What does one do after one has been at the center of a national scandal and written a book about it?
Go into direct marketing, of course.
Monica Lewinsky has launched an e-commerce site (www.therealmonicainc.com) selling handmade totes and purses. The former White House intern reportedly got through her trials by learning how to knit. After failing to find the perfect knitting bag, she designed her own. According to Lewinsky’s Web site, the bag was such a smash that many of her friends were interested in getting a bag with the label “Made especially for you by Monica.” Thus an Internet business was born.
Totes range from $90 to $130 each, while purses go for $70 to $110. Interested customers can designate “a buck a bag” to go to a charity from a list of various medical and humanitarian causes.
DIRECT was unable to interview anyone at Lewinsky’s company by press time, so we unfortunately have nothing to share about response rates and site traffic. But we can tell you this, courtesy of the site itself: The totes and purses come in four styles: Garden Patch, Crimson Black, Blue Diamond and Bohemian Baroque. All are made of upholstery fabric and are dry clean only.
In an unrelated direct response development, The Los Angeles Times reported that Lewinsky’s father, Dr. Bernard Lewinsky (who contributed photography to his daughter’s site) received not one, but two direct mail solicitations to contribute to the Clinton Legal Expense Trust. The DM pieces were sent back with acerbic notes, one of which accused the trust of being “morons.”
The trust reportedly blames the mistake on lists that were used by its direct response consultant.
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