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Local business thriving from ‘celebritydom’
By Kathleen Dayton
Staff Writer
The headlines tell the story: “Access Hollywood’s Nancy O’Dell expecting a girl.” “Kevin Costner, wife have baby boy.” “It’s official: Angelina adopts new son.”
And remember Kim Fields, the actress who played schoolgirl Tootie on the 1980s television series “Facts of Life?” Fields welcomed a baby boy, Sam, on May 4.
There’s a baby boom in Hollywood, and Lowcountry businesses are profiting.
At least three women in the Lowcountry have attracted celebrities with their baby
products and can attest to the power of celebritydom.
“Celebrity recognition got me way more orders than advertising,” said Edie Coupe, a Daniel Island mother of two who created the Peek-A-Boo Baby nursing cover. The trademarked, lightweight eyelet blanket is designed as a breathable cover-up for nursing moms as well as a stroller cover that lets in air but keeps out sun.
People Magazine featured model-actress Brooke Shields out and about with her Peek-A-Boo Baby in August 2003. Television talk show host Kelly Ripa sported Peek-A-Boo Baby in Child magazine in September 2005. Last spring, Coupe was invited to a pre-Oscar party by a party host who was searching for baby products for the stars’ gift bags.
“She was using unique baby gifts, again because of all the pregnant celebrities,” Coupe said.
So how did Hollywood discover Coupe’s Peek-A-Boo Baby?
Being a native of Southern California and already acquainted with a few celebrities gave Coupe a foot in the door. She first sent Peek-A-Boo Baby to a friend, soap opera star Joshua Morrow, whose wife Tobe was expecting. Morrow, who plays Nick Newman on “The Young and the Restless,” was later invited to be a guest on “The Wayne Brady Show,” during which Morrow presented Brady with a Peek-A-Boo Baby for Brady’s expectant wife.
Coupe sent Peek-A-Boo Baby gifts to a select number of expectant stars and waited for word-of-mouth to start the ripple effect. She received thank-you notes from talk show host Ripa and actress Courtney Cox, who was also featured in Child magazine with the Peek-A-Boo creation.
“Orders just come flying in when that happens,” Coupe said. “For whatever reason, people want to know what celebrities are doing, wearing, whatever. Celebrity recognition is huge.”
Gifting celebrities is not as easy as it seems. With no celebrity connections, the gift giver usually must go through a publicist and may never know if the gift was received. Also, some celebrities have begun to resent gifts from unknown sources who may want to use photos or testimonials from the celebrity about their products.
“Celebrities used to be really happy about doing little things like that, especially if they were new to the industry,” Coupe said. “Now they expect to get paid for promoting something.”
A positive connection, however, results in major marketing strides.
Lyn Huffman, co-founder of New For Baby, a clothing collection she designs on James Island, set out on purpose to attract the stars.
Huffman and her business partner, Leigh Rubio of Portland, Ore., went through an application process required for merchandise to be included in gift bags given out at the 2006 Emmy Awards. New For Baby was among the selected gift items.
“We wanted to align ourselves with something very dramatic right off the bat to kick start our business,” Huffman said. “I don’t know how many applications they received, but to be honest, I’m very confident in the product.”
Huffman’s baby clothes are designed to specifically fit newborn infants from birth to three months. They bear a curly-top, baby-face logo designed by Huffman. The collection is unique in its use of non-traditional colors—celery green, watermelon pink and azure blue—with chocolate brown piping.
“It’s the hip baby’s first wardrobe,” Huffman said.
Celebrities who have received New For Baby gifts include Heidi Klum and Kimberly Williams Paisley, star of “According to Jim” and “Father of the Bride.”
A surprise for Huffman, however, was the recent discovery of photos of actress Tori Spelling and her newborn son, Liam, dressed in New For Baby.
Huffman discovered the photos on “E” online and does not know how or where Spelling got the New For Baby outfit, but she has gotten permission to run the photo on her Web site, http://www.newforbaby.com/.
Word-of-mouth around Hollywood seems to be working.
“We have gotten a substantial number of orders from the L.A. area,” Huffman said. “The big thing was the Tori Spelling thing. Is that co-related to the Emmy gift bag? I don’t know. I think it’s just all about getting your name out there.”
Baby clothes have also helped a Charleston native gain celebrity recognition as well as a big-name mentor for her growing business.
Leda Jackson got the idea for Pixie Lily, her line of tiny couture creations, when her daughter Suzanne, now 10, was born. Jackson had inherited an all-white antique layette from her father’s family, but couldn’t find any other clothes in stores that she liked as much.
“We get kind of carried away in the South and create these amazing confections, but it’s really too much on a tiny baby,” Jackson said. “It’s about the outfit and not the baby. It was hard to find something that was chic and simple and not overdone. That’s the niche I was trying to fill.”
Using the antique gown as a pattern, Jackson, who had failed a sewing class when she was a student at Ashley Hall, fashioned her first Pixie Lily day gown made of cotton batiste. After receiving numerous compliments on her homemade baby clothes, Jackson went to New York in 2000 to exhibit at a trade show.
“When I got orders, it was exciting but it was terrible at the same time because I was a sweatshop of one and doing it all,” Jackson said. “I was going to have to come home and cut and sew.”
Jackson teamed with a South American manufacturer that would work with small minimum orders and by 2003 was getting re-orders.
“As it grew, I decided I needed to start cultivating a celebrity following,” Jackson said. “I don’t particularly go out and buy things because celebrities have them, but I think I’m a minority.”
One of the first celebrities to whom Jackson sent a gift was designer Kate Spade. The gift led to a meeting with Spade in New York.
“She spent about 45 minutes talking with me about starting her business and I told her about how I started mine,” Jackson said. “It’s great to have that kind of mentorship for a small business. Many times I quickly e-mail her a question.”
Actress Gwyneth Paltrow and “Law and Order” star Mariska Hargitay have also received Pixie Lily gifts and have sent Jackson thank-you notes.
The personal thanks and compliments on Jackson’s gifts are worth noting, considering the increasing popularity of targeting pregnant celebrities in order to market new products.
“Hargitay called me after getting Pixie Lily. She said, ‘You would not believe the junk I have gotten.’ The minute a celebrity hits the radar as being pregnant, they get tons of packages,” Jackson said.
Jackson is careful which celebrities she chooses as recipients of her gifts and selects only those whom she feels would understand her product and respond to it, she said.
“There are no rhinestones on my products, there are no cartoon characters,” Jackson said.
She has also gifted her way into New York’s fashion design scene and socialite set. Through those connections, she has met a woman from Vogue magazine who is designing a children’s retail Web site and wants to carry Pixie Lily.
“That’s the kind of stealth marketing that I try and do with celebrities. When people see that stamp of approval…I don’t think it makes the clothes any cuter, but somehow it makes them more appealing,” Jackson said.
“When someone like Gwyneth Paltrow who has the money and the access to get anything she wants for her baby still thinks the product is lovely and beautiful, that’s an added bonus. It adds that one more stamp of approval that this is worth your money. It feels good to get that kind of recognition.”
Kathleen Dayton is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her at kdayton@charlestonbusiness.com.
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