The royal treatment | An Augusta marketing firm helps to commemorate Prince William's wedding
Photo/Amber Waterman
Nancy Marshall of Marshall Communications models a replica of Kate Middleton's engagement ring, part of the royal wedding memorabilia Marshall's company is marketing
Nancy Marshall, CEO of Marshall Communications in Augusta, recalls getting up before dawn to watch Lady Diana become Princess Diana in a wedding televised to 750 million viewers around the world. So when she was contacted to market collectibles commemorating the impending wedding of Kate Middleton to Diana’s son, Prince William, you could say it was just her cup of tea.
“I can’t tell you how much fun this has been,” Marshall says of her contract with Church’s China, a 152-year-old gift company in Northampton, England, that is selling china, miniatures and other collectibles related to the royal wedding, including a replica of Middleton’s famous sapphire engagement ring.
The deal happened by way of a reference from Michael Katz, a Boston-based consultant who offers advice on producing e-newsletters. Katz led Marshall and her staff of 13 in a workshop last year and the two have kept in touch since. Katz also provides services to Stephen Church, managing director of Church’s China; when Church decided he needed a marketing director for the U.S. and Canadian markets, Katz recommended Marshall. “You just never know when networking will pay off,” says Marshall, who prepared a bid for Church’s China just before Christmas and was awarded the contract the next day.
Since then, she has organized a marketing campaign that relies on traditional outreach to print and broadcasting media and an extensive social media network. The products, sold through U.K. Gift Co., have a presence on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and Church has had six radio interviews in major U.S. markets. The cable network TLC has contacted Church’s for a documentary it’s doing on collectors of royal memorabilia, and Marshall is working on lining up appearances for Church on national morning talk shows in April.
So far, the campaign is on pace to deliver $250,000 in sales to Church’s China by the April 29 wedding, says Marshall. “The [contract] will probably increase our overall sales by 10%,” she says. “But the best part is this is a long-term contract. We’ll continue to sell his products. In 2012, there’s the 60th anniversary of the queen’s ascension to the throne. We expect to work with him on that and the Olympics are in London, so there’s that as well.”
Marshall says it’s the ideal account to take her agency to the next level. “I’ve done work with international clients before,” she says, through her work with the Maine Office of Tourism under former Gov. Angus King. “But this helps us carve out a niche by getting print and broadcast publishers to drive traffic to a website. It’s exactly where I want to be going.”
She says she was tempted to consider taking out a full-page ad in Parade magazine touting Church’s China products, “but you have to sell a lot more $50 rings to break even.”
One of the deal’s perks: the special delivery packages sent to Marshall’s office from England. Commemorative plates, tea cups and saucers, Prince William teddy bears and miniature Westminster Abbey casts now adorn shelves in Marshall’s office, and she occasionally sports the replica engagement ring. “It’s a lot of fun to put on and show off — there’s nothing tacky about it,” she says. The ring, set in sterling silver, sells for $50.
The only downside to her company’s British connection? “I’ve been getting a lot of e-mails addressed to Her Royal Highness,” she jokes.
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