I share several things with the queen. First name, birthday, faith, a preference for bright colours and four cocktails a day. Frankly, I’m amazed she hasn’t got in touch. Elizabeth II is the first British monarch to achieve 70 years on the throne. And, as she’s in the job with the worst holiday to length-of-service reward scheme, we’ve treated her to a couple of days off this June.
Whatever you think about the rest of her family, the concept of the monarchy, divine rights, capitalism or whether we should turn Buckingham Palace into a new series of the Fun House, you can’t deny that Elizabeth R is an iconic-grade-one-megababe. She’s impacted a huge number of people, and now it’s time brands took a leaf out of her book.
Firstly, style. Her Majesty knows what works for her, but keeps it fresh. She doesn’t deviate from her skirt/coat combo, but WOW the woman’s a walking colour chart. Of course, this is deliberate – at 5’3” people need to be able to spot her. There’s thought behind every choice, and even weights sewn into her hemlines to keep her covered on windy days. Attention to detail? Check.
Another thing to be admired is her consistency. In an inflammatory, unpredictable world, this is particularly counter-cultural. We’re easily dazzled by fast food, fast fashion and fast fluctuations in everything from crypto to cryogenics. But there’s a lot to be said for stability. For showing up and soldiering on. And doing that every day for 70 years. If brands adopted this approach – and stayed true to their core principles and beliefs – they’d garner the approval of customers for generations.
The Queen plays by the rules. She’s had an awful year. The image of her sitting alone at her husband’s funeral is burnt into our collective retinas. And it earned her more respect than anyone anticipated. Perhaps it’s ‘cos we’re British, perhaps it’s because no other notable figureheads (cough) seemed to be doing so, but it marked her out as a superstar.
Lastly – sense of humour. Name another monarch that would pretend to skydive into the olympic stadium. I’ll wait. It always works when brands refuse to take themselves too seriously, it wins over a wider audience and means people relax and absorb their message. Which in this case is “YASSS QUEEN”.
Lizzie Hutchinson,
Copywriter at AML Group.
