What is a brand trip?
A brand trip is a curated brand retreat where a brand invites influencers to attend an exclusive experience designed around community and content creation. In other words, it's a marketing event that blends travel, community, and influencer marketing to promote a brand and its character. Unlike the original, traditional advertisements (like commercials and video ads), this marketing strategy creates space for authentic content instead of script content. This creates an entirely new trust between the influencer and the buyer as well as the brand and the buyer.
How do brands make these 'retreats' successful?
The best thing about these brand trips is that influencers are given free range to choose their content approach. They aren't given a specific product or assigned a certain advertisement to post on their social media feed. Instead, influencers are typically given a multitude of the brand's products--oftentimes with unofficial wear and accessories specifically for the collaborators in light of this big event. With that being said, influencers can stay true to their authentic social media persona to maintain that trusting bond between the creator and their audience.
Here's the million-dollar question: How do brand trips make this happen? Squad Trip published an online article in which the writer establishes the steps a brand can take when putting together a brand retreat. Put yourself in the shoes of a brand's public relations team and think about these steps you would (or should) take. Here are a few very important, mindful questions you should ask your team when planning.@alanimccoy the true behind the scenes of an influencer brand trip ✨ #aerinbeauty #influencertrip #beautyPR ♬ Aesthetic Vibes - Megacreate
Step 1: Define Goals and Investment
As a trip director, you need to recognize your clear objectives. What do you want to get out of this? What value will your company gain from this? How much are you willing to invest financially, socially, publicly?
Step 2: Selecting Influencers
This is the second to most important task at hand when planning a brand trip. What influencers have the audience you are looking for that overlaps with your customers? Are they consistent with honest reviews and genuine intent online? It's not always influencers with the most following. Sometimes it's influencers with a low popularity but wonderful engagement and ideas.
Step 3: Choose a Destination and Theme
The destination sets the tone. What destination best represents the aura of your products? Maybe you can choose a mountain lodge where there's lots of snow and ski range nearby, or maybe you can choose a tropical destination with lots of water and summer-like activities. It is vital that you choose a destination that not only grabs the audience's attention but the influencers as well. You want them to enjoy this trip and produce genuine content. It would be bad for influencers to show how unpleased and bored they are on their socials where tens of thousands to millions of people are watching in real time.
Step 4: Logistics and Experience
The trip should be a breeze in the park for the travelers. Make sure that your team is efficient in covering travel, lodging, food, and planned activities. This is a treat to the influencers and their followers. It is also important to ensure travelers have free time to rest in between parties and maybe order food they've been craving. This is creating a balance between all the festivities.
Step 5: Build a Community Atmosphere
One post can reflect the atmosphere of the brand trip. Create collaborative challenges and encourage group experiences to expand the relationships between the influencers. When attendees create friendships, the social media posts flow smoothly as well as your new and improved reputation.
Now you've seen what the bigger picture, the behind-the-scenes perspective. A brand trip isn't a randomized event. It's planned out down to the nitty gritty to ensure the retreat isn't a flop and everyone has fun.
What does a brand trip look like?
I'm glad you asked. Let's talk about the previous brand trips hosted by Tarte Cosmetics. Tarte Cosmetics is a high-performance makeup and beauty brand, and it was founded by Maureen Kelly, a proud boy mom and viral content creator. Tarte believes in breaking down beauty boundaries, shattering stereotypes, and being kind.
#Trippinwithtarte is currently active, and lots of chosen influencers are in Turks and Caicos for Tarte's December brand trip. Tarte has hosted a few brand trips, all in tropical locations including, Dubai, Bora Bora, and Miami. On these trips, we see plenty of makeup and beauty influencers attend. Some of these names you may recognize: Alix Earle, Monet McMichael, Aisha and Azra Mian, Jana Craig, Kaylor Martin, Whitney Simmons, Emilie Kiser, Samantha Jo, Neen Stina, Tianna Robillard, Melinda Berry, Gabby Morrison Joseph, and Camilla Araujo.
@tiannarobillard Night one!! @Reille Malloy| Weightloss+Mom @tarte cosmetics #trippinwithtarte ♬ original sound - Tianna Robillard
Now that I think about it, there really isn't much to talk about. Tarte's brand trips have undoubtedly created their own version of bid day. Followers love to see what influencers get the 'ultimate package" in the mail: the package to Tarte Island. It's basically life and death. I'll let the video do the talking.
I wouldn't be telling the truth if I said all social media followers and brand consumers agree with the idea of brand trips for influencers. A lot of consumers that aren't exactly onboard like to argue that it's a waste of their money they choose to spend on the brand's products. "But do I really want to buy trips for influencers that can already afford it?" Others also think it's unfair that individuals who can afford the trips are being the ones treated to this limited opportunity.@neeniesteenie So excited to take all of yall with us 🥹💜 HERE WE COME @tarte cosmetics @Maureen Kelly 😍🙌🏼🏝️ #rainneyandneen #trippinwithtarte #tarteisland #tarte ♬ original sound - Neen Stina
I think these perspectives are valid. I mean, why don't I get the opportunity to win a possibly free trip to Bora Bora instead of them? However, from the perspective of a media analyst, these brand trips won't be as nearly as successful for the marketing aspect of the brand and attendee if the attendees are not popular media figures. However, I think going forward brands should plane a once-a-year costumer only trip to give back to the people giving the brand its name.
The overall mission of a brand trip is to go beyond traditional advertisements and form bonds with collaborators and their followers. It's an event meant to be fun for collaborators just as much as it's meant to promote the brand. The idea is to get people from all sorts of demographics (within the product's broader demographic) to purchase from the company.
The concept of brand trips has created a new type of relationship between influencers, brands, and followers. It's meant to be genuine and usually is. It's meant to be more than just a brand you saw on a 5 second commercial clip while watching TV last night. It's meant to be personal and transformative. It's meant to challenge the norm of marketing and public relations.
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