I once evaluated a partnership with England's captain. Budget: high six figures.
I recommended we walk away.
Fame isn't the same as fit. And I'd learned to spot the warning signs early - before budget gets committed, before contracts get signed, before expensive mistakes become expensive failures.
Over the past decade, I've worked with professional chefs, automotive creators, celebrities, designers, and micro-influencers. I've partnered premium kitchen appliances, luxury EVs, and everything in between.
Here are three mistakes that will cost you money if you don't catch them in time.
Over the past decade, I've worked with professional chefs, automotive creators, celebrities, designers, and micro-influencers. I've partnered premium kitchen appliances, luxury EVs, and everything in between.
Here are three mistakes that will cost you money if you don't catch them in time.
followers & fame get attention. Fit drives consideration. A high six-figure partnership that gets attention but no consideration is wasted spend.
Mistake 1: Paying for fame instead of outcomes
We evaluated a partnership with England's captain. Budget: high six figures.
I advised against it.
Not because he wasn't famous - obviously he was. But footballer endorsements signal aspiration, not consideration. His audience weren't researching cars, they were watching goals. Plus he didn't actually drive himself due to security.
Instead, we redirected budget to partnerships costing under 10% of that figure. Tom Exton - automotive creator, ex-banking investor, actual driver with an audience actively researching EVs.
The results: direct purchase DMs to his account, verbal customer references citing his content, inbound partnership requests that were far more negotiable than cold outreach. He became a natural brand advocate even after the partnership ended.
We also worked with Ben Fogle - adventurer, family man, genuine driver. His audience was older, affluent, actually in-market for premium EVs. Adventure content meant long journeys, which made EV range genuinely relevant to his storytelling.
The lesson: Fame gets attention. Fit drives consideration. A high six-figure partnership that gets attention but no consideration is wasted spend. Partnerships at a fraction of that cost, with the right audience, deliver actual ROI.
I advised against it.
Not because he wasn't famous - obviously he was. But footballer endorsements signal aspiration, not consideration. His audience weren't researching cars, they were watching goals. Plus he didn't actually drive himself due to security.
Instead, we redirected budget to partnerships costing under 10% of that figure. Tom Exton - automotive creator, ex-banking investor, actual driver with an audience actively researching EVs.
The results: direct purchase DMs to his account, verbal customer references citing his content, inbound partnership requests that were far more negotiable than cold outreach. He became a natural brand advocate even after the partnership ended.
We also worked with Ben Fogle - adventurer, family man, genuine driver. His audience was older, affluent, actually in-market for premium EVs. Adventure content meant long journeys, which made EV range genuinely relevant to his storytelling.
The lesson: Fame gets attention. Fit drives consideration. A high six-figure partnership that gets attention but no consideration is wasted spend. Partnerships at a fraction of that cost, with the right audience, deliver actual ROI.
i redirected budget from a high six-figure celebrity deal to partnerships costing under 10% of that figure - with measurably better results.
Mistake 2: Treating all products the same
Thermomix taught me this early. Pretty shots of a premium kitchen appliance sitting on a worktop? Didn't move the needle.
But when influencers showed what this good-looking product could actually do - that's when it worked. It looks premium AND it replaces 24 kitchen appliances. It's beautiful AND functional.
Professional chefs brought credibility. Lifestyle creators and home cooks showed everyday use. The combination was powerful - aspiration meets practicality.
The broader lesson: context matters more than the product itself for certain categories. Take EV charging - nobody's excited about a metal box in the ground. If I were building that strategy, I wouldn't hero the charger. I'd make it part of the journey - families on day trips, adventure content, the charge stop as pleasant context, not the main story.
Compare this to low-consideration products like beauty items - one-off partnerships work brilliantly there. Volume matters. Multiple voices drive quick purchases.
But for high-consideration products like cars? Long-term partnerships like Tom Exton's year-long collaboration are far more effective. Single posts don't move people down the funnel - sustained, authentic content does.
