Harry and Meghan News ( Finding Freedom!)

[callmeadoctor]

twitter.com/i/web/status/1261788333577056257 This is so funny if anybody fancies a giggle, royals eye rolling!!!

It's true James Middleton has suffered from mental health issues, which can't have been helped by the sneering in the press at any attempt to build his own business. He seems like a nice guy.

So they are a clean slate that M & H could reach.

I doubt that. My 3 children are in their early twenties. They are vaguely aware of Harry, but have no idea who Meghan Markle is. H&M's current social media mean zero to them, and neither will any future social media. They'd also view someone pushing 40 as largely "irrelevant". I'm in Canada, BTW, so in a Commonwealth country, but one influenced by American media in general.

I agree the only selling point they have is being royal, if young Americans don’t care about the British royal family then they have no appeal. They are too old to be starting out as influencers, too old to get the starring doe eyed love interest roles and not earned enough cred to get the character roles.

They are too old to be of any interest to Millenials- both are almost 40. From what I've seen of their fanbase, it mostly seems to be located outside of the UK & US, in Africa and elsewhere in Europe.

I don’t think the younger demographic is interested in them. I don’t think anyone is interested in them without their royal connection, especially not in Harry. Meghan could still generate a moderate amount of interest to keep a lifestyle blog running, but not a TV show I don’t think.

Very amusing explanation of “props”, FannyCan. I enjoyed that.

I went to have another look at the old Sussex Royal and it is such a crock of pompous crap...

The arrogance and self-importance are breathtaking, and all the while taking opportunities to make digs at all the things they didn’t get but felt entitled to.

The security bit is still there, they clearly expected to be entitled to security from public funds. If it was going to be private security, surely security wouldn’t be mentioned on the professional website, because it would be a personal arrangement. They clearly did think they were going to get it and did demand it.

Had a look at thier statement on the Sussex royal website and the follwing stuck out to me

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex to live a more independent life as a family, by removing the supposed ‘public interest’ justification for media intrusion into their lives.

• do they not realise that to be famous and influential they and all the other they aspire to be like at some point or another sell thier soul to the press in order to achieve this. People like Oprah and bill gates worked thier way up and earned this credentials and so the right to step back from media. But anyone trying to make it these days - kardashians, Beyoncé, etc all have to let the press intrude in thier lives!

Over the last month and a half, The Duke and Duchess have remained actively involved in this process, which has understandably been saddening for The Duke and Duchess and their loyal staff, given the closeness of Their Royal Highnesses and their dedicated team.

• I didn’t think there was much of a team Dewi as people resigned left tight and centre or were fired!!

As shared in early January on this website, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex do not plan to start a ‘foundation’, but rather intend to develop a new way to effect change and complement the efforts made by so many excellent foundations globally.

• did they realise that to start a foundation normally you have to have the huge amount of money to put into it ala bill gates and Oprah. Obviously don’t want to use this town money so are just going to jump on other peoples bandwagons and try and take some of the credit!

@HermanHermit
Agree! I was just recently wondered what on earth Pippa was up to since she used to be all over the tabloids but seems to have fallen off the radar since the birth of her son. Good for her though, she's enjoying her wealth and family in total privacy. Basically the entire opposite of what M&H did.

I don't think that Meghan can compete for a younger audience on social media. The main problem is that she comes across as very fake. Even if this is unintentional because they feel obliged to only speak about charities, humanitarian causes, young viewers can pick up the lack of authenticity from miles away. I think she'll also struggle quite a bit to sell merchandise or whatever they have planned because that only works if you have true fans who define themselves through your brand. M&H have no brand now that they're not royal and have not achieved anything of significance since moving to the US.

Influencers have incredible selling power because they are relatable and share everything with their fans. Just take any random internet-famous celeb and you'll see then making videos on Youtube, filming their day on Instagram, posting funny clips on TikTok, and basically sharing every tidbit of their life directly with their audience. M&H are not relatable in the slightest because nobody knows what they're actually thinking, who they are, what they like or how they live. They did have a good streak because of the "young fresh royal" image but that's gone now and there are only endless speculations and press leaks from so-called friends.

The arrogance and self importance of Meghan is totally breathtaking.

Young fresh royal really gets me! They are both pushing 40. Also every time Harry and William are referred to as the boys or Diana’s boys I want to scream.

Young fresh royal really gets me! They are both pushing 40

I always want to shout that too.

