Martha Stewart
Interview: Seth Siegel---Consulting
current quarter will be at the high end of the forecast. martha stewart resigned from the board today. she resigned as chief keithive officer. stewart was convicted 10 days ago of obstructing the investigation onto her shares of imclone shares. she has a new title, founding new editorial director and writing two books and writing advice how to evolve the company’s brand names. what is ahead for martha stewart the brand name? seth siegel is the chairman of licensing at the beanstalk group of brand licensing and consulting group. he joins us here. let me ask first, what is martha stewart omnimedia? is it martha stewart, is it a media company that can stand on its own? is it a brand?
>> for the longest time, it was martha stewart the person, martha stewart the brand, martha stewart the company, all one. as soon as criminal problems began, suddenly martha started cratering away from the brand and the company. what this does today is creates the reality that she needs to be separated from the brand of the company for the sake of the brand.
>> there is enough left in the company that is not martha stewart? do people buy their products because they like their products or because of the tie to martha stewart?
>> there is plenty left in the company. this is not the death knell in the company. what is happening today is wise so the company can create distance between itself and martha stewart the person moving forward. the products sold at k-mart have seen no falloff over the past few months. her lower supporters don’t care much of what is going on right now. right now the merchandising division is doing fine and i think they will continue to do fine.
>> what other changes are 0 we going to see?
>> i would not be surprised if the magazine itself changed its name. it would make perfect sense for it to be called “living” or “everyday living” something like that. it would be wise for the magazine to create further distance from martha stewart. if you have her sensibility, but not her in your face. it wouldn’t surprise anyone if the company making a statement how the company business more than just martha the brand or other brands now, chooses to also change the company name.
>> in terms of the advice they are selling what they are selling, how do they change that now?
>> it doesn’t have to be a human being who is there. what they are selling is the relationship that the company had with consumers every day township with valuable solutions for everyday problems. it would be smart to alout world that it’s never been all about martha anyway. there is 550 employees back at the farm. they have been doing great design, great products, great magazines, great publications with martha perhaps as the inspiration, but clearly over the last 22 months with less of her involvement and the products and publication are still outstanding.
>> what about the merchandise at k-mart, other places?
>> i would council them not to do so or leave themselves the flexibility about doing so if they need to do so. as i mentioned earlier, there’s been no showing that the consumers at k-mart are bothered by her name on the shelf. i would take the position of saying that whatever is best for the brand, sector by sector, and whatever is best for the company division by division is how i would approach this. the announcement today she is taking on some honor title is giving the company that flexibility to further distance themselveses from her or to reembrace her at an appropriate time.
>> her current situation, is it surprising in that there hasn’t been a falloff? wouldn’t you expect there to be or at least people start making fun of the brand in a situation like this?
>> people have been making fun of the brand since the trouble started. i think lots of us lose sight to the degree which martha is embraced and loved by wide number of american consumers, women to whom she gave a sense of empower miami. she said to the k-mart shopper, you can have beautiful homes at a price you can afford. think about a few years ago what a radical thought that martha stewart was coming to k-mart. there was snickering at the time, but people who shop at k-mart were grateful for what she did for them and their lives.
>> and she sold that idea as a possibility now. they don’t need martha stewart herself to continue that thought.
>> positively. imagine somebody gets hit by a bus. if martha had demised as corporate leader, coming about through natural means or an accident rather than legal jeopardy, the company would not have folded up its tents and gone away. they would have found other ways of moving forward. consumers of some of that martha stewart product is more than happy to continue the relationship with martha. it’s probably best to strip her name off the magazine.
>> thank you very much, seth siegel. fed policy makers are forecast to keep the benchmark interest rate at an almost 46-year low when they meet tomorrow. we’ll look at what that may mean for the bond market .
