Bethenny Frankel on her Chanel controversy and advice for brands operating in the creator era

Chanel still has yet to respond to “Real Housewife” and Skinnygirl Cocktails Founder Bethenny Frankel’s viral videos about being turned away from its store in Chicago last week—and Frankel thinks that’s a marketing mistake on Chanel’s part. “Their marketing people are cowering in the corner versus leaning in,” she told Ad Age in an interview today. Frankel, who has 3.4 million Instagram followers, on May 22 posted a video and shared that she had attempted to enter Chanel’s Chicago store when she didn’t look “dolled up” or “wealthy,” and was denied entry. The video has yielded 201,000 likes and more than 20,000 comments as of this writing. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bethenny Frankel (@bethennyfrankel) The next day, Frankel posted a video of herself returning to the Chanel store donning a tweed skirt suit and pearl headband that evoked classic Chanel style. This time, she was granted entry. Marketers and social media experts soon offered opinions on how Chanel could handle the incident and what might be at stake for the brand, saying the situation was a good metaphor for the power of the creator economy. Frankel has shared numerous videos joking about the incident, including one posted yesterday that shows her snuggling with Chanel purses as Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” from the “Barbie” soundtrack plays. Text reading “POV: CHANEL ignoring my calls” appears above her. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bethenny Frankel (@bethennyfrankel) After leaving reality TV and the “Real Housewives” franchise in 2019 and attempting to “semi-retire,” in her words, Frankel claims that she became an “accidental influencer” while experimenting with doing her own makeup (rather than having a makeup artist do it for her if she was traveling, she said) on social media. She’s recently secured brand deals with companies including L’Oréal. Ad Age caught up with Frankel to discuss the Chanel situation, while getting her branding and influencer marketing advice. This interview has been lightly edited for content and clarity. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs What is your advice for brands in the era of the creator economy, where technically anybody could have 3 million followers on Instagram walk into their store? That’s the wrong question. That question says, “what is your advice to brands when you get caught doing the wrong thing?” That’s saying, “you got caught now, how do you handle it?” I guess that is a question … but the thing is, we’re living in a world where social media has made these brands blow up because of all the influence and because of the exclusivity, so it’s the Birkin bait, and it’s Chanel being this is sold out, and now we’ve done four price increases—it’s all of this exclusivity. With watches, the pandemic made it that you couldn’t get watches. And so all of that has made this stuff really coveted and “better than” and “you have to be part of an exclusive club.” So that’s a big conversation that should be happening. How do you bridge that gap where it’s exclusive, but not exclusionary? The way to handle me at the door would have been a really positive “hi, we do take appointments, we’d love to see you, here’s a card.” Right at the door, here’s a card saying call them anytime, we’d love to make an appointment with you. There are two ways to say something. … With the creator economy, in my particular situation, brands have to lean in and be funny about it. You have to lean in—it’s too funny, it’s too engaging. Chanel is lucky because it’s not bashing them. … I did them a favor and I didn’t lead the audience into being mean to the brand and trolling the brand and canceling the brand—where they would have gone with me, because that’s where all the comments were going, that they feel exclusive, and imagine if you’re a woman of color. You can change your outfit, you can’t change the color of your skin. It could have gone in a really bad direction, and I did a favor for them because I took it into comedy. I didn’t take it into the direction of making women feel bad about themselves, which they already do. They already feel broke and already feel marginalized. So I took it out of there, and I took it into humor. So Chanel should at least meet the customer and me halfway and take it into humor, and then they should also take it into marketing. They know that they have a 1,000% markup so they should take my suggestion … and invite a certain group of people that can’t afford it—a teacher, a nurse, a person who does probably buy the lip gloss for the cheapest price—and give them a bag that costs nothing for them to make. And they should do a giveaway. That’s what they should do if they’re smart. And you haven’t heard from Chanel, right? They haven’t leaned in with their marketing that way? No. No. What is your response to people who were in your comments saying, “hey, this happens to women of color every day,” or “now like the rest of us getting turned away from luxury stores,” et cetera. It’s an incredible point, and that’s why this struck such a chord, because I could call Chanel and get an appointment any time I want. I own a lot of pieces, but I don’t want to have special treatment … it’s not about getting in, it’s about how people are treated. There’s already been a tone set by these brands that you’re not included in the club, and that’s sadly why a lot of people want in. That’s why young girls are going in and destroying Sephora, so they can try to participate in beauty products they can’t afford, because that’s the power of influence. It’s making people feel like they want to be on the list for this exclusive club that they probably can’t be part of. I think it’s actually not nice and it doesn’t do positive things for young girls. What’s your best advice to brands on dealing with creators these days? The thing that people don’t understand is it really is very much a world. It’s a different world on Instagram than it is on YouTube, than it is on TikTok. One is Idaho, one is New York, one is Chicago—they’re different places. They have different temperatures. They have different food, people, tolerance for frequency of posting and tonality. And so if you’re going to work in those spaces, you need to spend time in those spaces and you need to understand the people in those spaces. … You have to understand the community you’re walking into and authentically be a part of it. … These are real places that have real people. You can’t game the system. Do you have any other takes to share on the creator economy? It’s the most distilled version of reality TV possible—it’s what reality TV should have been and that’s why everybody’s shaking in their boots, because the people that are real on social media? Those are the real reality stars. That’s why I work there, because when I was originally on “Housewives” I was wearing cheap pre-owned clothing and no makeup. When it became something that was glossed over, filtered, crystallized, 50 hairstylists, glam in your pajamas—that’s when it became archaic. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs

Bethenny Frankel on her Chanel controversy and advice for brands operating in the creator era

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