HSN Vendor Carol’s Daughter Does Q&A With New York Times Business Section

Hair butter from Carol's Daughter

We’ve noted that HSN makes a real effort to target African-American customers, and one brand it’s brought on to do that is the beauty line Carol’s Daughter.

One of Carol’s Daughters investors is singer Mary J. Blige:

The Sunday New York Times did a Q&A with the brand’s founder and president, Lisa Price, that was headlined “Memo to Self: Don’t Take It Personally.” That’s good advice for us, because we take everything personally.

Price, who started out by making batches of her hair products in her kitchen, discusses her feelings about being a manager and bringing in a CEO for the company, Richard Dantas.

Carol's Daughter investor Mary J. Blige

Here’s what HSN has to say about Carol’s Daughter.

Beginning with a love for experimenting with fragrances, Brooklyn native Lisa Price started making products in her kitchen as gifts for friends back in 1993. Mixing essential oils and natural moisturizers, she homemade unique elixirs with love and attention to detail. She named her company in honor of her mother, to acknowledge her support and inspiration.

A well-known record executive spread the word about Lisa’s luxurious bath, body and hair care products, prompting the transition from creating concoctions in the kitchen for a select few to successfully reaching customers across the country via mail order and the web. Even though her products have earned a cult following – they’re a staple on the shelves of celebrity bathrooms – Carol’s daughter Lisa has stayed true to her homemade roots. After years of success, celebrity, and expansion Carol’s Daughter products are still made with love and still made by hand.

Discover yourself the special touch Lisa brings to each of her products. Carol’s Daughter offers only the sweetest, most luxurious products the heart can offer, so you can love your beauty.

Mary J. Blige Breaks Records On HSN, Which Stiffed Us, By Selling More Than 60,000 Bottles Of ‘My Life’ Perfume

What took so long, HSN? We were expecting this Mary J. Blige press release by Monday, at the latest.

We watched some of her shows, and had heard that singer Blige shattered sales records Saturday with the debut of her new fragrance, My Life, exclusively on HSN.

And by the way, why weren’t we among the bloggers invited to the launch — which we found about in the release? Was it too packed with the hundreds of home shopping bloggers that inhabit the cyber world? Thanks for stiffing us, Bill Brand. What happened? You didn’t like our Miss-Tina-is-gone blog, and wanted some payback? Or was it the ShopNBC-Had-The-Same-Ring-As-HSN blog that did it?

Anyway, we finally got the long-expected HSN press release early Tuesday night, which said, “Mary J. Blige’s My Life fragrance on July 31 drove the sale of more than 60,000 units with about 6 hours of air time, shattering fragrance records at HSN for units sold and placing the launch amongst the most successful in the prestige fragrance market.”

Here’s the canned quote from Blige, who was humble, gorgeous, delightful and charming on the air.

“I am thrilled with the success of My Life, the experience on HSN with Carol’s Daughter and the overwhelming donations to FFAWN,” Nine-time Grammy Award winner Blige (or HSN’s PR department) said. “I can’t wait to share another touch of my heart. Thank you to all my fans – new and old – for being there for me.”

The launch of My Life helped support the Foundation of the Advancement of Women Now (FFAWN), a non-profit created by Blige and Chairman & and lead investor of Carol’s Daughter, Steve Stoute, to assist women in need. For every unit of My Life fragrance sold, HSN Cares, the corporate social responsibility arm of the home shopping network, will donate $1 to FFAWN.

“The groundbreaking success of My Life on HSN changes the existing business model for a prestige fragrance launch and reinforces our role as a retail innovator,” HSN CEO Mindy Grossman said in her canned statement. “We were thrilled that Mary’s inspiring story, her character, and, ultimately, her fragrance drew such an enthusiastic response.”

My Life, which was the first fragrance created by Ms. Blige and the first celebrity fragrance developed by beauty-lifestyle brand Carol’s Daughter, attracted nearly 20 percent new customers to HSN. In addition, as part of HSN’s continuity program, almost 10,000 customers signed up to receive shipments of the new fragrance on a regular basis.

