SECTION II the Digital Future Celebrity Casting the Beauty
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WWDMILESTONES SECTION II The Accessories Array The Digital Future Celebrity Casting HSN at 35 HSN has come a long way from an AM radio show to a home shopping channel to a multimedia powerhouse that reached sales of $3.18 billion last year. It encompasses and embraces a range of formats — from social media and e-commerce to m-commerce and social gamification — under the direction of chief executive officer Mindy Grossman. PHOTO BY BOB KROSLIN PHOTO BY The Beauty Bonanza 2 WWD FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 2012 SECTION II WWD.COM WWDMILESTONES Mindy Grossman: Game Changer building the pipeline in every one By MARC KARIMZADEH of the categories and redefine what authority meant in those categories, Mindy Grossman made an unexpected whether it was beauty or culinary, — though symbolic — move in her first fashion or electronics.” week on the job at HSN Inc. She diversified the portfolio, amp- “I tore down every parking sign that ing up the fashion and beauty catego- JOHN AQUINO PHOTO BY said ‘vendor’ and changed it to ‘part- ries and bringing in well-known names ner,’” Grossman recalled. “It was in- in the kitchen and food area. Her crite- dicative of the type of culture that we ria was the same for each. wanted to have.” “The first thing is great product,” That was May 2006. Six years on she said. “Is it relevant? Is it differen- and the chief executive officer has tiated? Is it something that can strike done more than just update the park- a chord? If you don’t have the ability ing lot at HSN’s St. Petersburg, Fla., to talk about this for at least seven headquarters. Grossman successfully minutes and make it exciting and revamped HSN from the ground up, compelling, it doesn’t·· belong in our not just giving the corporate culture a environment. It’s great product, great jolt, but also transforming the network story and great storytelling.” from a cacophonous home-shopping As if to drive home the message, channel into a dynamic, multimedia she picked up a candle from the coffee destination that melds commerce with table and exclaimed, “You could talk entertainment. about a scented candle for eight hours These days, HSN features designers if you were passionate about it.” like Mark Badgley and James Mischka Her formula has proven a hit. In of Badgley Mischka, Rachel Roy and 2008, HSN Inc. was spun off from IAC, Naeem Khan, alongside celebrities and today, it’s a stand-alone, publicly such as Serena Williams, Iman, Queen traded, $3 billion multichannel retail- Latifah and Mary J. Blige, who choose the network to offer a fragrance, ap- parel or, as is the case for recent ad- dition Randy Jackson, a watch line. We all expected Performers like Lionel Richie and Rod Stewart have used the network to launch and sell their latest CDs, re- changes [from plete with a televised performance in front of a live audience. Mindy]...What we “It’s about contextual commerce, something that’s going to create a con- got was the ultimate, nection with the customer because it either has a provenance or a story or anything else,” said Grossman, sitting supersparkling in HSN’s modernist New York offices high above Midtown Manhattan. makeover. The executive had a specific vi- sion of what she wanted the network — RICHARD GRAZIANO, to be when she joined. R.J. GRAZIANO “Even before I met with Barry Diller [chairman and senior execu- tive of IAC/InterActiveCorp] — at the time we were owned by IAC, so I was er. Even with her success, Grossman’s hired by Barry — I had in my head not one to rest on her laurels. what I thought the business could “Today, you have to have more than evolve to,” she said. “I looked at it just a transactional mentality,” she said. much less as a retail venue and much “We want to really understand as much more as an information/entertain- as we can about our customer so we ment/lifestyle venue, and that was can give her content and products and really the genesis of what I felt the experiences that are very aligned with transformation could be.” what’s going to make her life better.” It’s hardly a surprise that Grossman More recently, the·· evolution of the felt so strongly about the need to tell Internet has given the strategy a sig- Mindy Grossman stories beyond selling merchandise. nificant boost. Prior to joining HSN, she made her “Today, we can leverage that con- mark at Nike, where she was global tent across every screen that we vice president of apparel, and, before have,” Grossman said. “We have the tient beyond the red