Bloggers and brands

[homebythesea]

I love blogs, YouTube, Instagram etc but sometimes do wonder what's in it for the brands especially regarding blogger events.

Straight up reviews of things they get sent I totally get- they try things on/ use a face cream, wax lyrical about how great the thing is, people click through and buy said item. Straightforward advertising. No problem with that at all.

But when a blogger is invited to a dinner, or night away at a hotel, or a movie premiere by a brand I just don't get what is worth the expense? From the blogger perspective they get a night out and a goodie bag and maybe even paid to attend. But what does the brand get in return? A brief tag on an Instagram pic, some photos of beautiful place settings at dinner......but not necessarily sales?? These events must cost thousands to put on.

Hopefully someone with some knowledge about these things will enlighten us!

Monsoon is gorgeous at the moment. Always is around Christmas. If I was rich I'd buy the shop out.

They hardly feature zara because zara don't pay bloggers in any way not even affiliate links.

I personally hate the faux 'oooh this is so £££' - kat used to do that loads and then suddenly have a new designer bag whilst angsting over a £50 top.

I was at kilver court today and they had a seven boot lane stand - I laughed as there is no way on this earth I would ever buy their boots.

Same now goes for hush et al.

COS doesn't ever feature on blogs, I saw Midlifechic had a jacket from there recently and it really struck me it as the first time I'd seen something.

She's also the only one I've seen that feature Uniqlo, although she's open about the sponsorship there and the clothes she wears from there do seem to fit in her natural style.

La Redoute are all over Bum40's blog as well which seems well below her usual budget. I do enjoy her blog though, her writing is fun and I do like the regular posts and that most of her posts are basically 'I'm obsessed with X at the moment, here are lots of options in different price ranges', I do think the more sponsored posts aren't as interesting, whenever I see a makeup post in particular I don't bother reading it but that's true for all bloggers, not just Kat.

I don't really mind all the sponsorship, but maybe that's because I read mainly regional or petite blogs (SusieSoSo, TheFashionLift, Smalltownthreads). The petite blogs in particular give me something that no magazine ever can. I'm the same size as TheFashionLift and SusieSoSo so when they were something I like that tells me exactly what I will look like. Thefashionlift recently had a gorgeous dress from Ted Baker featured and yes, that did make me try it on but I didn't buy it so it works (ish). But not as well as the posts on here, a year ago I hadn't heard of COS, this autumn I bought more from there than anywhere else.

I'd love to buy from cod but I just can't get on with their website, do you guys buy online from there or in store?

Cos not cod!!

Oh dear. Not sure I should mention it but Kat rather annoyed on instagram/Instastories today. About this thread.

Thanks for the tip off! Will go and have a look

I knew that would happen. She has a remarkably thin skin where Hush is concerned. All that "I mentioned 17 different brands in the last month" she was repeating in her comment section. Yeah, ONCE love. You mention Hush in every other sentence! But that point will be utterly dismissed.

I've 'known' Kat (as in, haven't ever met but we are part of a group of online friends) for around 15 years through various message boards and she's never been rude or dismissive. Always helpful, funny and friendly.

Well she's pretty much doing the old "if you don't like it, stop reading" thing.

Honestly, since she is clearly intending to take none of this on board and it's going to continue to be essentially a version of Hush.co.uk, then I agree with her. I think it's best I stop reading.

Full on rant on Insta, apparently if anyone says anything negative, it's jealousy. Ironically people completely slating MN and commenting the usual drivel that women don't like successful women etc etc

If the premiere was a treat for a child, what was it doing on a business platform?

That's the problem; the business model for this type of fashion blogging depends on a symbiotic relationship between private and professional, these snippets of everyday life provide the context for real women wearing real clothes for real life. That's supposed to the their USP.

Except attending film premieres and swanky breakfasts aren't part of everyday life for the reader and this is where we start to disbelieve what is being said and what is being shown to us for profit, financial, gift of mutual exposure.

I've not commented on her individually as I've not read her for years. But I do think that if someone chooses to turn their blog into a business then they need to learn how to deal with poor feedback in a business-like manner.

I agree.

I think I just prefer a more natural blog and less professional photo shoots and affiliations.
I did find the insta story irritating had not viewed one before, possibly all insta stories are like this. I'll avoid in the future !

I think the point that Kat is deliberately missing is that when she says she’s not paid to write certain blog posts - she might mention she worked with, for example, Hush on an event but she is not clear if the Hush clothes she mentions in a subsequent blog or credits in a photo of herself were paid for or gifted.