“This launch proves that consumers are looking for new ways to engage with a brand,” said Stoute, who was the macher who put together Blige and HSN. “Long gone are the days of traditional marketing that rely only on sampling and advertising. Consumers want to connect, believe and immerse themselves in the experience. They want to see themselves fit into the story. “Mary delivered herself in the purest form outside of her lyrics. We look forward to telling the next chapter of the story on HSN in the near future.”

Carol’s Daughter, a partner of HSN over the last two years, has had success in telling its universally appealing story, about the creation of the beauty products in a home kitchen. Given this success, Stoute and Blige committed to bring their story to HSN.

“HSN gave me a unique platform to tell my story,” Blige said. “It took time — I had to find a place that allowed me to be me. I never do something that I don’t believe in. My Life presented by Carol’s Daughter on HSN was the only way to show my fans another labor of love.”

My Life was introduced to consumers via the most comprehensive, 360-degree marketing campaign in HSN’s history, including television, online, mobile, print advertising, public relations, events and direct mail. Social media efforts drove millions of impressions, key celebrity endorsements, and involved a blogger press trip to HSN headquarters to document the launch.

That’s the part where we were stiffed.

Video segments of Blige’s life story were featured on HSN and online at http://www.HSN.com, as well as Facebook and Twitter. In addition, HSN distributed 100,000 direct mail brochures and 300,000 targeted inserts to its customers; featured ads in Allure, Glamour and Essence; created a cross-channel spot; and distributed 50,000 snap bracelets embedded with the My Life fragrance at the Essence Music Festival.

“The fragrance industry is excited to explore the opportunities of new channels of distribution with supportive, creative and innovative partners like HSN,” Rochelle Bloom, president of The Fragrance Foundation, said in a canned statement. “The success of Mary J. Blige’s fragrance and her personal message proves their power to reach out and entice a vast, broad consumer who loves and wants fragrance. Bravo HSN and Mary J.!”

Is HSN Bouncing Beyonce’s Mom, Miss Tina, From The Home Shopping Network?

Tina Knowles, Beyonce's mom

It looks like HSN is discontinuing yet another clothing line, and this time the exit door is being given to Tina Knowles, mother of pop superstar Beyonce Knowles.

Mama Knowles, who used to design costumes for Destiny’s Child before Beyonce split off from that group, has been doing a clothing and accessory line for HSN called Miss Tina By Tina Knowles.

The collection included not only clothing but also jewelry, shoes and handbags.

But currently all of Miss Tina’a merchandise on HSN.com, the little of it there is left, is on clearance. The line included some clunkers, like a skirt attached to leggings. But it also had more classic pieces, especially the purses.

We asked HSN for a comment Thursday, and the network said it was getting something together for us. We still don’t have anything from them.

HSN, under new CEO Mindy Grossman, has replaced many of the channel’s veteran vendors, such as Suzanne Somers, with hipper, more upscale and notable designers, such as Badgley Mischka.

Miss Tina would be the second African-American designer to lose her line on HSN. This year Terry Lewis, a former HSN host who did a collection called Classic Luxury for her former employer, also lost her spot on the network’s roster.

Of course, HSN has ended its relationship with many Caucasian vendors, as well, but the exit of Miss Tina might not sit well with some viewers, especially black customers of the No. 2 home shopping network. We heard from fans of Lewis who were not happy about her departure.

That would self-defeating for HSN, which of all the three major electronic retailers seems to have made a real effort to use African-American vendors and court African-American customers. HSN’s black vendors include Iman, Serena Williams, Carol’s Daughter, Sean ‘Puff Daddy” Combs, Antthony Design Originals and Natalie Cole.

And Saturday singer Mary J. Blige will do the exclusive premiere of her perfume, My Life, on HSN.

HSN Posts Strong First Quarter, And Mary J. Blige Fragrance Gets Big Play In Women’s Wear Daily

HSN CEO Mindy Grossman

It’s late, it’s been a busy day, and we finally listened to HSN’s first-quarter earnings call. Since it’s 10:40 p.m. — and we’re dying to watch the “24” episode we missed Monday because we were covering “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” party — we’ll keep this very short.

We got a phone call, and now it’s 11:25 p.m. So this is going to be really, really short. And we’ll have to delay watching “24” on Hulu until later in the week.

