Everything I know about marketing, I learned from Emily In Paris! LOL. No, that’s not true, and one of my favorite criticisms of EIP is that it “misrepresents marketing.” Anyway, bit by bit, it looks like the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are putting together a competent team of professionals for their Archewell entertainment arm. They hired a full-time head of marketing for Archewell Entertainment, who will work with them on their Spotify and Netflix projects. Oh, Variety says that she’ll work on Archewell’s charitable arm too.

Archewell, the media production company founded by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, has quietly hired former Sony Pictures Entertainment exec Fara Taylor as head of marketing. Prior to Archewell, Taylor spent more than 11 years at Sony Pictures, most recently as VP of global marketing partnerships.

She joined Beverly Hills-based Archewell in September 2021, according to the company. Taylor oversees all global marketing efforts for its three divisions: Archewell Productions, which has an exclusive deal with Netflix; Archewell Audio, which has an exclusive audio content pact with Spotify; and the not-for-profit Archewell Foundation.

As a movie marketing exec, Taylor worked on dozens of campaigns including for those in the Spider-Man and James Bond franchises. She began her career at management consulting firm Accenture and subsequently worked in marketing roles at Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation. Taylor is a founding member of I am a voter., a nonprofit civic engagement organization.

To date, Archewell has announced two projects set up at Netflix: animated series “Pearl,” about a 12-year-old girl who is inspired by influential women in history; and “Heart of Invictus,” a docuseries about the global adaptive sports competition founded by Prince Harry.

For Spotify, Archewell’s first podcast is “Archetypes,” hosted by Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. The series is slated to debut this summer, a year and half after the couple originally announced their deal with Spotify. On the podcast, Markle will speak with historians, experts and guests to discuss — and “subvert” — historical stereotypes of women, according to the podcast’s trailer.

[From Variety]

So Fara Taylor has already been working with Archewell since September and we’re only hearing about it now? Interesting. While it’s true that Pearl, Heart of Invictus and Archetypes are the only projects which have been announced thus far, I’m willing to bet that we’ll be getting some additional announcements, if not some fully-formed projects, in the months to come. The immediate focus is Invictus in The Hague. Then we’ll be up to our asses in Archewell content.

Also: I love the comparison between the kind of seasoned professionals being hired by Harry and Meghan versus the haphazard clownshow of sycophants hired by William and Kate. The Keens are more likely to hire people who will tell them they’re amazing and don’t need to change anything. The Sussexes hire people who will actually work and challenge them.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.