Both fans and critics of Meghan Markle would be forgiven if they expected the aspiring entrepreneur wife of Prince Harry to launch her much-ballyhooed American Riviera Orchard jam sometime this fall.
After all, it’s been four months since Meghan’s celebrity friends tried to stoke enthusiasm for her promised luxury home and lifestyle products by boasting on social media that they had been among the fortunate few to receive her limited-edition American Riviera Orchard pots of raspberry and strawberry jam, along with some probably pricey dog biscuits.
But it turns out that Meghan won’t be able to follow a certain principal in sales and marketing — “strike while the iron is hot,” according to Daily Beast royal correspondent Tom Sykes. Sources in the entertainment world in Hollywood have told Sykes and the Daily Mail that the launch of the ARO brand could be delayed until the spring of 2025.
That’s because the AOR launch is being timed around Meghan’s new cooking and homemaking show for Netflix, Sykes and the Daily Mail reported. But the streaming service in turn has yet to announce when it is ready to release the show, even though filming reportedly wrapped in Los Angeles and in her hometown of Montecito.
Further complicating matters is the U.S. Patents and Trademarks Office, which has told the former Hollywood TV actor that she needs to correct “irregularities” in applications she made to the office, the Daily Mail reported. The office has notified Meghan’s lawyers of various issues, including the incorrect classification of other proposed AOR products, such as yoga blankets, picnic baskets and recipe books. Unfortunately for AOR, it could take around eight months for the trademark applications to be examined and up to 14 months for them to be registered, the Daily Mail said.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits the Hubb Community Kitchen in London on November 21, 2018 to celebrate the success of their cookbook. (Photo by CHRIS JACKSON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
But it looks like Meghan’s endeavor is getting lots of assistance from Netflix, which has a big stake 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, soon after they stepped away from royal duties and moved to California.
The Daily Mail said Netflix has inexplicably stepped outside of its usual role of streaming and producing programming to help Meghan “turbo-charge” her AOR brand. Netflix is taking over “all executive roles and delivering deals with wholesalers, designers, growers and retailers,” the Daily Mail said. Representatives for Netflix and for Meghan and Harry either declined to comment or didn’t respond to inquiries for comment, the Daily Mail said.
As for Meghan’s still untitled cooking show, the streaming service still needs to begin editing it, meaning it might not be ready “for months,” the Daily Mail said.
“Everyone has to abide by Netflix’s schedule these days,” a senior entertainment executive told the Daily Beast’s Sykes. “They are by far the biggest player in town.”
The source added there was “literally no point in Meghan doing anything” until Netflix is ready to act, Sykes also reported.
But the fact that consumers can’t buy any American Riviera Orchard products yet — either online of at select stores that might carry the brand — smacks of “bad choreography” to some brand and marketing experts, Sykes wrote.
“From a strategic and branding perspective, if you suggest you are going to launch something but then four months later nothing has happened, the world moves on,” New York-based branding expert Norah Lawlor told Sykes. He also expressed concern about AOR’s mysterious timeline: “The bigger question is whether they have a real team on it, and whether that team has been able to negotiate the retail channel partnerships to get this into stores.”
Given these reported behind-the-scenes complications with Meghan’s brand, Lawlor questioned what the duchess was doing at a recent high-profile summit for women in business. That G9 Ventures Summer Summit in the Hamptons boasted attendance by Gwyneth Paltrow and Reese Witherspoon, who created the template for Hollywood stars successfully transitioning into the lifestyle business.
“You have to wonder whether she was actually getting business advice, or if she was more concerned with projecting an image of a smart and savvy businesswoman,” Lawlor said. “American Riviera Orchard poses similar questions: Is it really going to be a business, or is it an image-driven add-on, designed primarily just to project an image of a serious businesswoman?”
Unfortunately for Meghan’s image-building efforts, she wasn’t able to be photographed with Paltrow and Witherspoon at the summit, with sources telling NewsNation that some of the bigger names at the summit were reluctant to be seen with her, the New York Post reported.
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“They know that if they are in a picture with (Meghan) it is a tacit approval of her that she can use to promote herself,” one insider told NewsNation, according to the New York Post.
While Meghan and Harry’s fans don’t want to admit it, the couple have become controversial figures, mostly for airing their grievances against the British royal family in conjunction with lucrative media deals. And, Sykes said, there’s a perception that Meghan’s various initiatives and businesses seem “to lack seriousness, or follow-through.” The 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.
For Spotify, Meghan only produced 12 episodes of her Archetypes podcast, even though the show listed 13 producers. The deal with Spotify soured, and she and Harry were labeled “(expletive) grifters” by Bill Simmons, a top podcaster for The Ringer network and a top Spotify executive.
For Netflix, the couple’s output has so far been “slight,” apart from their blockbuster “Harry and Meghan” documentary, which stoked interest largely because it featured the couple dishing royal dirt, according to Sykes. Harry is said to be working on a Netflix show about polo.
But another PR and marketing consultant told Sykes that Meghan could gain an advantage by being patient and waiting to release her AOR products at the same time as her cooking show. Warren Johnson of London-based W Communications said she has the potential to create a Martha Stewart-style “lifestyle ecosystem” that includes a show, cookbooks and products.
“To allow some anticipation to build is not a strategy I would disagree with, especially as it has enabled her to test her credibility, and see if she gets laughed out of town as a jam maker before risking a penny,” said Johnson, who has worked with such global consumer brands as Sony, Disney, Adidas and Tinder. “Personally, I’m not sure the world needs more jams, but maybe I’m wrong.”
