Bloggers and brands 2.

[Merriboo]

continuing the discussion from the previous thread about transparency and disclosure (or lack of) by bloggers

Oh yes, plenty of Topshop flogging. I've noticed they're trying to tap into the 'older' / mum market.

Then they should stop cropping every top then! I actually want to shop in Top Shop..!

Too many chefs do indeed spoil the broth and unfortunately that’s come to the surface a lot this year with the problems around buying followers, advertising declaration and producing decent content. Believe me there is an enormous elephant in the room at the moment as there are some major players in the market who think we don't know what's gone on, but we all do.

I was wondering who AH meant in this blog post?

I’m noticing more and more the less than subtle ‘soft sells’ via social media. Mrs Gloss and the Goss (Facebook group for makeup and beauty) has become increasingly monetised with lots of affiliate links which I personally think should be tagged as ads, ‘beauty box sales’ but tonight’s post on the new seasons homewares collection has gotten on my wick. It’s tagged as an ad, but just feels really off... perhaps it’s the admin blocking any negative discussions on brands which smacks of protecting the revenue stream

God I’m becoming cynical and disillusioned

Returning to the gifting- did anyone else notice before Christmas the Celtic and co sheepskin coat (£1k) gifted to several bloggers was posted once as the coat of dreams... and hasn’t been seen again (except for one)?.

Lydia Millen posted a vlog this week of her overnight stay with Neom. 2 rooms (one for her PA/assistant) filled with endless volumes of Neom products... then they did a sleepover together in one room. Lydia couldn’t remember the name of the hotel and complained that the room service menu was pitiful!
She also got married to another blogger just before Christmas and the wedding seems to have been a veritable fest of sponsorship/freebies/gifting

I saw the Celtic coat on one blogger. I think that kind of gifting can be counter productive really. I wear Celt boots around the house and they are quite expensive (for slippers ) so I really eke out the ones I have. Celtic are really stingy on the discount front and its a big outlay. Occasionally at Christmas you get a £10 voucher or free postage offers but that's it really. So it does kind of stick in the throat a bit to see a blogger wearing a £1k coat that they have got for free. Maybe they wanted to get rid of old stock!

With the volume of stuff being gifted, it's common for bloggers to just wear something once and never wear it again, so it can't be as effective as it used to be as a promo tool when the blogger would get something and wear it repeatedly. Another reason why I think this method of marketing is going to have a limited shelf life if it carries on as it is. I suppose bags are a bit of an exception to this, and the Hill and co bags get wheeled out fairly often.

Has bullshitcallerouter’s insta disappeared for everyone else 😥

Ithasbeen - totally agree. Some of these retailers, the ones who take pride in never discounting, not doing Black Friday, just providing a very "honest" business model don't seem to realise that then gifting things to influencers who maybe wear them once and then either flog them or ditch them in the back of the wardrobe is insulting to their customers. I used to follow a blogger who was great at finding the jem in the shop, showing you how to wear it to make it work, how to find the one purchase a month that you can afford to make....... now she is flaunting all her freebies, courting some dubious retail relationships and never wearing the same thing twice. She has devalued herself and the retailers queuing up to use her. I do understand it is business - but hopefully it is a business model that will decline very rapidly. And as for dragging this whole lifestyle nonsense into it - God help us, my blogger is now a lifestyle influencer..........

No still there for me. Up to 60.3k followers now. They have changed icon and looks like 3 people administering it now - think they were overwhelmed by volume of DMs!

Merriboo I noticed the Celtic promo. Shame as I loved that brand, being UK made and all. But it was same as DMBL40 wheeling out the green mohair Jigsaw coat just once; she got a CHOICE of £450 coats for FREE then wears it once, and only on a whim after she thought she didn't like it after all (according to her stories, or did Jigsaw kindly ask her to wear the coat, at least once, considering it was a gift and was now on sale and needed shifting).

I see they're all now in Fenwicks this week, helping them to shift the last of the sale dregs.

Sorry about the CAPS, can't work out italics.

...... and the irony of it all is that these "influencers" are becoming less and less relevant to mere mortals.

