Meghan Markle and Prince Harry face “a number of risks” in maintaining their current communication strategy after the release of their Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan. Marketing strategist Edward Coram James has warned the couple “have already run out of road” with the narrative focusing on difficulties they faced within the Royal Family. Mr Coram James told Express.co.uk: “There’s a number of risks associated with it.”
He argued the Netflix documentary was more likely to have attracted detractors of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex rather than their already well-established supporters.
The Go Up CEO noted the couple effectively “removed themselves into a small box” and risked limiting themselves to having to rely exclusively on their royal connection to gain new public.
Mr Coram James added: “I think they will be probably right now looking at the numbers that are coming out of this series and thinking ‘brilliant, job done. We have doubled the numbers associated with The Crown on The Crown’s premiere, it’s the biggest numbers seen on a documentary on Netflix. Brilliant.’
“The problem is, if you look into those numbers, what you see is actually a bit of a problem for them because a substantial portion of people tuned in not because they’re fans of Harry and Meghan but because they’re the opposite.
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“One of the most basic tenets of reputation management is to show humility in the face of adversity – you show humility and you show introspection.
“If, on the other hand, you take the approach of, ‘I’m not responsible for any of this, this is all one giant smear campaign against me, none of this is my fault. It’s us two who are right and the score of other people who are totally wrong’, you rarely build sympathy that way.
“And without sympathy you don’t get an audience on board with your attempts at crisis management and it actually ends up making the other side much more believable than you.”
Mr Coram James added: “I would argue that their lack of introspection will come back to hurt them from a reputational point of view. From a PR point of view, that is so basic that the lack of it feels deliberate.”
During the programme, Prince Harry repeatedly hit out at both the Royal Family and aides for failing to support him and Meghan Markle when faced with negative press coverage.
The Duke of Sussex went as far as claiming Kensington Palace effectively briefed against them while they still worked on behalf of the Crown.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been approached for comment.
