The Evolution of Influencer Trips

The Evolution of Influencer Trips

By: Madalyn Dudley

Recently, beauty and lifestyle gurus have not been able to stop talking about the “Trippin with Tarte” influencer trip to Dubai. This $500,000 trip has swept the internet with its top of the line guest list and five star amenities. Although this trip seems to be getting all of the publicity, brand trips have been a marketing tactic used by fashion and beauty companies for almost a decade. 

For those unfamiliar with influencer trips, brands typically fly five to ten celebrities or influencers, sometimes with a plus one, to an exotic location for a weekend full of activities and photo shoots. Depending on the brand, some influencers may be required to make specific content with the brands’ products or pose in photo shoots for their next launch. Companies like Tarte, however, give the content creator liberty in what products and content they post, giving them free reign to use the trip however they may please. 

You may be asking why a brand would be willing to spend half a million dollars on a trip where creators get to choose whether or not they create while they are there. In an exclusive story with Glossy, Tarte CEO Maureen Kelly says that Tarte, “prioritized their marketing budget into building relationships with influencers.” Instead of paying influencers to attend, they simply offer a free elaborate trip to them in hopes of building a strong relationship between them and their brand. She says that no matter how much they spend on the trip, that price could never compare to the $70,000 influencers are now making per post on their channels. Brand trips have turned from a fun reward to creators for going viral on YouTube into  a way for brands to be cost-efficient in a booming media world. 

With the popularity of Tiktok growing, consumers have been noticing influencer trips more than ever before, but beauty brands like Tarte have been using extravagant trips as a marketing strategy ever since the beginning stages of influencer marketing on Youtube. Emma Chamberlain, Hannah Meloche, and many others got their influencing start on Youtube, and they also kickstarted the success of influencer trip marketing. Tarte began taking multiple groups to Bora Bora in 2016, but it is rumored that their first ever “Trippin with Tarte” excursion was actually in 2002. 

As the grip that influencers hold on commerce strengthens, so does the power of the influencer trip. The concept of a brand trip has evolved from excited YouTubers going on a free mini vacation to endlessly promote the brand’s products in thanks, to brands paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to treat influencers making millions of dollars a year to an elaborate trip in hopes they will promote their products. 

What is next for these up-and-coming influencers now that brands are willing to spend so much to be featured in their content? As brands are forced to compete with the elaborate marketing budgets of large corporations, the competitive marketplace for influencers will continue to thrive, meaning the sky is the limit for what they could achieve. 

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