Rebrand, Restructure, Harry and Meghan 2025 version

[Thedom]

The Era of Joy didn't last long.

This is going to be interesting, it's going to be a full on PR onslaught for the next few months, and then we will have Harry launching his very own 'commercial project'.

Clearly an article straight from the Office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, giving an exclusive to the DM.

archive.is/ufM7K

If she’s not comfortable with the way NF wants to do business with her, that’s one thing. But to make out she’s pausing the business, in order to scale up and make sure there is stable supply is bullshit. It’s private label, very easy to scale.

But the NF fandom merch business is all about limited drops. Thats how those type of business run.

She can’t have it both ways. This is why it sounds like As ever will be a limited venture. She will come out with a different lifestyle business at some point.

We sniffed out AROs demise way before she confirmed it. We knew it was dead in the water months and months before it was confirmed.

Maybe when the NF contract ends, then the As ever brand ends.

Agree. The worst thing she did was marry Harry. The worst thing he did was to marry her.

sounds like Meg knows (asever) isn’t a long term thing and she wants to create an actual business now

I'd say good luck to her, @Atlusvue, except what capability does she have to run anything at all?

Each issue around both ARO and asever, from tthe trademarking to the supplies and everything in between, has been basic level stuff where "how to" is easily found even if someone hasn't a clue themselves, but beyond the excitable "launches" it's all a yawning black hole of nothing

And what happened to Netflix's supposed plans to place the goods in their stores? It'll be interesting, come September, to see if they're still in or not

The Netflix stores plan - I just checked - is to open TWO stores this year, in the USA somewhere,exact locations still TBC. That's still going to be a very limited avenue to make money from, if it even happens.

I do agree that she is lying about the pause to scale up.

However, NF food merch is available year-round via strategic collaborations with food retailers. Bridgerton scone mix, honey and other items are available on the Wiliams-Sonoma website.

Selling food/drink is a very different business versus non-perishable merch such as T-shirts/mugs/plushies from the supply chain logistics to the marketing to the regulatory environment.

You can do limited runs of certain flavors e.g. pumpkin spice variation for Fall but the basic flavors targeting the majority of people need to be there year-round so that buying the product becomes a habit.

Bridgerton Collection: Tea Party Essentials | Williams Sonoma

Netflix is trying to emulate the Disney Store experience.

They've picked the locations, two mega malls with high foot traffic. King of Prussia mall in Pennsylvania and Galleria Dallas in Texas.

King of Prussia lists Netflix House as coming soon so they must have signed the lease. And Fall is the right time to launch anything to capitalise on the Thanksgiving / Christmas / New Year spending bonanza.

King of Prussia Mall

What makes no sense at all, is she is putting out on her podcast, which she has complete control over what content goes out- that’s she’s pausing the business.

Thats insanity. She obviously knows that will get picked up by the papers and negative conclusions drawn. She really doesn’t understand business at all. Unless she’s setting up for her next business boss lady move.

Im also seriously confused why she talks about the scarcity drops to drum up the business and how that can hook people in- ok we get that Meg- but then makes out she was so overwhelmed with the products all being sold out in 45 mins, she’s had to stop and take stock- like she she hadn’t accounted for how successful the run would be.
It can’t be both- it can’t be a limited run designed to sell out quickly/grab headlines and be a line launched but the numbers were underestimated and they are now having to recalibrate.

It’s private label tat. She can scale up today if she wanted.

I can see the thinking behind a limited drop of non perishable fan merch (desirability, exclusivity, collectability) but not with bloody jam.

'I don't want you to eat that jam once every six months. I want that to be on your shelf all the time.'

Then get someone with the first clue about how to run a business to sort out your supply issues, Meghan. This might be more useful than the "Chief of Staff" role. However, I agree that As Ever will be quietly binned and a disappointed world will never experience the joy of the coulijamspread (TM)

The whole thing is really really strange. The fact that she decided to start a podcast calling herself a female founder is just sad at this point. I agree with the PP who said that she was probably happier in her Suits days.

I simply don't believe she had a year's stock. That wouldn't sell out in 45 minutes.

I think that maybe Trump and his tariffs have also had a part in this - possibly making her business plan untenable if stock is being sourced from overseas.

She has the worst luck in the world for timing things.

She’s also only got 3 months left of the NF contract.

