Meghan Markle's fans and critics alike would be forgiven for expecting the aspiring entrepreneur wife of Prince Harry to launch her highly-touted American Riviera Orchard Jams this fall.
After all, it's been four months since Meghan's celebrity friends tried to drum up enthusiasm for the luxury home and lifestyle products she promised, bragging on social media that they were among the lucky few to receive jars of limited-edition American Riviera Orchard raspberry and strawberry jam and, presumably, some pricey dog biscuits.
But according to Daily Beast royal correspondent Tom Sykes, Meghan is unable to “strike while the iron is hot” sales and marketing principle, and a Hollywood entertainment industry source told Sykes and the Daily Mail that the launch of the ARO brand may be delayed until spring 2025.
According to Sykes and the Daily Mail, AOR's launch will coincide with Meghan's new cooking and homemaking show for Netflix, but the streaming service has yet to announce a release date for the show, even though filming has reportedly wrapped in Los Angeles and Meghan's hometown of Montecito.
Further complicating things is the United States Patent and Trademark Office, which has told the former Hollywood TV actress that she needs to correct “deficiencies” in the application she submitted to the agency, the Daily Mail reports. The office has notified Meghan's lawyers of a range of issues, including the misclassification of other products proposed by AOR, including yoga blankets, picnic baskets and recipe books. Unfortunately for AOR, the review of the trademark application could take around eight months, and up to 14 months to register, the Daily Mail reports.
Meghan Markle celebrates the success of her cookbook by visiting the Hub Community Kitchen in London on November 21, 2018. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
But Meghan's endeavor appears to have plenty of backing from Netflix, which has a vested interest in her and Harry's success. The streaming service signed a reported $100 million production deal with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in 2020, shortly after they stepped down from royal duties and moved to California.
The Daily Mail reported that Netflix has inexplicably stepped out of its usual streaming and programming roles to “accelerate” Meghan's AOR brand. Netflix will “take over all senior roles and execute deals with wholesalers, designers, growers and retailers,” the Daily Mail reported. Representatives for Netflix, Meghan and Harry either declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment, the Daily Mail reported.
Meghan's as-yet-untitled cooking show could take “several months” to complete as the streaming service has not yet started editing, the Daily Mail reports.
“Everybody has to follow Netflix's schedule these days,” a senior entertainment executive told The Daily Beast's Sykes. “They're by far the biggest player in town.”
Sykes also quoted the source as adding that until Netflix is ready to act, “it makes absolutely no sense for Meghan to do anything.”
But the fact that consumers can't yet buy Riviera Orchard products in the U.S., either online or in certain stores that may carry the brand, reeks of “bad direction” to some brand and marketing experts, Sykes wrote.
“From a strategy and brand perspective, if you suggest you're going to announce something and then four months later nothing happens, the world has moved on,” New York-based brand expert Nora Lawler told Sykes. She also expressed concern about AOR's puzzling timeline. “The bigger question is, do they actually have a team in place, and whether that team has been able to negotiate retail channel partnerships to get this in stores?”
The reported behind-the-scenes complications surrounding Meghan's brand led Lawler to question what she was doing at a recent high-profile summit for women in business, the G9 Ventures Summer Summit in the Hamptons, attended by Gwyneth Paltrow and Reese Witherspoon, who have set an example for Hollywood stars to successfully transition into lifestyle businesses.
“You can't help but wonder whether she was actually receiving business advice or was more interested in projecting the image of a smart, savvy businesswoman,” Lawler says. “American Riviera Orchard raises a similar question: Is it really going to be a business, or is it an image-driven addition designed primarily to project the image of a serious businesswoman?”
Unfortunately for Meghan's efforts to improve her image, she wasn't able to get her photo taken with Paltrow or Witherspoon at the summit, and sources told NewsNation that some of the big names at the summit were reluctant to be around her, according to the New York Post.
“They know that being in a photo with Meghan is an implicit endorsement that she can use to promote herself,” a source told NewsNation, according to the New York Post.
Fans of Meghan and Harry hate to admit it, but the couple have become controversial figures, primarily due to their public dissatisfaction with the British monarchy, along with lucrative media deals. Sykes also said there's a sense of “lack of seriousness and commitment” to Meghan's various endeavors and ventures. That list includes the 40X40 mentorship program, which disappeared without any public updates or progress reports, and Meghan and Harry's multimillion-dollar podcast deal with Spotify.
At Spotify, Meghan only produced 12 episodes of her podcast, “Archetypes,” despite the show listing 13 producers. The deal with Spotify fell through, and Meghan and Harry were called “(expletive) scammers” by Bill Simmons, a top podcaster at The Ringer Network and a top Spotify executive.
Sykes said the couple has “only a few” projects on Netflix so far, apart from the hit documentary “Harry and Meghan,” which garnered a lot of attention for its behind-the-scenes revelations about the royal family. Harry is said to be developing a show about polo for Netflix.
But another PR and marketing consultant told Sykes that Meghan could be patient and take advantage by launching an AOR product at the same time as her cooking show. Warren Johnson of London-based W Communications said Meghan has the potential to create a Martha Stewart-style “lifestyle ecosystem” that would include the show, cookbook and products.
“I don't disagree with the anticipation-raising strategy, particularly as it gives you a chance to test your credibility before taking a risk and seeing if you'll be laughed at as a jam maker,” says Johnson, who has worked with global consumer brands including Sony, Disney, Adidas and Tinder. “Personally I'm not sure if the world needs more jam, but I could be wrong.”
First published: August 9, 2024, 11:50 AM
