Mary J. Blige Sees Dollars in Scents

Singer Mary J. Blige has built her name on taking pain and transforming it into triumph.

Her new fragrance with Carol’s Daughter, My Life, is named for her 1994 recording of the same name that represented a personal turning point after a history of childhood abuse and drugs. “I was crying out for help, because I was going through so much,” she told WWD.

The perfume will launch solely on HSN on July 31 and retail for $46. Billed as the first fragrance to be launched "exclusively through a multichannel retailer," My Life will be introduced to consumers via a unique multi-platform campaign.

Its unique distribution leverages all of HSN's marketing channels, including TV, online, mobile, print advertising, events and direct mail.

The scent is a composition of floral, fruit and wood tones. $1 of every bottle will benefit FFAWN (the Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now), which Blige co-founded with record executive Steve Stoute, who is also CEO of Carol’s Daughter. Other backers of the non-profit include Jay-Z, Will Smith and Tommy Mottola.

Stoute decided that telling the story of Blige’s life on HSN would be more effective than selling the fragrance through traditional department store retail channels. 

“I’m just saying that now other people are at the table,” he told WWD. “The retailer no longer builds the brand. The brand needs to build the brand, no matter where it is purchased. That allows you not to shop the channel, but the brand.”

Glow By JLo, Sarah Jessica Parker SJP NYC, Harajuku Lovers by Gwen Stefani and Sean John Unforgivable are also sold on HSN.com. In February 2010, HSN’s Joy Mangano made electronic retail history by selling 180,000 units of her branded home fragrance product, Forever Fragrant, in one day.