Nadia Bartell writes The Chronicles of Nadia but says it’s not a glamorous career move. Picture: Nicole Cleary Source: News Corp Australia EVER since the wives and girlfriends of footballers started stealing the spotlight from their spouses on Brownlow night, we knew that any resistance would be futile. A star had been born and the AFL WAG was an accessible, girl-next-door celebrity we all wanted to be or at least know.
And now, more than ever before, WAGs are asserting their pulling power. More importantly, they’re asserting it in their own right.
Occupying the territory between the A-lister and the mainstream, WAGs are among our most influential style bellwethers, and social media is the place these savvy women are making their mark.
They have hundreds of thousands of social media followers, which in turn has brands clamouring for WAGs to post pictures of their products on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Arguably the most famous of this blogging brigade, last week’s Weekend covergirl Rebecca Judd, has more than 215,000 followers on Instagram alone, where she posts pictures of everything from peplum dresses to prams.
And though many others have created fashion-driven websites, there’s also a bevy of “mummy bloggers” including Kylie Brown, wife of retired Brisbane Lion Jonathan Brown, who has used her social media profile to raise awareness of post-natal depression.
Lily Baker heads a bespoke profile management agency, LMB Management, which specialises in aligning brands with social media celebrities, and says the value of WAGs to brands is bigger than who they date or are married to.
“Football might be a religion in Melbourne but these women have credibility of their own,” Baker says. “Most brands want these women to represent them because they are stylish, social and because they have loyal followers and successful blogs — not because they are WAGs.
“Most of these bloggers have worked in fashion or marketing and have worked hard to build networks and followers. Most barely even reference their partners in their blogs. They are also sought after by interstate and international brands who are unfamiliar with our love of AFL, proving that their footballer partners are irrelevant to the success of their blog.”
Nadia Bartel shares her life online with 216,000 followers. Picture: Nicole Cleary Source: News Corp Australia NADIA BARTEL, 29
Married to Jimmy Bartel, Geelong
Blog: Chronicles of Nadia (chroniclesofnadia.com.au)
Social media reach: 216,000
HAVING worked in magazines for many years, the global media shift towards online was obvious for Nadia Bartel, wife of Brownlow medallist Jimmy Bartel.
“I worked in advertising and I could see that many of the clients I was working with were requesting to develop online content, and were becoming less inspired by print editorial,” Bartel says.
“It was evident this was the direction that media was headed and I knew that if things were changing, I wanted to change with them and move my career to a much more online-orientated space.”
Bartel says that initially the blog was never intended as a way to make an income. She was simply excited by the new digital era of media and advertising.
“It wasn’t that I wanted to go out on my own and make money from my own website. I think that I was just really excited and inspired by this new type of media and advertising online as opposed to traditional print. People were starting Instagram accounts and Pinterest pages and the online landscape was changing fast.”
Bartel says that despite the pretty filtered pictures she posts online, people have a misconception that starting your own blog is a glamorous career move.
“People don’t see the behind-the-scenes work that goes into a blog post — they don’t see me picking up all the clothes and styling and writing and dealing with publicists and making sure clients are happy. It’s a lot of work.
“I’m working more now than I ever have; because the internet doesn’t have closing hours you find you are always switched on.
“I think also because I am working on my own, I place a lot of pressure on myself and also because of the way society is now, we are always online, getting emails at all hours of the day.”
Bartel says while there has been much debate in the battle of journalists v bloggers, the two are incomparable.
“I know I’m not a journalist and I have never tried to be; journalists are very different to bloggers. While journalists remain impartial, I think bloggers showcase their personality and taste in their content. I post things that I love and that inspire me,” she says.
“Personal content like my wedding day, hen’s day and holidays is what seems to really resonate with people; and that’s why I think blogs have become more popular because unlike magazines that are devoid of personality, blogs allow people to really reflect their own life and character.
“When I do photo diaries from holidays, people always ask for restaurant recommendations and my favourite shopping destinations; I think people feel like bloggers, unlike magazines, are accessible and open because they are normally tied to one person.”
As for the future, Bartel is launching an online store with her sister where readers can buy products featured on the website.
Jessie Habermann loves fashion, art and writing. Picture: Nicole Cleary Source: News Corp Australia JESSIE HABERMANN, 25
Girlfriend of Marc Murphy, Carlton captain
Blog: C’est Vogue (cestvogue.com.au)
Social media reach: 59,000
WHEN Jessie Habermann was a teenager, long before blogs became popular, she created her own little world in cyber space.
Living in country Victoria in 2005 and feeling isolated from everything that interested her, she started gathering fashion pictures and loading them into a blog. Her strongest subjects at secondary school were art and writing, so the blog was a natural way to merge her skills and her passions.
“Everyone where I lived was into sport but I had my head elsewhere and felt starved so I reached out online for inspiration,” Habermann says. “When I finished school I studied public relations at university and I used to scour the net for inspiration to develop my own style and taste.”
The result is C’est Vogue, a fashion blog, and PR houses are seeking Habermann’s styling skills. Brands are keen to advertise on C’est Vogue but, driven by a desire to collaborate with like-minded Australian brands, Habermann prefers only to accept those with an affinity to her own style.
“I have people paying to post on my blog but it doesn’t matter to me whether I’m paid or not,” she says. “I don’t accept a lot of payment unless it’s a one-off shoot with a brand because that takes effort for me to go out on a shoot. I also need to believe in the brand so I’m not just flogging brands that I don’t believe in. But since day dot brands have come to me to work for them.”
The blog she most admires is Tuula Vintage and she dreams of gathering the same number of followers — about a million — and travelling the world like its Sydney creator, Jessica Stein.