As we wrote earlier in the day, HSN had a good first quarter, with a 9 percent increase in sales, to $518.9 million. During the call with analysts Wednesday, HSN CEO Mindy Grossman said a couple of new things, beyond all that blah-blah-blah about having differentiated products, products exclusive to the network, etc.

Grossman mentioned the news that we just wrote about, that of singer Mary J. Blige launching a perfume called My Life, in partnership with Carol’s Daughter, on HSN. Blige is an investor in Carol’s Daughter, which makes hair and skin products.

The story made the front page of Women’s Wear Daily, according to Grossman, and that’s a pretty big deal, nice press, for the home shopping network.

“Blige and Carol’s Daughter are breaking the bonds of traditional prestige fragrance retailing by choosing to launch My Life solely on HSN on July 31,” WWD wrote.

During the first-quarter conference call Grossman said that HSN HD is now in 13 million homes, and will be in 25 million by the end of the year. She noted that at some point the HD and standard definition channels will be merged.

There were several successful apparel launches in the first quarter, including that of Badgley Mischka and Twiggy London, with Twiggy due back in June.

There will be eight apparel-line premieres this summer.

And on the hard-core cable side, Grossman said that half of HSN’s carriage deals expire this year, and that several renewals have already been struck with distributors.

“So far, so good,” Grossman said. “It’s progressing…”

Time for bed.

HSN Steps Up Courting Of African-American Women With Mary J. Blige Perfume Launch

Mary J. Blige's new fragrance is part of HSN's courting of African-American consumers

Of all the major home shopping networks, HSN has been the most aggressive in courting African-American consumers.

And it took another big step in that strategy with its announcement last week that singer Mary J. Blige was launching a fragrance, My Life, on the channel July 31.

Grammy-winner Blige is partnering with one of HSN’s vendors, Carol’s Daughter, with this marking the beauty brand’s first foray into a celebrity perfume. HSN described Carol’s Daughter as “a polyethnic beauty brand,” but fact of the matter is the hair and beauty products on Carol’s line are mainly aimed at black women and their unique beauty needs.

Carol’s Daughter was created by a black entrepreneur, Lisa Price. She would mix essential oils and natural moisturizers and give these skin and hair products as gifts to her friends. She launched it as a business in 1993.

We were introduced to the Carol’s Daughter line long before its HSN debut. It is sold in one of our favorite shops in Montclair, N.J., Dem Two Hands. The store, which has artisan-crafted jewelry to die for, is owned by African-American women and caters to larger women in terms of clothing.

HSN vendor Serena Williams

It’s no wonder that HSN did the Blige deal, after the success of its show last year with rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs. He did one hour, and his award-winning men’s fragrances — Sean John I Am King and Unforgiven — blew out the door and sold out. The music and style entrepreneur fielded endless calls from his devoted fans during the show. And they were all eager to buy his fragrances.

We’re sure HSN is looking for that kind of success with Blige. The network said its marketing for My Life will aim at the singer’s fans, as well as Carol’s Daughter’s HSN fans.

HSN host Marlo Smith

The No. 2 home shopping channel didn’t just start targeting women of color. HSN also has several African-American fashion designers that have been on the air for years, including Antthony Design Originals.

The model-businesswoman Iman and tennis pro Serena Williams also have jewelry and clothing lines on HSN, as does former HSN host Terry Lewis.

We’re not saying that Iman and Williams’ clothes and accessories aren’t popular with Caucasian women. But those two women get many on-air calls from a large number of their African-American fans.

HSN’s host roster, as well as its vendor list, has several women of color. That includes Marlo Smith and Tamara Hooks.

In its announcement last week, HSN said that the debut of Blige’s My Life is the first exclusive launch of a fragrance on a home shopping channel. And it’s a complex, “multi-platform” effort, as they say in the biz.

As part of HNS’s marketing campaing, video segments called “Life Chapters” will “capture various facets of Mary J. Blige’s compelling life story, including her philanthropic, music, and beauty projects. The segments will be seeded online, on HSN and through social media such as Facebook and Twitter,” according to HSN.

This Life Chapters campaign will also flow over into the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans July Fourth, with HSN a sponsor of that event. HSN will set up an interactive My Life booth where fans can learn about the fragrance and meet Blige. They will also be able to post pictures from the Festival on http://www.hsn.com/maryjblige.

