How Companies Co-Brand Themselves With The Royal Wedding

The Most Talked About Event Of The Year

The royal wedding is set to take place on Saturday, May 19th at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor, England, a small town just west of London. This heavily anticipated event will be one of the most highly broadcasted events on TV, with viewer numbers expecting to exceed the 23 million that tuned in for the 2011 royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Brands and TV networks have been working for months planning on ways to capitalize on this widely viewed even. So what's all the fuss about and what makes this royal wedding the royal wedding of all royal weddings?  In this blog, Hollywood Branded explores why this royal wedding is so special and how companies co-brand themselves with the Royal Wedding. 

This Wedding Is Unlike The Others

The sheer amount of viewers that this royal wedding is going to get screams dollar signs for brands and TV networks. Brands have already lept to pay to secure critical ad spots on the TV networks that are charging top dollar for the placement. So, what is it about this royal wedding that has brands around the world, including the United States, going crazy and networks charging so much money?

Firstly, Americans have always had an affinity for British royalty. Maybe it’s our desire to connect back to our British roots or just because how could someone not be obsessed with the royal family. But, whatever it is, millions of Americans will be tuning into watch Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tie the knot.

In addition, this royal wedding is historical for another big reason that resonates with Americans... Meghan Markle, the bride, is an American! Never before in history has an American citizen married into the royal family. I think it’s time we start calling it (her)story. Even better, Meghan Markle is a very successful actress, most popularly known for her role as Rachel Zane in the hit TV show, Suits. Who would've thought that an actress, let alone an American actress, would be marrying into the royal family?

Lastly, Meghan Markle is biracial. For the last 200+ years, there hasn't been a person of African descent in the royal family. This screams (her)story even more. So, because of all this, Americans from all walks of life will be tuning in to see the coming together of these two great nations, making the diverse demographic makeup of this year's royal wedding incredibly enticing for brands. 

How Are Networks And Brands Capitalizing?

From a brand and network’s standpoint, the audience that this year’s royal wedding will bring in is a goldmine. News networks will be competing with lifestyle networks for viewership and brands will be competing to get their brand in front of these viewers as much as they can. Some networks have already come up with ways to appeal to the royal wedding audience.

For example, certain gossip shows have come up with fun segments like “Markle’s diet” to discuss what Meghan Markle is eating in the lead up to her big day.  ABC is developing an augmented reality app where users can take a photo of themselves in the royal carriage or with one of the queen’s guards.  

Some US brands have also developed some great brand integrations to help piggyback off the popularity of this year’s royal ceremony of love.

For example, Kelloggs is hosting a cereal based breakfast in NYC on the morning of the wedding for viewers to come by, eat cereal and watch Harry and Meghan do their thing. Of course, they also have a hashtag #KelloggsNYC included to help track people’s experiences in real time.  It makes perfect sense, since the wedding is at the crack of dawn in the US!

They additionally partnered with Kelly Dempsey, past contestant on Project Runway, to develop six hats styles, and the brand provides a step-by-step video guide and downloadable patterns out of cereal boxes - with a regal twist!

A Royal Breakfast

Dunkin’ Donuts is also taking advantage of the morning and will be serving a “Royal Love” donut and opening their doors early for customers to come in, grab their donuts and get back to the TV to tune in.

These are just a few examples of how US networks and brands will be taking full advantage of the royal wedding. It’s simply too big of an event for brands that have the capacity to participate in, not to.

The royal wedding will be especially interesting for brands that are looking to appeal to a female audience. Typically, events that garner this wide of a worldwide reach are sports events, which more often than not tend to scale more male. Instead, the royal wedding provides brands the opportunity to appeal to heavily focused female audience that spreads across all racial demographics. What an awesome opportunity!

Cheers to Love!

We look forward to tuning in ourselves and congrats to the newly wedded couple, Prince Henry of Wales and Meghan Markle and wish them a lifetime of happiness!

Brands who create content about events can also get in on the action through product placement.  Brands will be sponsoring segments on entertainment news shows throughout the week, but there are also more affordable options out there for brands.

To learn more about making product placement work for your brand, read our blog on 3 Reasons Why Productions Use Product Placement, as well as these blogs:

• 4 Common Myths About Product Placement Debunked
• 10 Surprising Reasons Why Brands Do Product Placement
• 8 Ways To Use Product Placement Assets To Amplify Your Brand Into Sales
• 3 Important Steps In Planning Product Placement Strategy
• Thinking Product Placement Cost Is High (It Isn't!)

To learn more about how Hollywood Branded can help your brand integrate its product, message or service into some of the world’s biggest events, check out our Influencer Marketing School where we help you learn the inside tricks to making campaigns work!