This is the first weekend in about 2 months that I have not had a new episode to watch of Amazon’s the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. I got interested in it when it premiered in 2017. The show had 2 subjects I loved breaking into stand-up comedy and vintage fashion. Where there is vintage fashion there is vintage jewelry. The show was a success among critics with over 200 Emmy nominations and 80+ wins but after 5 seasons the show ended. I’m going to share my opinion on the show regarding marketing for Amazon and how you can embrace trends that may further your business.
Fashion and Funny
The premise was a 1950s housewife that found comedy due to her husband leaving her. The main character, Mrs. Midge Maisel embraced fashion and presenting herself in the best way possible even when doing something as everyday as running errands. When her husband leaves her for another woman, she doesn’t stop taking an interest in herself and staying fashionable. One common beauty trend from the 1950s that was a detail used for Midges routine was matching her lipstick and nail polish.
Amazon promotions and beauty market
One of the better promotions Amazon had was partnering with Revlon to pack vintage lipstick colors to sell as a set from the show. These colors were used on the set and had been in production when Revlon sold them in the 1950s. Below is a screenshots of 1 of the 2 varieties (pink and nudes). Cherries in the Snow was a color popular in the 1950s that is still made by Revlon and was used a lot on Mrs. Maisel.
This promotion seemed like a good deal for both Amazon and Revlon. Amazon could break more into the beauty space and Revlon could reach a new niche of customers. Looking at the beauty trend report by Common Threads Company below:
The beauty and personal care has been growing at an average of 2% overall. The online market is growing more than offline which is seeing a decline but the online growth is not increasing year over year at the same or increasing rate. 2018 seemed to be the peak year in % growth by this chart.
With offline shopping not decreasing at a larger rate I found a chart comparing the online giant Amazon with the Brick-and-mortar giant Walmart. Price and location were the biggest draws for Walmart in this report. Ease of website seemed to be a big plus for Amazon but 2 other categories stood out to me Trust worthiness of retailer (Amazon 20.2% vs 10.9 Walmart) and Quality (27.1% vs 20.5%). Those factors should be used in thinking of how to get more money spent on Amazon and if Mrs. Maisel’s promotions went right then this should have helped in creating more ROI for this series.
Misses and final season
From what I saw of the show the costumes, accessories and makeup were fantastic. The show as far as story and script was fair. I think Amazon missed opportunities to do some product placement to encourage some additional shopping. One example is when watching on prime if you hoover over the screen the actors that are on and the name of the song playing has the title and artist name. Sometimes you might see a fact about the show or scene. Would have been nice to see the lipstick or nail polish used in that mix and be a click away to buy. Also, after watching the new episode Amazon could have suggested going to the Mrs. Maisel store page (once they created it) to buy merchandise licensed by Amazon relating to the show.
Tupperware also partnered with Amazon to reissue vintage Tupperware to sell through Amazon. Much of it seemed sold out. I was able to buy a few pieces after I saw it mentioned on a Vloggers site about the Tupperware Company.
There were some promotions in New York City by Amazon turning a street into a little bit of the feel of the series but really that should have been online to celebrate the final season. I feel like this show could have done more for Amazon with the right ideas in place. After 5 seasons Amazon ended the series. I read in a recent article that talked about the creators having ideas for a season 6 but the cost of producing a period era series is expensive. An article detailing the sets and production.
Conclusion
Overall, I liked the idea of the fashion from the series and have started collecting nail polishes that match lipsticks I can wear to feel more polished. Amazon has gotten a bit more out of me, and more could have been bought if their marketing strategy had been more focused. Amazon won with the critics but the ROI on the show doesn’t show the story as marvelous. Thank you for reading and I hope to have a new summer series started by the end of the month!
