As Never the second release ...

[onehorserace]

Wine, apricot spread and honey. I think we've had all the suggestions for names already ?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14832085/amp/Meghan-Markle-new-products-rose-wine-apricot-spread.html

Maybe those butlers she used last time cycle?

Why does the presence of M turn people into buffoons?

I saw that too. JKL was asking normal questions in a normal voice with a normal look on her face rather than a creepy smile. Which does make me wonder exactly what sort of weird, cultish behaviour we were witnessing in the MM interview.

Also as an aside, I caught a bit of MM's interview with Emma Grede. Emma asks her which female entrepreneurs MM admires and she was flailing around for an answer. But she did say that she admires her old friend who is a business woman and also a godmother to her children. I wonder if she was referring to the elusive Benita Litt, who has all the qualifications to have helped MM out with her branding issues, and clearly didn't.

I don't know - she launched the products in early April so it's almost 3 months since the first tranche.

It's almost like there weren't many products to sell 😉and most of them went to journalists and friends to create a "sell out". It's almost like it came from an MLM playbook.

So blimming odd.

I wondered if it was because it was a bloke. Or maybe JKL used Meghan to get more visibility for her podcast? Maybe as a previous poster suggested, being around Meghan changes people into buffoons? Or it's a cult?

Damned if I understand any of it.

MLM is what I think of everytime with AsEver. Meghan's girl boss/mom at home persona is straight out of the MLM playbook.

There is no longevity in the As Ever brand, it is very obvious it is not going anywhere and it appears to be another failure.

Her insta posts for the product barely generate any traction in comparison to her other personal posts,, there is a post on Reddit with an approximation of the traffic to the site and the traffic is really low for a brand with the huge amount of publicity and promotion it received.

It is a really dismal start considering her name recognition, the link to Netflix, the numerous podcasts and the overall PR push since it changed its name..

My money's on a cult. All that Godmothers' bookshop malarky and the circle around Oprah has cult written all over it.

It was JKL's 'flushed' complexion alongside her squeaky gushing voice and bizarre posture that threw me.

Meghan's personal IG still hasn't hit 4M, and As ever isnt even at 1M - despite all the publicity of the 2nd launch.

For someone with global name recognition and the amount of publicity and press she's had recently that's pretty poor numbers. As ever gained barely any followers since starting, and Meghan's only gained about 500k in the past few weeks - mainly with the twerking video.

The numbers are great for a mid level C list influencer hoping to hit B list. But not good for someone who aspires to billionaire female founder. I would imagine there's quite a bit of disappointment there.

I see an internet-savvy person has looked at the metadata for the As Ever website and noted that the brand listed for Meghan’s herbal teas and flower sprinkles is a company called “Republic of Tea”, based in California. They also do a range of Bridgerton themed teas, so clearly have an existing commercial relationship with Netflix.

Meghan therefore appears to be simply sourcing her tea and sprinkles from them on a white-label basis, and packaging it in her own branding for resale. And a hefty mark-up. The same flavour teas sell for 32 cents a bag on Republic of Tea’s website, and $1 a bag on As Ever.

Mrs Finkelstein - the SussexRoyal instagram account, inactive since 2020, still has 8.8m followers. I imagine Meghan was hoping most of those would follow her new accounts, but that hasn’t happened.

I genuinely do hope they can find a way forward but suspect it may take a number of years - and perhaps with Harry on the fringes of the family for a while and seen to behave appropriately?

Yes, this is how I believe it will happen.

As I've said elsewhere, the RF drew a number of lessons from Diana. The hardest of which would be based on the media and public opinion, in those strange, fervid months after her death, that the RF had 'kicked her out' of the fold post divorce, isolated her, and that's why she ended up being driven by a drunk through a tunnel under the Seine.

The truth is more complex than that of course. But it' a perception that still remains.

Now, let's apply this perception framework to Harry. Multiple sources over the past two decades have been whispering that Harry is not a well man. He reputedly has better and worse periods, which is how these things tend to go, when they're chronic. It's volatile.

William is NOT going to want a situation where he's King and he's seen by the public to have played a similar role (of neglect and not caring) to that of which the Queen and Charles were accused in the late 90s, and which it took nearly 15 years for Charles to start to shake off.