carpet into ev- The evolution continues and that, headed up Polo Jeans. Those ex- capabilities because we’re a televi- eryday life. Grossman is brimming with ideas for periences polished her strong sense sion network to create original con- “We didn’t know what to expect,” re- HSN Inc., the network’s parent. for fashion and merchandising, and tent that’s only available digitally to called Mischka. “We went from Tampa, “We’ve made decisions to divest of Grossman relied on them when, in the enhance what we do. If you look at our where the show was shot, to Palm some businesses, like a Smith & Noble summer of 2007, she presented a com- iPad application, you can customize Beach, and people there started rec- [home interiors firm], and you’ll see plete overhaul of HSN from cool new your own channel. If I like cooking, I ognizing us. It has such a reach, which some of that,” she said. “We made our graphics to fresh new sets and a widely can create Mindy’s cooking channel, was really surprising to us.” first acquisition of Chasing Fireflies in enhanced hsn.com. and every time a cooking video comes Mischka first met Grossman nearly the children’s space because it lines “What’s fascinating is that prior to out, it comes into my channel. You three decades ago, when she headed up with this aspirational family life- August 2007, we didn’t have a single were never able to do that.” men’s sales for Williwear Willi Smith style. There’s potentially technology video on our Web site,” she said. “It Vince Camuto, who sells shoes, ac- and he was head of men’s design. businesses that will enable us to do was basically a digital experience cessories and fragrance on the net- “Her capacity is amazing,” Mischka more content or different things. There of what didn’t sell on television. We work, called Grossman “a true innova- said. “The word ‘no’ doesn’t exist with are things in what I call the ‘gamifica- weren’t even maximizing the fact that tor in the business.” her. She looks at everything from a tion’ world, married to social media, we could have this network amplifica- “She has already achieved tremen- fresh point of view. She doesn’t look at that could be very interesting and tion, but we also didn’t have the con- dous success with HSN and has po- it from just a tried-and-true merchant- would enable us to do new things.” tent to really leverage it.” sitioned the brand for multichannel vendor relationship. She has a wide She called this “the most exciting So, simultaneously with the re- growth through significant investments reach of looking at things, which we time in the history of our company.” launch, Grossman embarked on a mis- in the digital space and a fresh approach find very useful and very refreshing.” “We’ve fixed the fundamental sion to reevaluate the vendor matrix, to product and partnerships,” he said. Richard Graziano of jewelry firm foundation, we have a strategy that’s nixing some existing brands and busi- Badgley Mischka offers the R.J. Graziano said, “We all expected working and we’re in an environment nesses that didn’t fit in with her new American Glamour Badgley Mischka changes when Mindy first started. where technology is enabling us to be strategy and bringing in new ones. As line on the network, which aims to What we got was the ultimate, super- so much more than we could ever be,” she put it, the strategy was to “start translate the brand’s glamour quo- sparkling makeover.” Grossman added. 4 WWD FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 2012 SECTION II WWD.COM WWDMILESTONES From AM Radio to Multimedia Mecca ping channel, TV Macy’s. It was backed invent HSN in 2007 with new sets, and wardrobe styling for on-air hosts. By SHARON EDELSON by network and cable veterans such as graphics and on-air presentations, as “There’s been a growth in sales, even the late Don Hewitt, then executive well as an updated hsn.com. He’s now when the world went through this hor- Saying that HSN has come a long way producer of “60 Minutes,” and Charles in the throes of retooling the network rible downturn.” since its founding in 1977 would be a Dolan, chairman of Cablevision once again. HSN has become adept at integrat- gross understatement. Systems Corp. But it was short-lived. “We are completely omnichan- ing new movies into its programming. HSN was born as a fluke when an By 1995, Macy’s parent, Federated nel,” said Sheldon, who is now work- For “Snow White and the Huntsman,” advertiser on a Clearwater, Fla., AM Department Stores Inc., had pulled the ing on “the integration of social media HSN created a product collection radio station couldn’t pay his bill.