Page 111 - Bloomberg Businessweek - November 19, 2018

Bloomberg Businessweek The Year Ahead 2019 Consumer

Interview Mindy Grossman

How is the brand poised to bring in new peo-
ple, whether it’s younger women or more men?

We’ve traditionally been about 90 percent “Oprah has
female and 10 percent male. [The male share] been involved
is higher within our digital framework. But every step of
when we launched our Invite a Friend pro- the way, from
gram, almost 20 percent of the new subscrib- the evolution
ers were men, which shows we’re starting to of our brand to
resonate more broadly. And a lot of programs our strategies
we’re launching into 2019 are not for our cur- and plans
rent base but different areas: young moms, for our winter
young dads, college. That is a very big initia- campaign”
tive for us.

There was this idea before you took over that
weight loss programs weren’t necessary any-
more. How have you proven that there’s still a
place in people’s lives for this type of health?

If you talk to 10,000 people, and you say to
44 them, “Do you want to lead healthier lives?”
they’re going to say yes. And then if you ask
▷ WW International is about a lot them to rank the first thing they think they
more than waistlines, says CEO need to accomplish that, over 70 percent say
Grossman it’s losing weight or eating healthier. It means
so much more in people’s lives than just a
program that they’re going to do for a short
How are you positioning the company as you amount of time. They want things that can be
rebrand Weight Watchers around the WW part of their lives.
name next year?
Anything you can say about plans for Oprah
We’ll be entering 2019 with a whole new port- Winfrey [a major shareholder, board member,
folio reflecting all the brand initiatives and the and spokeswoman since 2015], whether in your
transition from not just being the leader in dieting programs or in seasonal marketing?
weight management, but being a new leader in
holistic wellness for people. It’s been fantastic. Oprah has been involved
every step of the way, from the evolution of
How do you maintain the relevance of the the brand to our strategies and plans for our
brand in the minds of current customers and winter campaign. She’s very excited to part-
those you’re trying to get into the program? ner with us on what we’re going to be launch-
ing, which will be the most comprehensive
What people want today is a complete marketing effort we’ve done in the history of
approach to helping them not just define but the company.
deliver on what healthy means to them. The
reason we went with the tag line “Wellness She’ll be part of those ads as we get into the
That Works” is all of our research: You say to key diet season?
someone, “Why WW? What does it mean to
you?” and the No. 1 thing is, it works. So we’re Correct. However, I think you need to refer EDWARD LINSMIER/REDUX
applying everything we’ve done for 55 years, to it as the key wellness season. <BW> �Craig
giving people even more help to live healthier. Giammona