The RF lives and dies by its long term public image. They don't directly make laws anymore; they don't lead us into battle, they don't take the cross and liberate Acre or triumph against the odds at Agincourt. It's all about the image. And the damage that would be caused by a Diana 2.0 would, I believe, be terminal for the kingship of William.

So, there will be a reconciliation. The hurt feelings, lack of trust, fear of embarrassment, fear of private convos leaking, etc etc can all be worked out. But Diana 2.0 would be impossible to work out. So, yes, the door will be cracked open for Harry eventually. He won't get as far as the drawing room - he might have to spend the rest of his life in the outer hallway - but, eventually, it'll happen. Trust and believe that the potential long term alternative is far, far less conducive to the survival of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

What about Meghan? I just can't see it.. ever.

Why on earth would they want their teas repackaged to be sold more expensively by someone else, let alone someone with such absolutely abysmal business sense?

It’s a common business practice used in all sorts of industries, including financial services. An established supplier/retailer partners with another brand as it means overall they make more sales. Often it’s used to give the supplier access to wider markets. Or it means they get to sell their products without needing to pay for marketing, distribution channels etc. The idea is that generally the ultimate consumer won’t know (without some digging) who supplied the products.

Here’s a website of a cosmetics company I found in a quick google that offers its products specifically on this basis:

naturallybalmy.co.uk/collections/white-label-products

You mean she's not hand tieing small organza bags in her kitchen? 😳😂

@GiveMeSpanakopita what you are describing is emotional blackmail. Harry returns to the fold would eventually require his conditions to be met. Conditions that could never be satisfied as he can't be satisfied.

The give away was that the little paper tag on her teabags was blank. Blank for someone else's brand to be printed on it. She obviously overlooked the need to do this when ordering, despite her freakish attention to detail.

This was all being predicted months ago on these boards when she first started ARO. It was abundantly clear then that she would not be able to run a profitable business without buying in mass produced, low cost goods to re-label. I have no idea why the media haven't addressed this, especially the outlets that had their journalists doing tastings.

The RF lives and dies by its long term public image ... It's all about the image. And the damage that would be caused by a Diana 2.0 would, I believe, be terminal for the kingship of William

So, there will be a reconciliation. The hurt feelings, lack of trust, fear of embarrassment, fear of private convos leaking, etc etc can all be worked out. But Diana 2.0 would be impossible to work out. So, yes, the door will be cracked open for Harry eventually. He won't get as far as the drawing room - he might have to spend the rest of his life in the outer hallway - but, eventually, it'll happen. Trust and believe that the potential long term alternative is far, far less conducive to the survival of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

More excellent points, @GiveMeSpanakopita, and pragmatic as always, but again what about Meghan and by extension the two children?

I'd genuinely be astounded if she was prepared to follow Harry back here and as said there's an awful lot which could follow from that, little of it helpful to his mindset

Whilst I think there may be some kind of arms length reconciliation I'm not sure whether they have learnt the lesson you talk about from Diana. For me the most striking thing is how being able to take the long view gives the institution time to ride out dips in popularity. Even with Diana we can see how gradually over the years truth emerges and the narrative becomes more complex and nuanced beyond the simplistic, Diana good, royals bad. Not for everyone of course but for enough people to be significant when it comes to brand management.

If Harry was still the cheeky chappie beloved of the tabloids then I do think long term estrangement would damage the brand, not bring down the monarchy but damage the family reputation. However Harry has spent five years showing us who he really is and in ways that many people can relate to in their own family conflicts. He is not a cheeky teen anymore he is an entitled arrogant whiny man who has breached his family's privacy for money and still wants more. He is very far from Diana in public perception and sentiment.

I hope there is reconciliation, but even if there isn't and someing awful happens I don't think it will endanger the monarchy or harm their reputation in the same way as happened with Diana. There will be harm but I think it will be less and, given the timescales they work with, survivable.

I agree @MrsLeonFarrell .
I don’t think the Diana situation and that of Harry is remotely the same .
Diana didn’t flounce off and make millions trashing the RF . She made a huge mistake with Bashir however she was clearly manipulated.
I simply cannot see William allowing Harry within a hundred yards of Catherine and their DC . I think the best Harry could hope for is a small property somewhere on the Royal estate with fleeting appearances at family events .
Meghan ? Not a chance she will be back .
The big question is - what about A and L ?

Sadly in the last couple of years, Diana was thriving. She was a humanitarian with a global platform. This is what I think M wanted to emulate but she is no Diana.