Into the Bridgerverse: Netflix’s ‘Bridgerton’ Merch and Live Events Business Is Blooming Ahead of Season 3
Dog toys and roving Regency-era balls. Small-artisan hand-etched mirrors and allergy medicine. “Bridgerton” has become so much more than a TV show. Heading into Season 3 of Shonda Rhimes’ massively popular period romance series, Netflix has found that viewers aren’t just invested in the love story of new leading couple Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) — they want to invest in the brand itself.
That means a fandom spending its dollars on a growing merch and events business that helps them celebrate each new season of the show, which is based on Julia Quinn’s romance novels. Equally important, it tides them over between installments (which take quite some time to produce).
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Netflix and Rhimes’ Shondaland began building their “Bridgerton” business after the show launched as an almost immediate smash in December 2020. The first step was the fan event “The Queen’s Ball: A Bridgerton Experience,” which debuted in Los Angeles in March 2022. Since then, the immersive ball has moved from New York to Chicago to Montreal and more, and will open in Melbourne, Australia, on May 24. In that time, nearly 50 couples have gotten engaged at the experience.
“It’s one thing to enjoy ‘Bridgerton’ in your home, watching it or reading the books before we go to bed. But it’s a whole other thing to go with a group of friends and take part in something where you’re dressed up,” Marian Lee, Netflix chief marketing officer, tells Variety. “I think there was pent-up demand for in-person experiences, and we were seeing this audience hasn’t been spoken to in this way and they want this.”
“Bridgerton”-inspired brand extensions run the gamut from coffee creamers, wedding dresses and rugs to tea sets, Bath & Body Works products, makeup, clothing and even a pet accessory line inspired by Queen Charlotte’s pooch.
Lee admits some of the branded products surprised her at first, but once she saw the insatiable thirst for “Bridgerton” goods, she was on board. “I’m a skeptic at heart even though I’m a fan,” she says. “We have this entire line of dog beds and collars with Maxbone. I was like, ‘Really, guys?’ And it sells out! People want it in every aspect of their life. There are lines with Republic of Tea and Williams-Sonoma and Ladurée that are very natural to me and make sense. But there’s all this other stuff that I’ve just been so surprised to see taking off around the world.”
Much as there are rules of propriety in the upper echelon of the ton of “Bridgerton,” final say on what’s an acceptable product tie-in lies with Queen Rhimes and her court at Shondaland. Special scrutiny is applied to how a candidate lines up with the brand values of both Shondaland and “Bridgerton.”
“Does it feel like ‘Bridgerton’? Does it feel like the fans will get the connection here? There are defi- nitely things that have come our way where we’ve had to think twice,” Sandie Bailey, Shondaland chief brand and operations officer, says. “Maybe the product is great and the brand is fine, but does it really feel like you’re living the ‘Bridgerton’ way with this product?”
The “Bridgerton” partnership with allergy nasal spray Flonase for an ad spot this season is an otherwise unlikely team-up Bailey found “fun and surprising” — the ad plays off pollen and “Polin,” the fan-given name for Penelope and Colin.
And then there’s Shondaland’s “Seat at the Table” program, which allows “emerging artists” on the Netflix merch shop to offer such artisan-made items as a tea gift set, a varsity jacket, bonnets, crewnecks and gold tiaras.
Of course, the show is still the main attraction. Ahead of the Season 3 premiere on Thursday, Netflix’s “Bridgerton Promenade,” a Regency-era market replete with “Bridgerton” products and experiences, took place May 13 in New York City.
Says Season 3 showrunner Jess Brownell: “We want for our world on the show to be immersive, so the fact that they’re trying to find ways to allow people to dip a toe into the world is lovely.”
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