Emily in Paris returns to Netflix tonight and you may be wondering how on earth we’ve managed to turn this into a regional piece – worry not, the legwork has already been done for us, by Wolfenden in Leeds.
The digital marketing team has meticulously studied the episodes to date to work out how their working lives compare to that of the aspiring marketing executive, Emily (Lily Collins) as she navigates a marketing career and life in Paris.
Over to Wolfenden:
With 58 million households streaming the first season of Emily in Paris in 2020, it’s clear it’s a popular show. However, many have spoken out to criticise its often-idolised view of working in marketing.
With season four premiering on Thursday 15th August, experts from Leeds-based agency, Wolfenden, who specialise in digital marketing, highlight some of the key missteps that Emily makes in her career in each season so far, and how you can avoid facing similar problems.
Season 1: Social media mismanagement
In season one, we see Emily coordinate famous actress and party girl Brooklyn Clark wearing her client’s dress to a launch party. Emily then posts a picture of the rumpled dress on the hotel room floor at the end of the night, which goes viral. Yet for social media managers in the real world, posting and going viral is rarely this simple.
“Most clients require different levels of approval before an agency can post or comment on their behalf. So, before Emily posts a snap of the dress messily thrown on the floor of the hotel room, there would certainly need to be more layers of approval, particularly for a luxury brand like Pierre Cadault that has a reputation to maintain,” said Eve Lowdon, Social Media Manager at Wolfenden.
“The much more likely scenario is that Emily would send her proposed post to Sylvie (her manager) for review, and then on to the client where there would have been discussions around the caption and proposed hashtags. Any good social media manager respects this process, as they know the importance it holds in maintaining the client’s carefully curated reputation.
“Finally, assuming that after being approved the post had still gone viral, it’s such a wasted opportunity to not speak to the celebrity for a full endorsement or ambassadorship.”
Season 2: Client guesswork
One of the things we see a lot throughout Emily in Paris is Emily’s ‘natural talent’ for marketing doing the heavy lifting, paired with a distinct lack of research.
Whilst watching Emily undertake in-depth research and analysis into brands and their competitors might not be as entertaining as watching her using her American charm to save the day at the eleventh-hour, real-life marketers know the research process is vital for success.
“I think everyone watching knew that when an influencer approached Emily in a hotel lobby asking to stage an impromptu photo shoot of Pierre Cadault’s new suitcase, the ‘free PR’ was too good to be true. If Emily had taken the time to research her client’s competitors, she would not only have known who Grégory Duprée was but would have mitigated any inevitable drama that was to follow,” explained Ellie Mack, Digital PR Director at Wolfenden.
“A marketer as experienced as Emily in the real world would have undertaken significant client, competitor and industry analysis and this situation would have been avoided entirely. Emily also should have known better than to encourage any sort of public collaboration, before speaking to the client about it.”
Season 3: The importance of paper trails
During a key moment when Emily needs to prove her expertise if she wants a visa in France, she stumbles onto an opportunity to discuss a feature in the illustrious ‘La Liste’. However, when publication day rolls around, it’s Emily herself who has been featured instead of her boss, Sylvie who she was representing at the time.
“The gold standard for digital marketing is to have each channel working in conjunction with each other, such as aligning your Digital PR with your social media strategy. So Emily dipping her toe into PR when she finds out about ‘La Liste’ sounds like a great idea – on paper at least. However, it all goes a bit south when it’s Emily herself who is featured!” said Anna Parry, Client Strategy Manager at Wolfenden.
“When working in marketing you quickly learn that every conversation, even ones that happen face-to-face, should have follow-up actions confirmed over email, leaving a clear paper trail of what has been discussed and agreed. If Emily had done this, she could have cleared up any confusion or held further discussions with the journalist on which profile was going to work best for La Liste.
“Although none of us are expecting a perfect depiction of our careers when watching Emily in Paris, it’s a great way to get people talking about what working in marketing is really like.
“Regardless of the differences between Emily’s life in Paris and our experiences at Wolfenden, we can’t wait to binge-watch season 4 and see what Emily gets up to next…”