Im not sure how these negotiations happen and how far in-advance, but surely we would be hearing from exclusive sources in People about how excited Meg is to be continuing her relation with NF if it was looking likely that the contract would be extended?

Instead we hear from her podcast, that she’s pausing the business and 3 months until the NF contract expires we haven’t heard anything about a renewal. We know she’s got a shiny new PR team….surely this is something they’d be desperately putting out if they had any inkling that Ted was going to give her a shiny new contract.

Harry is surplus to requirements these days, he won’t be renewing anything. Save perhaps his victim status and NF subscription.

So alas, we must conclude that we will never see :

• the feminist origin story of Miss Havisham
• Meet me by the Lake love story movie

Sad times

I don't know where to start with this, but it feels like "It sold out in 45 minutes" is going to be the new Proctor and Gamble story.

I truly believe she thought that selling out one tiny batch of jam would have Kraft or some other food producer throwing $$$ at her to buy Asever. In her podcasts, it seems to be the clear aim of all these women. It's also what the Tatcha lady Vicky (from WLM) did. I do wonder if the initial NF, Spotify, PRH deals lulled them into a false sense of security. Their deals were built on an illusion on both sides.

I have read a rumour that Harry is considering a documentary on Netflix about Diana to coincide with the 30th anniversary of her death .
Hard to believe even Harry would sink that low but if he is desperate for money, who knows ?

Good point. Maybe she thought they would get investors along with the ‘sold out in 45 mins’ storyline but it hasn’t happened.

How do we actually know she sold anything?

I've said all along this is what she thought would happen. Some global brand would pay her the $1billion like nearly all her podcast guests. And as Hailey Bieber has just done (sold her cosmetics line to ELF). I wonder if COAFF was an exercise in manifestation! I also wonder if all these entrepreneurs have used a bit of crafty marketing along the way. It's rumoured the Kardashian product lines all operate in this way, claiming lines (unspecified quantity) are sold out in minutes in order to whip up desirability and demand. But the bottom line is they all had a desirable product in the first place, or one giving at least the illusion of being life changing for the consumer in some way - whether a garment that will make you look less podgy or make up that will make you more beautiful. Jam and pancake mix is just basic and nothing life changing. Not even with flower sprinkles, no matter what Meghan says.

It’s certainly not big numbers. There really wasn’t that many people posting their purchases online.

I would think 500-800 per item for the stock run. The honey, maybe 100. Virtually no pics of anyone getting the honey.

I think not one of her products turning up on Ebay and being heavily bid for is a sign that there really wasn't much out there beyond what was sold to media people and selected loyal supporters.

I've read the same. If true, I can't imagine anything Harry is behind won't involve the further diminishing of William given past form and the market he would surely be aiming for (people old enough to remember Diana properly) will not like it if it becomes The Harry Show.

I remember the day the boys returned from Balmoral after her death and William taking flowers from the crowd outside BP and repeatedly saying "thank you so much for coming" and keeping it together. Lord knows how, he was only 15.

Maybe this was a test dummy run. She takes her ‘learnings’ as she puts it, from As ever. Which ends when NF contract ends. She launches with a new lifestyle business that she hopes others will invest in because she can show them that the last brand sold out in 45 mins. Build up the hype….with the intention to sell, like mentioned above, for a billion.

Any Diana documentary from Harry will be full of conspiracy theories about her death, and absolutely pointing the finger at the press and Charles for killing her, directly or indirectly. It will ignore her own complicity with the press and her own bad behaviour such as her numerous affairs and harassment of affair partners. And it will claim that her wishes for her boys are not being honoured - her wish being that Charles would not be king and that William and Harry would reign jointly.

That is true. Usually, must have items are all over the site with mark ups. Everything from Aldi/Lidl best buys, jellycats, those bloody weird scary doll keyrings.

Yet, I’ve never seen any re selling. Does make you think.

I have read a rumour that Harry is considering a documentary on Netflix about Diana to coincide with the 30th anniversary of her death .

Can't actually imagine it being all that popular, if true. To put it bluntly, Diana is old news. There's a whole generation now who don't remember her when she was alive.

What is there to say that hasn't already been said?

If Harry's in charge, it'll be purely hagiographical; it won't address her flaws.

And who will want to participate? I can't imagine her sisters will want it all dragged out again.