How to Avoid a Bad Influencer Trip

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The company Fohr exists because of a brand trip.

In 2011 I got an email from Andrew Schmidt at Puma asking if I wanted to go to Abu Dhabi to shoot a yacht race. After confirming I wasn't being scammed, I jumped at the chance. While sending influencers on a brand trip is table stakes now, in 2011, it was unheard of and received wide coverage for innovation.

On my way back from that trip, I emailed a friend: "I do think I've stumbled upon a new kind of marketing, and I think it is something brands want to do but have no idea how to execute. We will just slip in, take that over, make the best content in the (online) world and count the money!"

I realized that Puma could have never told the story of that yacht racing team to our audiences without us—thus started a string of events that led me to start Fohr.

For years, influencer trips were a cost-effective way to bring personality and life to products and get more out of influencers through bonus posts. Over time, they stopped working: brands wanted to avoid the hassle of planning them, influencers got tired of constant travel, and consumers wanted more relatable content, plus they were increasingly causing unnecessary PR crises.

After years of influencer trips falling out of favor, they have been in the news again, and the news hasn't been good.

The major lesson? There is a right way and a wrong way to execute these activations. The appeal of an influencer trip is that by bringing together a group of people into the same experience, you greatly amplify the attention and share of voice those posts receive. That's great if all goes well, but it also means if something goes wrong, those failures are much more visible.

This guide includes the ultimate do's and don'ts of influencer trips, where it goes wrong, and how to get them right

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WHAT YOU'LL FIND IN THIS GUIDE:

1.

A brief history of influencer trips (a timeline)

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2.

Where it goes wrong: 5 misconceptions while planning

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3.

How to get it right: 3 examples

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4.

6 unique outcomes of trips

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5.

5 things for brands to remember