Tova Borgnine, Now And Forever
There’s a joke among the staff of Direct: The only thing that lasts longer than the scent of Tova Borgnine’s perfumes is the draw of a profile the magazine ran on her more than a decade ago.
Borgnine, a cosmetics marketer, was feature in a piece written by ace profile writer Diane Cyr in 1999 (http://directmag.com/drtv/marketing_personal_best_cosmetics/). The story pulls thousands of clicks annually.
There’s no apparent pattern to why readers are clicking when they are: While one year a plurality of the views came around the November-December holiday season, in another clicks spiked in April and August. And referring click data is inconclusive.
Nor do the spikes in interest correlate to significant changes in Borgnine’s life. Both she and her husband, actor Ernest Borgnine, are alive and working. Her last book, on being happily married to Ernest, was issued during the late 1990s. And the last significant change for her company, Tova Corp., came in 2002 when it was purchased by television-based shopping network QVC.
It’s not as if Borgnine is the highest-profile subject Cyr wrote about for Direct: Other subjects have included Steve Kahn, the then-30-something founder of the Delia’s catalog (http://directmag.com/mag/marketing_teen_idol/index.html) and the marketing machine behind The Grateful Dead (http://directmag.com/mag/marketing_living_off_dead/index.html).
If anything, this year would offer a logical reason for an uptick in clicks: This November will mark the 20-year anniversary of Borgnine’s first appearance on QVC. But year-to-date clicks for the piece – at least, before this writing – lag those of previous years.
If nothing else, Borgnine deserves recognition for marketing savvy. Her flagship perfume is “Tova Signature”, which was probably a wise branding choice: The marketing potential of a perfume called TB is limited, at best.
November 17th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
I wore TOVA perfume for 10 years and got compliments every where I went. I no longer buy it because for some stupid reason the scent was chnaged. WHY???
January 8th, 2011 at 12:56 am
I have worn Tova’s original fragrance for 20 years now. That’s the only thing I have worn. Now they’ve changed it. Every since they changed the look of the bottle the scent has changed. It doesn’t last anywhere near as long and there’s just something different about it. I no longer get compliments on it. My family and friends always said you could smell me for hours after I left the room. They need to bring back the original asap. Qvc says they didn’t change it but they have. Every women who wore the original knows the difference. Thank you
January 22nd, 2011 at 9:33 am
Trying to reach Ernest Borgnine & his wife to be present at an event on Nov.5, 2011,
in Philadelphia. Mr. Borgnine is a former US Sailor and our event is to save the USS Olympia, Adm, Dewey’s flagship. We wanted Mr. Borgnine to say a few words about his time in the Navy. The event is non-profit and all proceeds will go to to saving the Olympia. We would offer him a reasonable honorarium and fly them both first class with lodging.
Hoping you could forward this message to them.
Thank you,
Michele Mongiello
February 1st, 2011 at 5:45 pm
I love the orginal tova…I had many bottle form years ago and just finished my last one….I can not believe the prices of the one I use is 150.00 I think the last one I bought was 60 with powder also
Is there something cheaper with the same smell
Thank you
Patti
August 25th, 2011 at 5:41 pm
Because Tova Borgnine has reached a time in her life when she knows it won’t be long before she will be long gone, I believe she has decided that the formula for the scent “Signature” (which I loved and wore daily) is going with her folks. Tova Signature is not what it used to be–beautiful, just like Tova Borgnine used to be. Now that she has peaked (her age) and appears to be self centered, I don’t think she wants anyone to have the “Signature” formula– especially QVC. It discusts me that she would do something like this but I think she’s capable.