Who is the biggest brand: KATE OR MEGHAN?
As the wife of a future king, the Duchess of Cambridge enjoys automatic superstar status. But Harry’s actress fiancée is big in America and adds glamour to the mix
THEY call it the “Kate effect”. From the moment Prince William and Kate Middleton announced their engagement in 2010, the Duchess of Cambridge became something of a marketing powerhouse and a verifiable “brand” in her own right.
The £385 blue Issa dress she wore at the photocall that day sold out within 24 hours on both sides of the Atlantic, boosting annual sales for the London fashion label by 45 per cent. In New York, a spokesperson for Issa stockist Beyond 7, said: “People are going crazy for this dress… We have a wait list growing by the day.”
The mania wasn’t confined to those with deep pockets, either. A budget replica of the dress stocked by Tesco for £16 sold out within an hour of appearing on its website.
Since then the Kate effect has only grown: the £175 Reiss dress she wore to meet the Obamas at Buckingham Palace in 2011 sold out at a rate of one a minute.
When she wore the same pair of £185 LK Bennett nude court shoes three times in six days on a tour of Canada she sparked another high street sell-out. So influential is she that Newsweek estimated that the Duchess is effectively worth around £1billion in revenue to the UK fashion industry every year. But it seems there may be a new kid in town, and a new “effect” to rival even Kate’s.
This week Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are in Edinburgh for their first joint visit to Scotland – and almost as soon as she arrived, fans began placing orders for the £425 bottle-green Strathberry calf leather cross-body bag she wore. Within minutes it was listed as out of stock on the firm’s website before the site crashed altogether under the demand.
It is not the first time Strathberry has benefited from an unofficial Meghan endorsement. When she stepped out with one of its £495 midi-tote bags last November, it sold out within 11 minutes of the photos surfacing, with the firm’s website traffic increasing by over 5,000 per cent.
SUCH is the public fascination for Meghan’s sense of style that, as with Kate, it seems just about anything she puts on becomes an instant must-have. The £540 Line the Label coat she wore to announce her engagement sold out within minutes in November and the £45 M&S jumper she wore to visit a Brixton radio station last month was unavailable in every size by 6pm that day. She also caused a 400 per cent increase in traffic to jewellery site Birks after sporting a pair of its earrings, and a 10-fold increase in sales to sunglasses brand Finlay & Co.
According to David Haigh, CEO of business valuation and strategy consultancy Brand Finance, the Meghan effect could even surpass the Kate effect. “Certain members of the Royal Family have a huge impact on the economy, through their unofficial endorsement of clothes or accessories… as a kind of ‘brand ambassador’,” he says. “Diana had it, Kate certainly does, and we’re already seeing how Prince George and Princess Charlotte do too. But with the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan this May, I believe her influence will eclipse even Kate’s this year.”
IN ITS recent Monarchy Report, Brand Finance estimated the total uplift to the UK economy provided by the Royal Family’s unofficial endorsements to be £200million, with the lion’s share of that coming courtesy of the Duchess of Cambridge. However, according to Haigh, Meghan’s influence alone this year could total as much as £150million.
“The royal wedding is going to have an enormous effect on the economy,” he explains. “In 2011 we calculated that the wedding of Prince William and Kate generated £1billion, and we believe that the same will be true for Harry and Meghan this May (see panel).
“Kate’s wedding was on a bank holiday, which normally accounts for a ‘slowing down’ of the economy to the tune of around £1billion, as fewer people work… so the whole thing broke even, if you like. This year there’s no such bank holiday, which means a far greater boost.” He also believes that Meghan brings a unique new dimension to the royals. “She is a big, big story in America,” he says. “Not only because of her nationality but also her racial identity and career as an accomplished actress in her own right. Hers and Harry’s story encompasses so many things for a positive, modern, inclusive monarchy and that translates to enormous global coverage.
“Her influence extends beyond what she wears: there will be many Americans, for example, who will be prompted to visit Britain because of her. Not just for the wedding but for years to come.”
Haigh believes that over time Kate and Meghan will hold equal status as drivers of the royal economy though, perhaps crucially, at present Kate has a couple of aces up her sleeve. Prince George and Princess Charlotte are already enjoying something of an effect of their own: GH Hurt & Sons’ website recorded 100,000 visits after new-born Charlotte was draped in a £70 shawl by the Nottingham firm, and sales of shoes by children’s company Early Days have grown by more than 40 per cent since George was pictured in a £25 pair in 2014.
“Meghan and Harry are taking the royal brand in a new direction,” says Haigh. “While as a future heir to the throne William – and by extension Kate – has to be a little more circumspect and comply with decorum, they can be far more informal. As a whole, it makes for a very compelling combination and broadens out the attractiveness of the royals as a brand immensely. Once you factor in the next generation of princes and princesses, the future looks very bright.”