We're delighted to be working with one of our very own Prestige customers, Paul Wallace, highly successful Supercar YouTuber and owner of Supercars of London, at the exciting new festival themed Supercar event, Supercar Fest this month.
Our Head of Bespoke, Tom Donachie, shares his thoughts on the growing success of YouTubers & Instagrammers and the rise of prestige motors...
Every generation grows up with its own celebrities. From the Hollywood movie idols we adore to the sports icons we cheer on every week; these individuals command genuine admiration in our hearts and genuine influence within our lives.
But our heroes are not generally the same heroes that the next generation will grow up idolising, and nowhere is this more obvious than with the rise of the social media influencer.
With social media influencers, you may not have heard of the biggest names that young people today are following, you probably won’t come across them because you still watch TV rather than YouTube, and if you do accidentally stumble across them, you won’t have the foggiest idea what they’re doing or why they’re so popular.
But while not everyone is a fan of the meteoric rise of the social media influencer, the reality is that YouTube vlogging, Instagramming and the like can be extremely lucrative. Consequently, we’re seeing more YouTubers looking to splash the cash on prestige motors – whether as a symbol of their new found status or as the latest, shiniest prop in their ongoing content series.
For years we’ve made it our business to provide bespoke cover to entertainment industry personalities, musicians, actors, sports people, journalists and other high-profile individuals. These stars get a raw deal on their motor insurance when they go to the usual online suspects. As soon as they click the ‘entertainment’ box, the online algorithm sees this as definitive evidence that they’re either an unhinged maniac likely to crash any vehicle they step into or that they’re certain to have their new car stolen or vandalised the moment they first leave it unattended. Now we’re seeing prominent YouTubers facing exactly the same insurance challenge.
Underwriting these stars, whether a movie star or YouTube star, is far from a one-size-fits-all process. We have to take the time to understand their risk profile, such as how the vehicle is being used (or how the vehicle is being stored, given that some YouTubers literally provide their followers with an access-all-areas look at the home in which they live.
We’re talking to our specialist Prestige brokers about social media influencers because this is no flash in the pan. These newly-minted celebrities are here to stay and, judging from the career trajectory of the early trailblazers, it’s likely that we’ll see a great many influencers diversifying out into the world of more conventional celebrity through book deals, movie roles, presenting gigs etc.
In the worlds of sport, music and film, we advise brokers to try and establish relationships with teen stars in the making as they purchase their first vehicles, thus forming lucrative partnerships as their stars rise over the years that follow. The same is absolutely true in the influencer space. This is an area of the entertainment market badly underserved by existing motor insurance providers. So, whether you get their content or not, it’s worth taking the time to better understand the world of social media influencers and how you can best support their needs as their spending power continues to grow.
We're also delighted to be working with one of our very own Prestige customers, Paul Wallace, highly successful Supercar YouTuber and owner of Supercars of London at Supercar Fest this month.