Habermann’s blog mixes Australian and international fashion and she often branches out into homewares, lifestyle and, being a coeliac, she also writes about health. Unlike many blogs, C’est Vogue is less focused on Habermann and her style and more observant of the world around her, commenting on trends and designers. She is continually broadening her horizons.
Habermann admits it is gratifying to gather new followers.
“It’s good to know there a lot of people out there with the same tastes as me and to think they look up to and learn from me,” she says.
“I know I have a few Carlton followers but I had quite a big following on Instagram before I was with Marc so I have all different types of followers.”
Erin Maxwell wanted her blog to be a reflection of herself. Picture: Nicole Cleary Source: News Corp Australia ERIN MAXWELL, 31
Married to Nick Maxwell, former Collingwood captain
Blog: Love Shop Share (loveshopshare.com)
Social media reach: 38,000
HAVING children causes an identity shift for many women and it brought Erin Maxwell a deeper shift than she had anticipated.
Apart from the joy of having her two children, Milla, 3, and Archie, 1, they also helped her define who she was and what she wanted from life.
Being given a top-grade camera when Milla was born was just what Maxwell needed to begin a new life. “I had come out of working in fashion and went into being a mum but I wanted to still be myself and have an outlet that was totally my own,” she says.
“I knew I wanted to create a blog but not as a mum, just as myself.”
As a result her blog has nothing to do with her children; it doesn’t feature their photos, their wardrobes or their playtimes. It is all presented in Maxwell’s aesthetic and is a showcase for her photography skills.
Her taste for monotones is not only because she is married to Nick Maxwell, who played with Collingwood for 12 years, either. She was just as quick to establish her business as something distinct from her husband’s career as she was to keep it separate from motherhood. “I know plenty of the Collingwood fans see him and say they love my blog and there are definitely a lot of fashion-focused people who barrack for Collingwood,” she says.
“And I’m sure a lot of the fans love my thing for black and white but when I first started the blog I think a lot of fans just followed me hoping to find out what Nick had for breakfast. It has always been really important to me to get my own audience and develop their interest in what I’m about.”
There are various arms to Maxwell’s business — on Instagram she posts photographs of herself and her 28,000 followers are inspired by her style and taste for denim and neutrals such as black, white and grey.
On her blog, Maxwell’s own photographs feature and they capture any fashion that she finds visually interesting. There are also fashion tips and a shopping guide. She has serious clout, being employed by certain big brands to collaborate on style direction.
“It’s hard to measure the impact of my blog exactly but if I put up cards one morning and the store sells a lot of the same cards during the day, they assume it’s because of the blog,” she says. “It’s also about building brand awareness. I really just present my take on a fashion item and let people explore it for themselves.”
Emma Clapham at home with DIY materials she uses to make items to post on her blog. Picture: Nathan Dyer Source: News Corp Australia EMMA CLAPHAM, 26
Partner of Geelong’s Tom Hawkins
Blog: Who Loves That (wholovesthat.com)
Social media reach: 45,688
DECIDING to relocate to support your partner’s career is a reality faced by many women, whether their boyfriend is an accountant or an AFL star.
Emma Clapham and her high-school sweetheart, Geelong forward Tom Hawkins, spent seven years commuting between Melbourne and Geelong after he was drafted to the Cats.
Clapham had a successful career in sales and marketing for ACP Magazines, working across lifestyle titles including Real Living, Belle and Gourmet Traveller, but says she knew moving to Geelong was the right decision for her relationship.
“I’m not going to say I was really happy and didn’t doubt the move initially,” Clapham says. “I had relocated my life to Geelong, quit a job that I loved and job opportunities in my industry were very slim locally. I really had to sit down and reassess what my options were. All of a sudden I had all this time and I had worked really hard in my job before to build networks and develop contacts within the lifestyle industry. Eventually I decided if now is not the right time to start something of my own, I don’t know when is.”
What she started was online lifestyle destination Who Loves That, a website dedicated to entertaining, home decor and DIY projects.
Joining her in the venture is Erin Briggs, long-term partner of Geelong midfielder Steve Johnson, and Clapham says it was decided very early on to separate their profiles as WAGs from the business.
“We wanted to create a brand that was very separate from anything that either of us had done personally, including that we are both girlfriends of high-profile footballers,” she says.
“Few people who follow Who Loves That would even know I date a footballer, and that’s something that we have consciously done and also makes any success more satisfying.”
Clapham, who still works two days a week in marketing for various clients, says her goal for Who Loves That is to maintain a level of accessibility.
“We have taken our time establishing a brand that we think has longevity, and have also been adamant that no matter how big the brand grows, our objective is always to ensure we are accessible and affordable for a broad demographic of readers and followers.’’
Clapham says her decision to become an ambassador for Yellowglen sparkling wine during the Spring Racing Carnival is a perfect example of aligning with brands that are not expensive or elitist.
“Yellowglen is a great fit for our brand because it’s very accessible. I also think it’s a great example of where the future of social-media enterprises are headed with cross-promotion collaborations,” she says.
“As well as attending the Yellowglen Terrace during the Melbourne Cup Carnival and promoting it via social media, we will also develop features for the website including entertaining ideas for hosting racing parties at home or at the track and DIY projects using the Yellowglen product such as cupcakes using their sparkling wine or DIY table centrepieces using their bottles.”
Clapham says turning online influence into a real income has been one of the more surprising aspects of launching her digital business and that collaborations have been a key in this success.
“You can’t do it and put so much time and effort into it and not make money from it,” she says. “Slowly more opportunities are emerging as the industry evolves and it is flattering that we are being sought after by brands. But I think that comes back to the special skills set that Erin and I can offer, which is much bigger than the pulling power of who we date.”
Originally published as WAGs share their lives online
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