Chopping vegetables, baking a cake – will Meghan’s rebrand work?

This is a picture of domestic bliss.

The Duchess of Sussex plucks flowers, cuts vegetables and decorates a cake in her trailer her new netflix show,

There is also a scene where she collects honey and hugs her husband Prince Harry.

It appears that Meghan has rebranded herself. Public relations expert Chloe Frances has described her new look as similar to that of a “traditional wife”. social media trendsInspired by 1950s housewives.

In this sense, it is a departure for Meghan, who is known as a feminist and Hollywood actress.

But Francis says this is actually a return to Meghan’s roots, as the Duchess used to be a lifestyle blogger before marrying Harry.

And as always with Meghan, it’s proving divisive. Francis praises it as “authentic”, while media relations expert Alex Silver calls it “tone deaf”.

So what’s the reason for their new TV show, With Love, and will it work?

The most special thing about the trailer is that instead of Harry, Meghan is alone in it.

Since stepping down as senior members of the royal family in 2020 and moving to California, the pair have undertaken several ventures together, including starting a production company and charitable foundation.

But with this new show, it looks like the couple wants to pursue their own thing professionally — and create two separate income streams.

“They seem to have separated their brands,” says Pauline McLaren, professor of marketing and consumer research at Royal Holloway.

“I think it’s likely to be more successful, because I think both of them weren’t really finding a strong identity together.”

The relaunch also marks a move away from royal life.

Since stepping back as senior royals, Harry and Meghan have continued to talk about the monarchy — including the monarchy In her 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview And Harry’s book Spare.

But MacLaren says Meghan is no longer “drawing on her royal connections” in the new TV show.

Instead, it focuses on lifestyle and wellness – areas she had already explored before she met Harry through her lifestyle blog The Tig.

On The Tig, Meghan shares beauty, diet and fashion tips, recipes, travel advice, and words of wisdom about love and life.

Tig was laid off in 2017, but PR experts say returning to the lifestyle could be a smart move.

“It’s a great path into the public eye for a woman whose lifestyle is both ambitious and challenging,” says Francis.

Others are more skeptical.

“There are other interesting and important events happening in the world that she could talk about,” Silver says. “She could have raised awareness for a charitable cause or something.

“I think she only thinks about herself. As a publicist, I can’t understand how she can’t read a room.”

Experimenting in the lifestyle world has also been counterproductive for some others in the public eye.

Brooklyn Beckham’s first photography book There was a lot of mockery on social mediaFor example – with a picture of an elephant that is getting a special wrath.

This isn’t Meghan’s first foray into the business world – the industry is full of risk and reward.

The couple’s previous business initiatives include a multi-million pound deal with Netflix.

They appeared in another Netflix show about their relationship called Harry & Meghan. The duo were also named executive producers for a recent polo documentary, but it received low ratings from critics including The Guardian and The Telegraph.

Spotify’s big bet on Meghan also failed.

In July 2023, the streaming giant and Archewell Audio of Sussex announced that they were parting ways by mutual decision.

At that time, experts there suggested There wasn’t a big enough audience for Megan’s Archetypes podcast To justify continuing it.

Last March, she launched a separate lifestyle brand called American Riviera Orchard. It currently has over 600,000 followers on Instagram, and has nine posts since it launched – but no posts since then.

With this new venture, some have speculated that Meghan is hoping to open up more business opportunities for herself, such as partnerships with major supermarkets and brands.

If so, she would be following in the footsteps of others like Hollywood A-lister Gwyneth Paltrow with her hugely successful lifestyle platform Goop.

“This is clearly about his own business interests,” Silver says.

“They know they’re going to lose their income at some stage. They have a very luxurious lifestyle, they’re mixing in the high end and they don’t want to have bad relationships.”

When it comes to the new TV show, royal expert Victoria Murphy says, “She doesn’t think there’s any doubt that people will watch it initially and that it will do well”.

But she says the real test is whether it continues to garner a large following and actually builds a strong global brand for them outside the monarchy.

MacLaren agrees and says she thinks the show will appeal to certain groups of people, especially in America.

“A lot of people wouldn’t be interested in it but I don’t think that’s her intention – I think she might actually be trying to find other moms like her.”

Silver, for her part, argues that Meghan may be hoping to “detoxify” her brand with the new show.

But he doesn’t think people will like this show.

“I can’t imagine it’s going to be a well-viewed thing,” says Silver.

Perhaps the reaction to the trailer tells us everything we need to know about how this latest venture is likely to fail.

After its fall on Thursday, thousands of column inches were devoted to it.

For example, the Daily Mail picked apart every detail of every frame of the trailer, most of which were inconsequential.

The Duchess seems to be of never-ending interest – especially for British tabloids. But he also has a huge fan base on social media.

As for his critics, they’ll say it’s glossy and superficial, Hollywood at its worst.

But for her fans, they’ll say it’s great to see her back, and it shows what the royal family is really missing.

In other words, it’s likely to reinforce what people on both sides of the aisle think about Meghan.

Additional reporting by Guy Lambert and Nadine Youssef.