13-06-2012, 03:45 PM
The Fashion Channel
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Introduction
Dana Wheeler, senior vice president of marketing for The Fashion Channel (TFC), sat in her
Chicago office and scrolled through the email messages in her inbox. Thankfully, none required an
urgent reply. She toggled over to her calendar: no meetings for the rest of the day. Finally, she could
focus her thoughts on reviewing her recommendations for TFC’s new segmentation and positioning
strategy.
Wheeler believed that she had prepared a solid analysis; she felt confident about the strategy she
was proposing. But next week’s senior management meeting would mark her first big presentation to
the company’s leaders since she had joined TFC, and, she admitted to herself, she was eager to gain
the support of her colleagues.
Background
TFC was a successful cable TV network– and the only network dedicated solely to fashion, with
up-to-date and entertaining features and information broadcast 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
Founded in 1996 by two entrepreneurs, it had experienced constant revenue and profit growth above
the industry average almost since the beginning. Revenues for 2006 were forecast at $310.6 million,
marking another steady upswing.
Wheeler’s Plans
Wheeler turned back to her computer, opened up the slide-deck presentation she had created, and
started reviewing it. As she began to page through the materials, she was thinking about the trends
in the advertising marketplace that Norm Frazier had been talking about in the sales forecasting
meeting this morning.
Frazier, senior vice president of Advertising Sales, had warned that TFC might need to drop the
price for a unit of advertising next year by 10% or more if the network did not make some changes in
its performance. He mentioned that both Lifetime and CNN had launched fashion-specific
programming blocks that were achieving notable ratings (Exhibit 1). Frazier was a high-energy
salesman who had personally built the strong ad sales performance of the channel. He was justifiably
worried. Wheeler had left that meeting acutely aware that next week’s executive session wasn’t
coming a moment too soon.
Competitive Threats
The phone rang, breaking her concentration. “Dana,” boomed Norm Frazier. “I’m running to a
client meeting but just wanted to connect with you. I wanted to say, in the meeting next week, I hope
we’ll be able to talk about how to pitch TFC against the new fashion content on CNN and Lifetime.
Lifetime is taking away a lot of ad buys from me because they’re attracting younger female
demographics. CNN is starting to deliver some great numbers on men. Both of these segments can
be sold for a premium CPM, so we need to do something to draw these viewer groups back. If you
want to talk before the meeting, just let me know.”
Wheeler shook her head, understanding his impatience, but frustrated just the same. Still, this
might be an opportunity to build consensus. “I’m on it, Norm. And thank you for the offer. I might
take you up on it. My goal is to be able to come out of next week’s meeting ready to take action
immediately.” They hung up, and Wheeler turned once again to her notepad, jotting down key points
about the competitive landscape.