“We’re basically going to be on throughout the summer,” said Candice Carpenter, Q2’s president, adding that it probably would not be a full schedule. “It doesn’t make sense to go on when you don’t have distribution,” she said.
Q2 is replacing The Fashion Channel, which is seen in only 8 million homes. Starting in the fall, Q2’s distribution will gradually start to swell, reaching 16 million homes by the end of the year. Carpenter said that since Q2’s programming is so production-intensive, she’d rather save the best for fall, when it could be seen by a wider audience. In other news at Q2, Harriet Seitler has been named senior vice president of marketing. She was vice president of marketing for ESPN and ESPN2. Seitler succeeds Ford Ennals, who resigned last week, according to Carpenter, who said, “It was a matter of creative differences.” Ennals, a former Reebok International executive, could not be reached for comment
BG KEEPS ON PLUGGING: Stephen C. Elkin, the new chairman and chief executive officer of Bergdorf Goodman, is interested in television home shopping, but is just as cautious about it as his predecessor.
Bergdorf Goodman has been working on a home shopping trial that is a joint project with NYNEX in White Plains, N.Y., which is providing the technology, and Liberty Cable in Manhattan, which is providing cable access into homes. It will initially be available in 50 homes in three Upper East Side buildings in New York. “We have given them an indication that we’d like to review it further,” Elkin said, referring to NYNEX. “We’re not really far along.”
NYNEX said Monday that Liberty would provide a home shopping service from Bergdorf Goodman later this year.
“Later this year is possible, but it would require significantly more progress,” said Elkin.
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Elkin was elevated from president and chief operating officer to his present position when Burton Tansky was named ceo of Neiman Marcus.
ARPEL SELLS: When Adrien Arpel appeared on HSC on April 23 and 24, she sold over $3 million worth of products, including 15,000 skin correction facial kits at $99.95, and 25,714 jars of Skin Correction Complex at $24.95. HSN said it was its most successful new product line launch ever.
But Arpel said it doesn’t end there. She believes her HSC appearance has ignited interest in her line in department stores, where it is primarily sold.
“I felt it was a way to get millions of dollars’ worth of free advertising,” Arpel said. “Macy’s in Herald Square had 71 phone calls the weekend I was on. We’ve gotten calls from other stores. HSN knew this was geared to generate sales in the stores.” Arpel said she’s thinking about going on HSC once a month. “As long as my department store bells keep ringing, I’ll keep going on,” she said. “I’m a department store business, and I fully intend to stay in the stores.”
BEAUTY BREAKTHROUGH: QVC’s Hydron Care treatment line, which contains a patented emulsion system, broke a beauty record on Saturday. The Hydron Care line did more than $750,000 during a one-hour program, surpassing the previous record set by The Principal Secret in February 1994 by more than $100,000.