Iman's HSN line is called Global Chic

Part of the proceeds of My Life’s sales will benefit the Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now, which was founded by Blige “to help women gain the confidence and skills they need to pursue and realize their goals and dreams.”

The risk with Blige is that her often rocky relationships with men may resurface. In December, the New York tabloids reported that Blige had punched her husband Kendu Isaacs at a record-launch party.

She later said she was just trying to break up a fight between Issacs and her brother, according to the New York Daily News.

HSN Is Almost All Serena Williams, All Friday With Tennis Champ Showing Off Her Signature Statement Collection

Tennis champ Serena Williams will be on HSN Friday nearly 24/7, kicking off at midnight with the network’s Today’s Special.

Williams will be on throughout the entire day with her Signature Statement collection, which includes apparel, jewelry, handbags and accessories.

We saw her debut earlier this year, and it mainly featured blingy pave jewelry, pieces that Williams was wearing on her TV appearances. Now it looks like she has a wide range of clothes for this HSN visit,

We especially like her ruched dress at $55.

And of course, we love that bling. Bring it on Serena, with a very pretty crystal flower necklace catching our eye at $80.

HSN has a wide range of African American vendors on the air, not only Williams but also Natalie Cole, Sean Combs, Iman (David Bowie’s wife), Tina Knowles — who is Beyonce’s mom — and Carol’s Daughter.

HSN Adds Some Flava: Rapper-Entrepreneur Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Premieres His Fragrances On The Home Shopping Network

Sean “Diddy” Combs made his debut on HSN Monday, as did his fragrance line.

His motto seemed to be that he likes his grandfather, but he doesn’t want to smell like him. Hence the fragrances (but we hope grandpa wasn’t watching).

Combs’ products were such a hit during his first show at 11 p.m. that they all sold out. So HSN had to cancel his second scheduled show at 1 a.m., since there was no merchandise left to sell.

For Combs’ debut HSN CEO Mindy Grossman opened the company wallet and had a new set built, which looked like a sophisticated penthouse, and even had the Manhattan skyline in the background. Puff Daddy was laid back and modest, rather charming for a mogul with a multi-million dollar empire in music, fashion, TV, movies and fragrances.

“It’s a great way to reach people all over the world…I made it on HSN mom,” Combs said during his home shopping debut, where he fielded many calls from overwrought fans. “I’m blessed to be here.”

More than any of the other shopping networks, HSN has courted the African-American market, by bringing vendors in such as the hair-care line Carol’s Daughter, David Bowie’s wife Iman, and now Combs.

Talking about his award-winning men’s fragrance, I Am King, Combs said, “This is not a celebrity fragrance.”

The rapper said he helped design the cologne, in partnership with Estee Lauder. It has won the FiFi Award, which Combs called “the Oscars” of the perfume industry.

“I have a very sensitive nose,” said Combs, who described I Am King as being “a clean scent.”

He said, “I don’t like things that are overbearing.”

The name I Am King was not a boast, according to Combs, but a positive affirmation for everyone.

“I was talking about the king in all of us,” Combs said. “If we as men act as kings, we will respect our women as queens.”

Those are great sentiments, but we can’t help but note that Combs has a somewhat checkered past, which includes an arrest on a weapons charge — when he was with his then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez — following a nightclub shooting in Manhattan. Scorpios like Combs often have a dark side.

We remember tabloid stories about an upset Lopez being dragged down to the police station with Combs the night he was arrested. Doesn’t sound very queenly. Well, that was almost 10 years ago. Leopards can change their spots.

Host Callie Northagen did the show. She seems to be HSN’s ace for interviewing high-profile talent, including Madonna and singer Natalie Cole.

HSN was also selling the men’s and women’s fragrance lines Sean John Unforgivable. The kits and gift sets ranged in price from $57 to $78. There was also a fleece robe for $60.

Combs has a vast empire, and even produced and was a judge for the MTV show “Making the Band.”

He also claimed he was a fan of the No. 2 home shopping channel.

“Sometimes when you watch HSN, you get stuck there for hours,” Combs said.

We know what you mean, Diddy.