YouSaid · the spoken record

Minday Grossman

lines on the record: 67
first: 2019-01-02
most recent: 2019-01-02
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“It still had incredible equity and positivity. And that's What I thought about it that if we could bring it to a new generation and if we could touch that many more people by elevating relevance, becoming much more technology focused and be that much more present in people's lives without losing the community and without losing the expertise in the science and the things that we do so well, that's a lot more powerful and we'll have a lot more impact than trying to start something from the ground up.”
2019-01-02 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Why Weight Watchers is now WW · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's more, it's a larger thing. The original Weight Watchers, as it was, first they had been sort of the gathering places, and then you checked in and there was the community aspect of it, right? That you go every week to a weekly meeting and have sort of an up with people kind of session about weight loss or stories. And that was for years. And then they did go online and do a lot more other things. But then it was sort of celebrity people who lost weight focused kind of things, which I think is probably still an important part of marketing. But what made you attracted to it? Because it's a very old brand. It's like 55 years old is a great thing, but it's also 55 years old and people think about weight loss in a different way now.”
2019-01-02 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Why Weight Watchers is now WW · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And so, you know, my feeling was that now you have this brand that has transformed many people's lives. And when I talk to anyone whose lives had been transformed or who had such a relationship with WW, you realize that every single person never leads with how much weight they lost. They lead with, I'm a better person, I'm a better parent. I'm living my life in a different way. And if we're much bigger than that, and if we could give people what I call an ecosystem of support, why can't we be the brand who can start democratizing wellness and touch a lot more people and aspirationally try and be a brand that empowers people to lead healthier, better lives and change the trajectory that we're seeing?”
2019-01-02 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Why Weight Watchers is now WW · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And when I started doing all my research around this idea of where wellness is going, and we keep talking about wellness in the rarefied atmosphere. Like, you know, I was just in Italy at the Global Wellness Summit and they came out with this white paper that the global wellness economy has gone from 3.7 trillion to 4.2 trillion since 2015. And everybody's clapping for that and we're spending all this money, but the world is getting unhealthier every single day to the point where it's in an extreme state. And if something does not change, millennials will be the most obese generation in history. And it's a global situation, unfortunately led by the US. Yeah, we brought hampers in.”
2019-01-02 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Why Weight Watchers is now WW · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Really predicated though on the power of community and community, which they did gather and inspire gatherings. And the reality is those two things are still very important elements today. But I really felt that the brand not only had the permission, but almost the responsibility to be more than that”
2019-01-02 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Why Weight Watchers is now WW · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Not really. Not when I kind of got it into my head that, you know, Changing consumers' perspective on wellness and health. And, you know, I always look at businesses that have tailwinds. And where's the consumer going and really saw a big shift in perspective? And I also have always loved legacy brands and brands that have had meaning to people for many years. And so, you know, when I looked at Weight Watchers at the time, this 55-year-old brand started by a female entrepreneur around healthy eating to lose weight.”
2019-01-02 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Why Weight Watchers is now WW · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The risk taking and boldness is the essence of transformation. And, you know, there's no in the middle with him. And when I said to him, this is what I think this business could be. He's like, go forth. And he'll enable you to do it. You have to execute, but he'll enable you to do it. And we were already looking for a CEO, and I was going to transition to chairman.”
2019-01-02 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Why Weight Watchers is now WW · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And people who became the arcade members came three times as much, spend three times as long, and spent three times as much dollars on the network. And it became a big part of our loyalty program. But like anything else, not everybody got it right away when said we were going to do it, but it ended up being a real growth vehicle for the business.”
2019-01-02 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Why Weight Watchers is now WW · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, so, you know, I think sometimes you just really have to understand the behavior of your consumer. And we knew mostly women. And there were three things she loved. She loved to shop. She loved to share. She was very involved in social media and she loved to play casual games. Women to 60, you know, are 65% of casual gameplay. If you've ever sat it next to anyone on an airplane. Playing candy corsaga, you know. And so we went out, met with every one of the gaming companies and said, if she's going to do all these three things, shop, share, and play, I wanted to be able to do it on our platform. And we launched HSNRK 26 casual games separate tab. You could win points for prizes to the thing.”
2019-01-02 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Why Weight Watchers is now WW · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Correct. It was mostly founders. We became really a destination for entrepreneurs who not only could tell their story live 24 hours a day, but now had a very extensive digital video platform that could also be distributed beyond that to the Hulus and beyond. And so we transformed the business, accelerated the growth in the business, and really became a destination for brands and entertainment. And we were one of the first businesses to ever launch our own gaming platform called HSN Arcade and the Casual Game Front.”
2019-01-02 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Why Weight Watchers is now WW · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That can live not just through a linear television platform, but today with the digital assets, this can be an on-demand 24 hours a day. And that was the transition. And what I said was we want to be like Food Network, DIY style, but you can actually buy the product. Right. And that's not what it was.”
2019-01-02 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Why Weight Watchers is now WW · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“At retail. Exactly. And I said, if the powerful brands are having that problem, imagine what smaller brands are going through. And there's no platform to tell their story, entrepreneurs, other brands that can't tell a story on a shelf. And so when I met with Barry the first time, I said, I think there's this huge opportunity to become a Let's call it editorial programmed commerce platform”
2019-01-02 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Why Weight Watchers is now WW · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, it was interesting when I left Nike to go join that business, which was struggling at the time. I think people thought I'd had a midlife crisis or something. But what I really saw was a platform, a content platform. That could be a powerful storytelling platform for brands and for businesses in a world that was becoming more and more distribution captive.”
2019-01-02 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Why Weight Watchers is now WW · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Call it financial opportunity there, but there's a lot of human opportunity. And then when I really saw the opportunity with now WW becoming more than just the best weight platform in the world, but the idea to be able to build an ecosystem to help people lead better connected lives.”
2019-01-02 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Why Weight Watchers is now WW · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, it's interesting. I was really never in the traditional retail side. I was always on the brand side into retail. And then at HSNI, again, all in direct retail. So, you know, I think that so many people thought that if I did something next, it would be in retail or it would be in fashion. And that's exactly what I didn't want to do. And so I started the last two years. I was at HSNI speaking around the world on how this idea of the brands of the future need to take technology plus meaning and help people lead better, more fulfilled connected lives, which took me very much into the health and wellness arena. And I became very consumed with the thought that there's a lot of not just”
2019-01-02 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Why Weight Watchers is now WW · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And then transitioned worked for Barry Diller for two years at IAC running IAC retail. And then in 2008 took the company public as HSN Inc. Which ran HSN television and digital shopping, as well as an entire catalog portfolio. So all direct to consumer.”
2019-01-02 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Why Weight Watchers is now WW · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Hi, I'm Kara Swisher, editor at large of Recode. You may know me as the creator of the only exercise program you can do in your web browser, tabs of steel, but in my spare time I talk tech and you're listening to Reco Decode from the Vox Media Podcast Network. Today in the red chair is Mindy Grossman, the CEO of WW International. No, that's not wrestling. You might know it by its old name Weight Watchers. I wanted to have her on on the podcast because the company's in the middle of some really interesting trends around health and wellness and sort of the transformation tech brings and I've known Mindy for a while when she used to be at HSN and some other things. Mindy, welcome to Reco.”
2019-01-02 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Why Weight Watchers is now WW · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT