42 Business View Magazine - September 2016
the digital landscape there are a lot of companies that
do a very good job delivering content and there are a
lot of companies that do a very good job of delivering
commerce. We think that there’s a great opportunity
to blend those things and find a mix of content and
commerce in a way that we can engage our custom-
ers, and engage a lot more of them than we are today,
through a content platform and also drive them to do
commerce with us in that same digital platform.”
As an example of that blending, Hearing points to Soul
Train – the iconic musical variety program that pre-
sented R&B, soul, hip-hop, funk, jazz, and disco mu-
sic over a 35-year span. “So, we sell Soul Train DVDs
and we’ve got a robust Soul Train Cruise. Each one of
those things is a separate commerce transaction,” he
explains. “But, there’s also an opportunity around pro-
viding content – the history of Soul Train; where these
artists are now; performances online from back in the
‘70s and performances by the same artists, today; to
get people who are interested in Soul Train content
into an online environment to learn more about that
genre of music and then take advantage of that inter-
est and that awareness to then drive them to buy our
DVD programs or sail with us on a Soul Train Cruise.
We think our product line, and our ability to tell sto-
ries, and deliver video content effectively, which works
very well in a digital setting, provides us a tremendous
opportunity to really grow the business through that
blending of commerce and content.”
While the Time Life Company, itself, has faded into
history, Direct Holdings Global has continued to serve
the very same customers that the original firm once
catered to. “This is a business with a very long, very
rich history that has done a pretty remarkable job over
this 55-year life of evolving and re-inventing itself as
the marketplace has changed – from its inception as
a book publisher to today’s broad portfolio of products
in many different genres and marketplaces,” Hearing
states, proudly.
“Our product line has evolved tremendously; our mar-
keting tactics have evolved tremendously; and the real
story is what’s going to happen as the marketplace
continues to evolve. We all know that the pace of
change is increasing every single day, and we’re do-
ing things to embrace that and evolve the business
pro-actively so that we’re taking advantage of market
opportunities and addressing the needs and wants of
our customers. It’s a pretty compelling story – from the
beginnings of the business to its incredibly bright fu-
ture.”
PREFERRED VENDORS
Holland America Line N.V.
- Holland America Line is
an American/British owned cruise line and a subsid-
iary of Carnival Corporation & plc. Originating in the
