Toyota GR Yaris

[Rich B]

Harry's Garage is an "influencer" style show - sponsored by the insurance company and the battery charger (who presumably pay him money to mention their kit) and operated by vehicles leant to him by manufacturers and tuning houses as well as ones he's bought... like any other "influencer". Is Harry ok?

He doesn’t just heap praise on stuff though and doesn’t ham stuff up. His passion for stuff he buys has always been there and I don’t believe buying or reviewing anything he isn’t genuinely interested in.

I’d say he has an un-natural love for the project 8 but he was involved in it so that’s understandable.

I don’t watch much on YouTube as so much seems just smile for the camera sound dramatic tosh.

Dave!

He still takes money from sponsors, promotes their products, runs ads on his channel. He takes the free loans of cars, is taken on the free trips and does all the other things that manufacturers do to try and woo reviewers into giving positive reviews. He uses all this to build up more subscribers and views which gives more revenue, more access to free cars/etc and grows his business.

Thankfully he has a decent amount of integrity and is very entertaining. But regardless of whether we like the chavvy sounding "influencer" nametag, that's exactly the model he's using.

[Mito Man]

Almost all big channels on YouTube are influencers. The only one I watch which I think isn’t would be AvE who actively tells sponsors to fuck off

[NGRhodes]

I suspect the real issue is how JWW (a level of arrogance ???) approached Litchfield rather than what was proposed (which could of been negotiated).

[mik]

Old money doesn’t usually mean generous.

I suspect this is pretty standard fare - and of course the content of his proposal is confidential - but Litchfield told Harris who only shared a little info and therefore broke no confidentiality : then tossed it out to let others work out who it is.

[Mito Man]

If this is standard procedure these days then it's poor form for Litchfield to share it with Harris and others then. Not sure how confidential it all was as everyone on twitter jumped to a conclusion rather rapidly

[Nathan]

Old money doesn’t usually mean generous.

I suspect this is pretty standard fare - and of course the content of his proposal is confidential - but Litchfield told Harris who only shared a little info and therefore broke no confidentiality : then tossed it out to let others work out who it is.

Yes, but the potential income would be disproportionately lower than his outgoings.

[speedingfine]

If this is standard procedure these days then it's poor form for Litchfield to share it with Harris and others then. Not sure how confidential it all was as everyone on twitter jumped to a conclusion rather rapidly

Yeah launching a Twitter pile on is never pretty.

At least we know who Freddie Bulliard is now though

https://sniffpetrol.com/2019/08/06/the- ... gas-dandy/

[Rich B]

"Don’t worry, you won’t have heard of it and I want that to make you feel ordinary."

[KiwiDave]

https://sniffpetrol.com/2019/08/06/the- ... gas-dandy/

That's just made my Weds better

[Jobbo]

There's a new Collecting Cars podcast where Harris talks to Iain Litchfield - listened to it on the way to work this morning. They mention the influencer incident.

[mik]

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t ... 313e3d690c

[Rich B]

There's a fair bit of "it was different back then" when referring to blagging free stuff and "it's ok to ask the big manufacturers".

It's business. it costs upwards of £5k to make a video (according to CH), so if your primary source of income is your videos, and you've built up a big enough number of subscribers, then why shouldn't you charge the supplier. If the supplier sees the value in it, then game on.

As the Top Gear crew painfully love to hammer home, they make an entertainment show based around cars, not a car show - well these youtube shows should be treated the same. If you want independent reviews then you know who to click on.

[Jobbo]

It might be reasonable to ask Aston Martin for a big fee, but whoever it is (has it been confirmed as Mr JWW yet?) really missed the mark by asking a small company for a significant sum to promote a minor product line. Just shows how unthinkingly out of touch he is, and by extension, all influencers.

[Rich B]

whoever it is (has it been confirmed as Mr JWW yet?) really missed the mark by asking a small company for a significant sum to promote a minor product line. Just shows how unthinkingly out of touch he is,

Totally agree. Particularly as Lichfield had already been loaning their demo car out (with massive praise) to others (Harry already had it).

But the model is sound imo. If I was an unknown tuning firm with an absolutely kick ass product that no one had heard of yet, then paying for a successful youtuber to do a review film (the issue of integrity to allow that your tuber to tell the truth no matter what is another issue) to market my product might well be worth £25k.

The celebrity endorsed infomercial is hardly a new concept after all.

[Mito Man]

Right, I'm just about to call Twisted for a V8 conversion on my Defender. I won't even charge them as I'm a nice guy, just give me a free engine and fit it chaps
I'll buy a £200 Go Pro to film it for the socials.

[Mito Man]

They told me to fuck off

[Rich B]

They told me to fuck off

how many million subscribers have you got to your videos?

[Mito Man]

Not sure about subscribers but I have so many views that I can't even count them on my fingers and toes

[mik]

I guess there is room for all in the market, but hopefully more people will be aware that the influencers will grin and gush over whatever product they are paid to grin and gush over, whether it is good or not.

We are all used to adverts, but when they appear on screen/print it has to be clearly stated that this is advertising.

I don’t personally follow any car influencers, but some people of course won’t be able to tell the difference between an influencer vid and an independent review.

Buyer beware.

[Jobbo]

Watch review videos on Youtube seem to make it very clear when they include paid promotion; Jody on Just One More Watch in particular includes that flag even when he just gets a slight discount but still pays for the watch himself. I take it Youtube don't enforce this at all though.