In a staggering turn that proves how powerful TV sales have become, Sean "Diddy" Combs will appear on HSN next Monday to throw his support behind his fragrances, "I Am King" and "Unforgiveable."
What's even more interesting, however, is how HSN intends to promote the mega-star's appearance. WWD asked HSN's CEO, Mindy Grossman, about the complexities of selling a fragrance (something, obviously, a viewer can't actually smell while watching the show on TV), and she said the process was so interesting that the network should own a VH1-inspired show, "Behind the Fragrance."
Apparently, creating a desire to buy a celebrity's perfume off of TV really involves creating an entire visual world around the brand of the perfume -- for Gwen Stefani's "Harajuku Lovers," it was the pop singer's Snow Bunnies, for example -- and so HSN will be building a special set for Combs' fragrance segment that looks more like a slick city talk show set than the cozy livingroom or wintry wonderland one might typicall expect of, say, HSN or QVC.
In fact, Diddy won't even really be selling the fragrance -- he'll be appearing more like a talk show guest than a promoter, adding a flashy celebrity element to the show and also playing up, we'd suppose, being the embodiment of each fragrance's aesthetic.
Combs will be on HSN on Monday, November 30, from 11PM-1AM (prime late night talk show hours, in point of fact). As one industry insider told WWD, the network's hoping to break $400,000 in sales for the show.
