Now that Martha Stewart has been sentenced for lying to Federal investigators about a stock sale, where does her namesake, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, go from here? The
company's managers are reportedly hoping that Stewart will take the hit, forego an appeal and start to serve her time; in that way, the company can start to puts its problems
behind it. But Martha is as Martha does. An appeal could stave off jail time until at least the end of 2005, keeping the bad ink afloat.
In the meantime PR NEWS asked two branding specialists what the company can do to improve its image. Its stock price has gone up in light of the lenient sentencing but the
house that Martha built is still facing significant business challenges:
"The company needs to stand for the same things it stood for [before the Martha debacle], which is having good taste for the home. If the company stays true to its principles,
it should be able to find ways to talk to consumers. And I wouldn't avoid mentioning Martha's name; it shouldn't be front-and-center but in the context of the products, services
and information that made the company come to life in the first place."
-- David Aaker, author of "Brand Portfolio Strategy, Creating Relevance Differentiation, Energy, Leverage and Clarity" (Free Press, 2004)
"If the [company] tries to hide her name or change it slightly [managers] are wasting their time. They should keep the name the way it is, it's Martha's company and there's no
way to separate the two. From a business perspective the best thing the company could do is to first get an internal communications plan going - and one that involves Martha -
before they do anything externally."
--- Mike Paul, President & Senior Counselor, MGP & Associates PR (and a member of PR NEWS' board of contributors)