As Ever: The Tig… 3.0?

I had a whole piece written and at 6:30pm last night as I was enjoying my turkey curry (Bridget Jones coded), Lainey sent me an As Ever post. My first thought was that Meghan Markle dropped a new photo but, no. It’s a post from a brand. Called AS EVER. 

Cringe, as the kids say. The first defense will be “she is selling lifestyle, this is a fashion label.” That’s not good enough. This is an established brand since 2017. “But they don’t own the .com domain!” It’s been parked since 2000, anonymously, so As Ever probably doesn’t own it either (unless Meghan secured it in 2000). Even if the NYC As Ever doesn’t have the trademark or the website, at best this seems like sloppy business practice on the new As Ever side. 

For Meghan’s many detractors, this is a gift-wrapped blunder. From a business perspective, considering she has partnered with Netflix, it makes everyone involved look inexperienced and her behind-the-scenes team look incompetent. Especially since it’s coming on the heels of a fresh name change, which is a lot of fuss considering she hasn’t dropped a single product. I don’t want to sound ‘chicken little the sky is falling’ but this is embarrassing. 

“But Kim Kardashian changed her name!” Yes, with precision. To the point where hardly anyone remembers that it wasn’t always SKIMS. The Kardashians have so many brands and a very strong partnership with people like the Gredes (who have founded companies including Frame), so they rely on a smart team. This debacle makes me think of the Vanity Fair article about Meghan not being able to take good advice and constantly changing her mind. 

Was she aware of As Ever and pushed ahead anyway? Or is she blindsided by the error? Both scenarios are equally bad! And either way, she is the public face so it falls on her.

And that’s not my only issue with As Ever.

For a hot second, I need to brag because at the time of the first launch, I wrote: “Tying a brand to a place is a tricky thing (what if they move?) but out of all places, she chose the cultural hotbed of MONTECITO. It’s not a place that people outside of Montecito care about that much. Or at all.” And many people said NO that’s not the point, she can do whatever she wants from Montecito! Well, she now says the name tied her to the place and that was part of the reason she changed it. Anyone with even a modicum of experience in lifestyle would have pointed this out to her. But would she have listened? She is either ignoring good advice or she is not hiring the right people for the job.

Meghan is presenting As Ever as a continuation of The Tig which she, and a handful of people online, insist was this super popular blog and had devoted fans. OK, sure. Everyone was checking The Tig first thing in the morning on their Blackberry. 

Watching her roll this out, I go back to a central criticism in the Vanity Fair article:  she frequently changes her mind and doesn’t stick to things. Maybe going back to a familiar place (even though it requires a change before the first product dropped) is a way for her to readjust her focus and get comfortable in the public eye again.

In a way, it seems like Meghan wants to get back to who she was before the royal family. She is very good at being an influencer and seems to have a genuine enthusiasm for it.  She is the woman who says “jam is my jam” unironically and is aiming for authentic homespun but with money that will, of course, never be discussed. 

The most interesting part of Meghan’s video is that she says Netflix is a partner not just in her show but also in her business. From a lifestyle perspective, this is a headscratcher. I know Netflix is an entertainment juggernaut but e-commerce and lifestyle are totally different lanes. How will Netflix help her with the nuts and bolts of the business, like finding suppliers and the best shipping rates and building out staff and inventory management? Did Netflix help her with the due diligence of the name with their massive legal department? What is going ON here?

If they collaborated on something bold, like making the content “shoppable” – like she uses a glass and you can click on it from your device and buy it – that would tie in the two platforms. I’m curious to see if they have built that out. If they did, it would be impressive because that’s a buttload of work across multiple teams and Netflix doesn’t even let users take screenshots. But if the As Ever team can’t even pick a name, how much faith do we have that they are working on groundbreaking interactive experiences?

Netflix has shareholders, which means Meghan now has shareholders and they don’t make money off of Instagram likes. The brand will need to scale quickly to get to a profitable status, and those companies (like Rare Beauty and Fenty) have experienced e-commerce people in executive positions to lead the day-to-day. You don’t become a billion-dollar brand clipping herbs in the garden (and many would argue you can’t become a billion-dollar brand ethically). 

Maybe she doesn’t want to be a billion-dollar brand. Perhaps she truly wants to share and sell a few products and have it be slow moving. But Netflix isn’t partnering with her because they like her scone recipes. 

The Vanity Fair piece noted that Meghan is someone who starts with big bold ideas and then scales back until those ideas are basic. If this Netflix deal is like Spotify, she is perhaps starting with a big plan but it’s not the ideas, it’s the execution.  

For now, being an influencer doesn’t allow you to be inside. You can curate, you can pick and choose public appearances (she is certainly exclusive with her events) but you cannot hide. This name snafu isn’t a strong reset but it’s not a game ender. How she faces controversy will be an indication of how she functions as a leader. As we’ve seen, Meghan and Harry don’t work quickly (which isn’t to say they don’t work hard, they just aren’t at social media pace). Timing is essential here, she needs to get on this fast. The show drops in a few weeks and last night, her team posted this just before the @asevernyc post. 

Does she double down on the name or is it three times the name change, three times charm? Let us know your thoughts at The Squawk. (App link here)

 

Attached - Meghan in Whistler last week with Prince Harry for the Invictus Games.