural entrepreneur will make herself perfectly at home in the buttoned-up world of a large company. Reached for comment today, she allowed only that she enjoyed her inaugural appearance on the network this week. All other questions she referred to the retailer’s PR department.
