Meghan Markle is busy promoting her new lifestyle brand.
And what better way to spread the word than by asking their most famous friends for favors?
As we previously reported, Meghan is hard at work launching American Riviera Orchard, a company that curates the finer things in life for the wealthy people who are in the duchess’ inner circle.
Meghan is expected to eventually collaborate with luxury brands and release a range of her own products – similar to what Gwyneth Paltrow did with Goop.
But now she’s taking a much more rustic approach.
Meghan Markle’s lifestyle brand gets a soft launch
As The Daily Mail Meghan reportedly recently shipped 50 jars of homemade jam made from fruit grown near her home in Montecito.
The lucky recipients, or “jamfluencers,” are friends of Meghan, 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 a few of the celebs who took to Instagram to publicly thank Meghan for the chic preserves (complete with hand-numbered label).
We’re sure Meg enjoys giving her famous friends fancy items — but generosity may not have been the main motivator here.
According to PR expert Nick Ede, Meghan was able to launch a multi-million dollar advertising campaign and it only cost her 50 jars of jam.
“Most campaigns in modern times are accompanied by ‘influencer’ gifts, but I would suspect Meghan Markle’s influencer network is a little larger than most,” Ede told the Mail this week.
“Their little black book of celebrity contacts will be the thing of PR dreams, and so their first product launch was always going to be a huge media success,” he added.
“The real test will come with her follow-up products and getting people interested in what she does.”
Meghan’s jam strategy
So far, Meghan’s efforts seem to be bearing fruit.
Only eight of the 50 jam recipients have been identified, and the situation has caused a stir on social media as Meghan fans guess who else might have received a jar.
“The key to success is to keep the story going as long as possible,” says Ede.
“Spread the word about the launch, tick the boxes, and then spread more information every few days to keep people interested.”
In the years since the couple left the UK, there has been much debate about Meghan and Prince Harry’s abilities as entrepreneurs.
But if Meghan can attract so much attention just by sending out a few jars of jam, then her critics may have seriously underestimated her!