Meghan Markle is in the process of promoting her new lifestyle brand.
And what better way to get the word out than by calling in some favors from her most famous friends?
As we’ve previously reported, Meghan is hard at work rolling out American Riviera Orchard, a company that will curate the finer things in life for the sort of well-off folks who run in the duchess’ inner circle.
It’s expected that Meghan will eventually partner with luxury brands and release a slate of her own products — sort of like what Gwyneth Paltrow’s done with Goop.
But in the meantime, she’s starting out with a much more rustic approach.
Meghan Markle’s Lifestyle Brand Gets a Soft Launch
As The Daily Mail reports, Meghan recently mailed out 50 jars of artisanal jam made from fruit grown near her home in Montecito.
The lucky recipients, or “jamfluencers,” are friends of Meghan’s, at least some of whom happen to be celebrities who are now helping the duchess create buzz for her brand.
Mindy Kaling, Chrissy Teigen, Kris Jenner, and Tracee Ellis Ross are just some of the celebs who have taken to Instagram to publicly thank Meghan for the fancy preserves (complete with hand-numbered label).
We’re sure Meg enjoys gifting swanky items to her famous friends — but generosity might not have been the main motivator here.
According to PR expert Nick Ede, Meghan was able to launch the equivalent of a multimillion-dollar ad campaign, and all it cost her was 50 jars of jam.
“Most campaigns in the modern era are accompanied by ‘influencer’ gifting, but I would suggest that Meghan Markle’s influencer network is slightly more grand than most,” Ede explained to the Mail this week.
“Her little black book of celebrity contacts will be the thing of PR dreams, and so her first product launch was always going to be a huge media success,” he added.
“The true test will come with her follow up products and keeping people interested in what she is doing.”
Meghan’s Jam Strategy
Thus far, Meghan’s efforts seem to be paying off.
Only eight of the 50 jam recipients have been identified, and the situation has created excitement on social media, as Meghan fans guess at who else may have scored a jar.
“The key to success is to try and keep the story running for as long as possible,” says Ede.
“Get the news of the launch out there, tick, then keep drip-feeding more information every few days in order to keep people interested.”
In the years since the couple left the UK, there’s been a great deal of debate over Meghan and Prince Harry’s abilities as entrepreneurs.
But if Meghan can generate this sort of buzz just by mailing out a few jars of jam, then her critics might have severely underestimated her!