The thing is we think they are fake but will a different audience like what they have to offer at some point? We don't know. They are clearly able to network with some very powerful people and Meg was able to bring a lot of attention to her friends brands. I am not a supporter of theirs, I just think it's too early to write them off if their appeal is very different outside the UK. Although I think they do seem to have a support base within the USA. African American Women are big supporters of hers, they comprise 14% of all American consumers and Black spending power is projected to be 1.5 trillion by 2021. If she also appeals to just a minority of women in other groups also she becomes a major player and influencer.
www.nielsen.com/us/en/press-releases/2017/nielsen-report-black-girl-magic-and-brand-loyalty-is-propelling-black-buying-power/

African American Women are big supporters of hers

I wouldn't be so certain of that. There is a gossip site, Lipstick Alley, that is predominantly AA women. There are at least two "negative" threads there devoted to MM, over 9,000 posts, and most of them are by AA women who were there long before MM was on the public's radar.

Networking with powerful people is solely because of the BRF. Without that connection, I don't know how long those "powerful connections" will remain theirs to leverage or exploit.

Pushing 40? Harry’s 35.

Garlic, building the type of influence H&M desire takes time, let's say another year after COVID dies down, and let's assume COVID is a non issue by November of this year. By November 2021, Harry will be 37.

Anything is possible, but I truly believe they have a very uphill battle, and the longer they are holed away in Beverly Hills, the more difficult the task becomes.

I am aware of Lipstick Alley and as well as detractors there is plenty of support for her there too. Among my own AA friends plenty are much more merciful than the average Brit. I am not suggesting all AA women support her, but just that so many pple on here seem to think she and Harry are buried and I think it's much too soon to make a judgment call. There are many women of different backgrounds and ages that will have different opinions than British people, and even in the UK a significant minority are still supportive. They don't need vast majorities supporting them. They just need a good minority in a number of countries and they would be in very good shape. Personally I'm not basing her worldwide popularity on the Daily Mail. That is all.

I don't blame them really. It must be horrible. Imagine dealing with all the shit they have before your baby's even out of nappys.
The being expected to be civil or even in the same room as the famouse uncle pervo would have had me running. Bet there's all sorts gone on

Holed up in Beverly Hills may be the perfect location if they are planning on colabs for executive production. Fact is none of us have a clue what is going on behind closed doors. Noone knew they were in contact with Tyler Perry. I imagine there is a great deal more we don't know.

Collaborating on Tyler Perry schlock? I can’t see that being fulfilling. But, time will tell.

I am with @tangibletutu on this one, I don't think their failure is guaranteed. I have no American friends to ask but I would imagine that, if they played all their cards right, they have enough of a fan base to develop something successful.

However, after all this COVID nonsense will celebrities still wield so much influence? We will be in a world recession, we may need charitable help but will people really want help from them? I certainly won't want to be lectured by them about taking less flights when I can't afford to put food on the table so they may need to rethink their approach.

As others have mentioned, the big issue for HaM is that they do not have a 'unique selling point', and so have nothing to 'sell'. Brands must conjure up unique cognitive associations in order to be successful. Peter Phillips can sell milk to the Chinese because he is royal. Zara - ditto. William - royal and droll. Kate - not royal but loyal, etc.. They conjure up an easily identifiable usp.

HaM brand is messy. Royal but not royal, private but public, feminist but patriarchal, environmental but polluting, protect child from publicity but wheel child out for publicity, and so on. HaM do not have a single usp, so nobody really knows what to call them up for. What do they stand for?

I can't believe the level of poor advice that these two have received. By now, they should be at least half-way through their usp-branding journey in terms of the strong cognitive associations that their 'brand' supports. They are very far from that.

I think their popularity and connections have peaked just before and just after the wedding.
The fanbase they have now could be sufficient to support a moderate level of success; with that I mean some sort of day show presentation gig for Meghan, some merchandising and sponsorship deals on the back off that. I don’t think their connections at the moment will get them further than that. That for me would already be a very successful life but it is clear they want more.
Nowadays there is soooo much choice of documentaries and TV programmes, so even if they collaborate with Tyler Perry etc, it’ll still take a lot of marketing and work to get these productions to be watched. Tyler Perry himself seems to prefer to keep a low profile anyway.
Harry is much more difficult to employ altogether. He doesn’t want a desk job, he doesn’t want to deal with the media. He could do the foundation and charity work, but under what guise? He is not a Senior Royal anymore, he is a member of the public. People will have less and less interest in what he has to say and it’s not like he is creating or had the ability to create new content, it’s basically a rehash of things he has said before.

Personally I'm not basing her worldwide popularity on the Daily Mail

Are you impying that posters on this thread are Daily Mail readers?