Oh dear. Why would a 'friend' message her sending her details of this thread?

Problem is insta is such an echo chamber of positive comments only that there is nowhere to question or query anything.

The whole blogging/vlogging industry needs proper regulations especially concerning disclosure and protecting the privacy of children.

Kat is very entertaining but she will have to get used to a lot of online criticism if she continues to be successful - golly, look at the vitriol the zoellas etc get. That is why only a certain type of person can do it I guess - you need to be pretty thick skinned.

And it wasn't presented as fact that she earnt six figures - just a guess and I bet she will be soon and good luck to her. Just either ignore the criticism or listen to the constructive bits. I think motherpukka did that when she clearly said what was gifted upon reading the thread on here. In fact she dealt with the criticism in a very professional manner.

In fairness, Kat's response wasn't half as bad as the comment section, which as usual in these situations turns into a seething morass of hissing hate. We're all jus' jellus, have no solidarity (oh the irony), we are just haterzzzz, we're bitches.......oh, and the usual classy "Bunch of Knobs" comment from wearsmymoney I notice.

I truly wish Kat had come on here if she wanted to clarify things rather than turning to Instagram which is the most incendiary platform there is currently. Hell, even Twitter or Facebook. Anywhere but throw it to the howling hordes on Instagram.

And what's bad is when there are 500 comments of "support" in sentences that include a lot of hate, and the account holder just lets it percolate. Recently Lisa Eldridge posted a photo of make up she'd done on Nicole Kidman. The comments straightaway started about how she had ruined her face etc....and Lisa stepped in and said "Let's not. This isn't the Daily Mail comment section". It was upvoted to the top and the comments were much nicer afterwards. She took control of the nastiness.

I agree, not been handled in a professional manner at all.

I expect this is how gleam advise her to handle things as it's very much their MO.

Anyone else think this has the potential to turn into the next Ginafordgate .

I don’t get it. Why on earth rant? Would Gleam really advise this response? Surely Kat is a professional and as such, open to criticism like all of us. Except her audience is larger than most of us mere mortals and the criticism larger (for her) in proportion. No one likes criticism but this is her job and don’t pretend otherwise. Don’t take the job so. This is not a cottage industry. And in fairness, were things more transparent, most of us wouldn’t speculate at all.

I think most of the points made here are quite valid.

Agree with the echo chamber of IG - I've noticed that with a few of the bigger IGers. I think it can lead to a slightly misguided sense of their own universal likeability, as there isn't a culture of leaving constructive (or plain old negative) feedback on there in the same way as on FB/twitter etc.

I have a firm rule of unfollowing anyone who doesn't make my IG feed 100% positive - anyone who irritates me more than once is gone.

I also don't like IGers who buy new stuff all the time - for me it's more about style/creating a really wonderful capsule wardrobe/life rather than having endless new stuff, whether it's cheap or expensive. I recognise that it's probably hard to keep growing on IG if you do that though, I have about 3.8 followers so can't comment on that .

Interesting point about whether Gleam encourage it. Have to say I find that aspect totally bizarre. If I had some poor feedback at work I might well be pissed off but I wouldn't go on the company Instagram to complain about it.

I was really annoyed with Toast recently (quality issue) so much so that I started a thread about it. They may well have seen it and felt a bit aggrieved but the way they dealt with my complaint was totally professional. It's just entry level customer service. You're a business so behave like one.

I think the problem is, and what Kat (and others) don't necessarily get, is that at the outset they were reasonable relatable - to me, similarly aged middle class mums who were really into clothes, shopped at places I might go to and leading a similar lifestyle. They were of value because they showed clothes (and introduced brands) that I might not have otherwise spotted, on a "real" person so we could see what they would look like on me/us (rather than a 15 year old in a magazine). Midlifechic still fulfils this role for me - and also creates a great debate on midlife issues as well as just talking about clothes. See also MyFashionable40's and ALifeToStyle.

Kat's blog/social media has in recent times just gone into a realm that I cannot relate to - price wise and lifestyle wise. However she may well have tapped into a different demographic, who knows? I don't blame her for doing what she has done to maximise her income and some of the personal criticism here has been a bit close to the bone. I'm not sure I could have resisted reading if I was her. However, she is right to say if it no longer chimes with readers they should just move on whilst taking on board the issue with transparency (which I do not believe she has been 100% compliant with)