The lesson: Match your partnership model to where your product sits in the customer journey. Low consideration = volume and one-offs. High consideration = long-term, sustained presence. Unsexy or functional products need context, not spotlight. Premium products need function demonstrated, not just aesthetics.
But when influencers showed what this good-looking product could actually do - that's when it worked. It looks premium AND it replaces 24 kitchen appliances. It's beautiful AND functional.
Professional chefs brought credibility. Lifestyle creators and home cooks showed everyday use. The combination was powerful - aspiration meets practicality.
The broader lesson: context matters more than the product itself for certain categories. Take EV charging - nobody's excited about a metal box in the ground. If I were building that strategy, I wouldn't hero the charger. I'd make it part of the journey - families on day trips, adventure content, the charge stop as pleasant context, not the main story.
Compare this to low-consideration products like beauty items - one-off partnerships work brilliantly there. Volume matters. Multiple voices drive quick purchases.
But for high-consideration products like cars? Long-term partnerships like Tom Exton's year-long collaboration are far more effective. Single posts don't move people down the funnel - sustained, authentic content does.
The lesson: Match your partnership model to where your product sits in the customer journey. Low consideration = volume and one-offs. High consideration = long-term, sustained presence. Unsexy or functional products need context, not spotlight. Premium products need function demonstrated, not just aesthetics.
Premium products need function demonstrated, not just aesthetics. Unsexy products need context, not spotlight.
Mistake 3: Letting internal stakeholders write the script
This nearly killed several campaigns. Senior leadership wanting full control of messaging. Marketing teams writing word-for-word scripts for creators.
It's disastrous.
Influencers have spent years building audience trust through their specific tone and presentation style. The moment paid content feels unnatural - which happens immediately when two different voices mix - the audience stops trusting. The content feels forced and disingenuous.
People aren't stupid. They can spot scripted content instantly.
I learned this early: write a comprehensive brief, not a script. The influencer needs to understand:
But never tell them exactly what to say. Trust them to translate your objectives into their voice.
As a founder or business leader, your instinct might be to control the message - I get it, it's your brand. But that control kills the partnership's value. My job as your consultant is to protect the ROI by protecting the creator's authenticity. I push back on scripting, I'll show you why it matters, and I'll prove it with metrics.
The lesson: A good brief gives direction. A script kills credibility. Protecting creator authenticity is protecting your ROI.
It's disastrous.
Influencers have spent years building audience trust through their specific tone and presentation style. The moment paid content feels unnatural - which happens immediately when two different voices mix - the audience stops trusting. The content feels forced and disingenuous.
People aren't stupid. They can spot scripted content instantly.
I learned this early: write a comprehensive brief, not a script. The influencer needs to understand:
- What you're trying to achieve (they need to deliver ROI)
- Your brand positioning (they don't live and breathe it like you do)
- Key messages and non-negotiables
- What success looks like
But never tell them exactly what to say. Trust them to translate your objectives into their voice.
As a founder or business leader, your instinct might be to control the message - I get it, it's your brand. But that control kills the partnership's value. My job as your consultant is to protect the ROI by protecting the creator's authenticity. I push back on scripting, I'll show you why it matters, and I'll prove it with metrics.
The lesson: A good brief gives direction. A script kills credibility. Protecting creator authenticity is protecting your ROI.
A good brief gives direction. A script kills credibility. Protecting creator authenticity is protecting your ROI.
Why it matters
These patterns repeat across industries.
The products change, the platforms evolve, but the fundamental mistakes stay the same: paying for fame over fit, mismatching partnership models to purchase journeys, and letting internal voices override creator authenticity.
Spot them early, and you protect both budget and brand credibility.
The products change, the platforms evolve, but the fundamental mistakes stay the same: paying for fame over fit, mismatching partnership models to purchase journeys, and letting internal voices override creator authenticity.
Spot them early, and you protect both budget and brand credibility.