MILAN — Paris Hilton and Drew Barrymore offer pots and pans with Walmart; Kathy Hilton and Nicky Hilton Rothschild infuse their flair onto carpets for Ruggable; Diane Keaton lends her signature flair to plates and bedsheets for San Francisco’s Hudson Grace; Gwyneth Paltrow and John Legend envisage furniture design for Crate & Barrel and Rove Concepts, respectively, and Jake Gyllenhaal sets a Tuscan table with Ginori 1735 Oriente Italiano exotic floral plates.
The list goes on. In an age of fashion activations galore and social media hype, why are so many celebrities stampeding into home?
In an interview with WWD, entertainment agency R&CPMK’s New York-based senior vice president, talent and influence Lauren Stillman said fashion and beauty spaces are highly saturated, while the home category is brimming with potential.
“Unless a talent has an intensely loyal fan base or unique proposition to bring to market, it can be difficult to break into fashion and beauty. The rising appeal of home aligns with the consumer’s post-pandemic lifestyle. Consumer growth potential is only increasing in this category,” Stillman reflected.
Social media has helped a lot, she continued. First by helping celebrities to feel safe showing off their homes during the pandemic. “Social media’s evolution — moving away from the polished, staged content of a few years ago into glimpses of real life authenticity. This has paved the way for them to be able to build credibility in the home category, for everything from kitchen gear to furniture. It creates opportunity for them to be able to capitalize on their fandom in fresh, unique and unexpected ways,” Stillman explained.
Alison Bringé, chief marketing officer of Paris-based data research and insights company Launchmetrics, said celebrities represent an “aspirational lifestyle themselves” and argued that fashion and beauty don’t necessarily conjure the same sort of excitement that home lines do, when the time comes for one to ponder the next strategic step.
“These markets become increasingly saturated; they no longer spark the same consumer excitement. Homeware, on the contrary, remains a relatively unexplored space, offering new opportunities for celebrities to expand their influence with longer-lasting products and more enduring consumer interest,” Bringé added.
Research performed by Launchmetrics showed that the Media Impact Value generated by Paris Hilton’s collaboration with Walmart generated $2.4 million, Kathy Hilton and Nicky Hilton Rothschild generated $1.2 million, Diane Keaton with Hudson Grace $138,000, Gwyneth Paltrow and Crate and Barrel $50,000 and Reese Witherspoon with Kohler, which included sinks, faucets, toilets, fittings and bathroom and kitchen faucets and accessories, generated $24,000. Media Impact Value is Launchmetric’s own measure of the impact of placements and mentions across different voices.
But before celebs like Witherspoon and Paris Hilton signed on the dotted line, their teams did their homework by generating content around their daily lives. Witherspoon invites followers into the intimacy of her kitchen while she makes a Halloween “Boo” basket or blends a green juice. In addition to special appearances on the DIY organization show “Home Edit,” for example, in 2015 she also founded Southern-influenced women’s apparel brand Draper James, which said on Monday it has expanded into pet products, outdoor furniture, crafts, bedding and gifts. Spectators realized Paris Hilton could cook when they watched her Netflix series “Cooking with Paris.”
One brand that has definitely benefited from celebrity collaborations is Ruggable.
Ruggable, famous for its easy wash and dry floor coverings, generated $1.1 million in MIV through its first collaboration with the late Iris Apfel for a colorful design-forward collection that mirrors the fashion icon’s taste. Apfel herself was responsible for 30 percent of the total amount generated, Launchmetrics said. Since then, Ruggable has been on a roll. It continues to produce Apfel’s legacy collection and has inked partnerships with Paltrow’s Goop and designer Jonathan Adler.
Crate & Barrel’s senior vice president of product design Sebastian Brauer said the most successful collaborations are the ones with the most authenticity.
“They are always those that start with authentic dialogue, customer insights, purpose and a bold vision at its core that carries through the entire design and marketing development process. If there’s authenticity, engagement and passionate energy in the creative and collaborative process, the audience connects with the end result,” he said.
The second ingredient to the right collaboration is finding a special “X factor” and/or someone who can expand the firm’s own horizons.
“We seek leaders across different industries — from food to design, art, fashion and even sport —whose personality, style and originality complements but also contrasts with the Crate & Barrel and Crate & Kids aesthetic, all with the purpose of delighting new and existing customers,” he added.
Recent collaborations reflect this diversity. In promoting Crate & Barrel’s collaboration with Oscar de la Renta and Monse co-creative director Laura Kim, the designer was pictured making apple pie and shared some of her own recipes. Chef Eric Adjepong celebrated his West African heritage through a line of kitchen and entertaining products sharing his artisan journey through Ghana. For Crate & Kids, celebrity interior designer Jeremiah Brent blended his design sensibility with parenting insights, creating a collection that is playful, sophisticated and designed to last.
At the end of the day, a lot of celebrities are ultimately happy to be in the home sphere.
This was reportedly the case for Gyllenhaal when he approached Ginori 1735. When the Oriente Italiano Gold line debuted in Milan last year, Ginori 1735’s chairman and chief executive officer Alain Prost admitted there was no particular strategy with regard to its approach to curating its list of brand ambassadors and that Gyllenhaal simply loves design and loves Ginori.
“Jake loves design. He’s fascinated by Ginori 1735,” Prost said.
In June, when mother and daughter team Kathy Hilton and Nicky Hilton Rothschild unveiled their foray into home with Ruggable, their excitement was tangible.
“We love entertaining. So tabletop, definitely. And the home in general… Linens. Tabletop is definitely something that we both have a passion for,” Hilton Rothschild reflected. “It’s really been our dream,” mused Hilton, hinting that the duo were already in talks with investors on expanding, adding, “We always are going back and forth sharing, you know, DMs about a beautiful china or beautiful table or outdoor furniture, whatever it has to do with the home. We’re always on the same page,” Hilton said of her daughter.
Stillman said rugs are a great segue for first-timers, applauding the success of U.S.-based Ruggable, which was founded by Jeneva Bell seven years ago after her own expensive rug was ruined by her dog. It opened its first U.K. facility last year following an uptick in its business throughout the U.K., Germany and Austria.
“The Ruggable collaborations have been fun to watch,” Stillman concluded. “Rugs are generally a statement piece that can pull a room together. Whether muted and subdued or loud and colorful, they’re an excellent opportunity for expressing personality. So it’s easy to see how a celebrity can use this sort of a product as a canvas to express their personal aesthetic. It’s the perfect product for testing the ability to develop into a lifestyle brand.”
