CompanyStats

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
  • HQ: New York, NY
  • 2008 Revenues: $284.3 million
  • Employees: 645
  • Global: Operates within the U.S.
  • Fortune 500: N.A.

CEOExtra

Even in the midst of frozen consumer spending, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Executive Chairman Koppelman says the company, in anticipation of a recovery, is further extending the Martha Stewart brand, which encompasses magazines, bestselling books, the nationally syndicated daily TV series The Martha Stewart Show, websites, the Martha Stewart Collection of home products exclusively at Macy’s and more. Most recently the company announced an agreement with Sandals Resorts and Beaches in the Caribbean to create branded destination weddings as well as crafts classes and crafts camps. In early 2010, the company will launch a line of all-natural cleaning solutions with The Hain Celestial Group called Martha Stewart Clean. “We’re looking to better times ahead and planning accordingly,” says Koppelman, “so that when the economy improves, we’ll be well positioned to take advantage of it.”

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How do you retain customers in challenging times?

The economic downturn isn’t the first time that Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. (MSO) has faced a challenge to retain customers. The company certainly has made it through tougher times, says Executive Chairman Charles Koppelman, and it will make it through this as well.

“Keep looking forward and building toward a brighter future, because there will be one.”

“The most important thing is never to sacrifice your brand,” explains Koppelman, who has been with the company since July 2004. “During the challenges we faced several years ago related to Martha’s legal issues, our priority was to remain focused on the customer and true to our brand. We made sure that our customers continued to associate our brand with high quality, style and value.”

Koppelman believed that if the company continued to deliver a high-quality product, customers would stay loyal to the Martha Stewart brand, and ultimately the advertisers would return, eager to reach those buyers. “And we were right,” he says. “Our core customers remained loyal to the business. They continued to renew their subscriptions and purchase our merchandise.” In 2008 the company had revenues of $284 million.

During challenging times, Koppelman points out, it is essential to remember that the situation is only temporary. “Keep looking forward and building toward a brighter future,” he says, “because there will be one.”