Martha's Monday HSN Debut Is a Shrewd Shot at Free Brand Advertising
Martha Stewart is making her debut today on HSN, the former Home Shopping Network, in a move that will bolster the image of her crafts business by putting a brand stamp on an operation spread across multiple retail outlets.
Martha appears on the retail television network pitching a crafts line her company is selling through HSN's broadcast and Internet operations. However, the line offered by the electronic retailer is limited to an example or two of products in a range of categories such as decorative punches and glitter kits that are found more expansively elsewhere. Martha already sells craft products through Jo-Ann Stores (JAS), Walmart (WMT) and Michaels. Additionally, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSLO) has developed a dedicated website that carries the largest selection of her namesake craft products available.
The dispersion of the craft business across multiple retail operations -â€" with craft specialty store Michaels carrying the largest selection besides the Stewart crafts site â€"- makes it impossible to do the kind of dedicated advertising she could with her housewares line when it was exclusively at Kmart. No retailer selling her craft items could expect the investment on a major media advertising campaign to generate a return in dollars or esteem -â€" and certainly Kmart used Martha to burnish its own reputation â€"- to justify the expenditure.
Not even Martha Stewart Living, not when a smarter way of generating media attention is available. Martha's initial HSN appearance will focus on food crafts such as cake decoration but will cross over into product lines that Michaels and her other retail partners sell. Yet, the limited HSN product assortment amounts to a tease for shoppers who have real crafting interest, as a broader range of Stewart products is offered in other retail outlets. So, Stewart's appearance is only partly about promoting sales with the broadcast/Internet retailer. Indeed, her portrait and crafts logo top the Stewart product page on the HSN site, almost begging visitors to launch a Google search for more products.
By making herself the focal point of the HSN product presentation, Stewart can represent crafts as a single brand that's conveniently available from multiple outlets and not a scattering of products across several retail operations. And her timing is fortuitous. Once, appearing on a broadcast retail show might hurt a celebrity's reputation, but the media isn't treating such visits as career killers anymore.
Liza Minelli is a case in point. Her recent appearance on HSN, even if rated over-the-top by some, has helped maintain the momentum of her recent comeback. Certainly, a wide range of media outlets picked up on her HSN visit, often reporting about it sympathetically.
HSN has worked to shed its cubic-zirconium reputation over the past several years by, among other things, working to bring on hipper personalities. Among its guests/pitchmen was Sean "Puffy" Combs, who, like Stewart has placed product collections in Macy's in an ongoing relationship with the department store operator.
Stewart's HSN appearance should peak curiosity about Martha Stewart crafts among consumers who don't follow the domestic diva on satellite radio or through her own peripatetic â€"- now parked at the Hallmark Channel -- television show. They will learn more about what she offers and with credit cards at hand. Whether viewers put those credit cards to use at HSN, the dedicated Stewart craft website or with her other retail partners, it's all a very good thing for Martha.
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