Reese Witherspoon is launching a ‘Southern Goop’ style site: good idea?
Well, this sort of explains things. I’ve been wondering about Reese Witherspoon’s career lately. Reese’s business/career moves for the past few years have indicated that she was ready and willing to reboot her film career and rebrand herself as a go-to dramatic and comedic (and even action) leading lady. But the parts never really came, despite the fact that she’s married to one of the most well-connected and powerful agents in LA. And before everyone jumps on me, yes, I know she’s a producer too. She’s producing Gone Girl and she’s rumored to be eyeing some other big projects too. If she was easing into a more behind-the-scenes role in Hollywood, that would be one thing. But she’s not.
What she is doing is branding herself into a lifestyle product, much like Jessica Alba, Gwyneth Paltrow and Blake Lively (we’re still waiting on the groundbreaking lifestyle blog from Blake though). According to WWD:
C. Wonder president Andrea Hyde has been hired by Reese Witherspoon to be chief executive officer of her as-yet-unnamed lifestyle company. The omnichannel venture, which will emphasize Witherspoon’s Southern roots and personal style, will launch in 2015. Hyde’s last day as president of C. Wonder will be Friday.
So, Southern Goop. Only – to give Gwyneth some credit – Goop started out as a smaller idea, and it grew somewhat organically into this huge Goop Brand where there’s now a Goop online store and there are outside partnerships with Tracy Anderson and all of that. It sounds like Reese doesn’t have any interest in building a base of online fans and then easing herself into a lifestyle brand. She wants to start at the top, which is why she hired someone major (a real executive) to run this venture.
I do kind of wonder… is this the state of Hollywood? Would Gwyneth, Jessica Alba, Blake and Reese be branding themselves into lifestyle mavens if they were actually in-demand as actresses? Is lifestyle branding the “easy way” to go now, when the parts dry up but you still want people to pay attention? And like Gwyneth, does this mean we get to analyze every part of Reese’s life now? Because that’s what making yourself into a lifestyle brand is all about – “look at the way I live, buy the clothes I buy, have the kind of marriage I have, mother your children the way I mother, and don’t forget to bitch out your arresting officer!”
Now, all that being said, if Reese does a Southern Goop site, I will totally visit it. COUNTRY GOOP, Y’ALL.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.