Absolutely Flea. Most of us would struggle to relate to bloggers who have at least 3 new outfits a week featuring big ticket items, whilst sipping cocktails in the lounge of their £700+ per night hotel #gifted #spon

.... I don't want to be too preachy and I do understand that these bloggers/influencers are making money out of their businesses, and that they are putting in the hours to do so - it's just that it has lost its integrity for me. I am finding that "like-minded" people sharing links/photos/anecdotes is more relevant to me right now. Threads like the Parisienne one on here do just that. I am really disillusioned with the permanent buy, buy, buy click through and this notion that spending is a reward at the end of the week for parenting/working/etc........... all bollocks!

I think maybe I was too harsh on AH yesterday, what she has to say about buying followers is very relevant, and I think she knows some big accounts that are guilty of this, at least she hasn't, hers has grown organically. And her dog is adorable.

Anyone familiar with social blade? If you look up an insta account, and their stats start at 40,000 followers, does that mean they bought a pre existing account, changed the name then started posting or is that just what they were at followers wise when social blade first started collecting data from them?

I noticed the Fenwicks thing too megansmandstop, it did smack of them having been invited in and perhaps enticed with a gift card to spend, a bit of a coincidence if that wasn't the case.

@nipersvest re:socialblade, I think it is when they are added to the database which is why some people appear to start at a high number of followers. If you go into the compare tab you can pick up to 3 accounts to compare and if you scroll down it shows daily stats so you can see spikes on certain days for some bloggers. Obviously there will be spikes on some days if they attract press elsewhere, but I found it interesting for some accounts.

I I am a bit annoyed at AH at the moment! The other day, on her Instagram, she had a lovely whistles coat, and one of her followers asked her if it was true to size because she needed a size 10 and there was only a size 12. AH told her to go for it saying how she should fit in the 12 and it would be oversize. I am a size 12-14 and based on Anna’s comment ordered it. The online review contradicted and suggested found down. Well it’s arrived and is nearer a size 16-18, it looks ridiculous. There’s oversized and there’s two sizes too big. The size 10 lady will look even sillier than me in it. And now I have to pay hefty intl returns. It feels like those emperors new clothes style shop assistants who’lll say anything for a sale.

At least I use a private browser and vpn so she won’t make money from her rubbish review!

This is an interesting article regarding fake followers. There is one I think has a few fakes (I'm not going to name any names )

caleydimmock.com/instahacks-how-to-tell-fake-instagram-followers/

I think Mrs Gloss has been quite clever, she obviously works hard at it but it looks lime tgere was intent for a long time for it to become monetised, it looked like she was careful about building it into, and managing it as, a brand from the beginning, or close to - while ‘marketing’ it as a group of like minded women chatting about makeup,

Interesting about Fenwick's - I wonder how many of them will fess up about them getting gift vouchers? They do seem deliberately vague about these, especially the regular trips to Bicester Village, no doubt subsidised massively. They don’t seem to count as #gift #ad #spons in the influencer rulebook (honourable exception, as ever, Erica Davies). Thanks to these threads, I no longer believe in all the happy shopping coincidences.

Sorry to intrude on your thread as this has nothing really to do with advertising etc but could I ask any lurking instamums to please please (excuse split infinitive) finish what you're eating before you start story-ing! There is one I follow not mentioned above but buddies with some who does it ALL the time and one of the above-mentioned has just done it too. It only means holding off another 30 seconds before getting your phone out

Hi! In the interests of transparency and as there are musings on the topic, can only speak for myself but I received absolutely nothing from Fenwicks and spent my own money on the items I bought (it was seriously a really really good sale..).

I’ve also only ever received a voucher from Bicester on Feb about two years ago when I went on a special press trip for the British Wool Collective.

I can only speak for myself - I always go to the last week of the Fenwicks sale with my best friend as you can get some real “bargains” (in the relative sense of the word, I appreciate!)

And I could also maybe say “can only speak for myself” too many times 😜

Thanks for posting Kat. Did you buy the dress as well ?
It looked great on you.

Yes, thanks for the clarification Kat. There seems to be a lot of confusion about influencers and their role at the moment.