Christopher Blackburn
Transcript
Danielle (Scrunch) (00:09):
Chris, welcome to the Scrunch Creator Economy Show. It is an honor to have you.
Chris Blackburn (00:17):
Thank you very much. It's very early in the morning here in the uk, but it is an absolute honor to be, to be on this show. I can't wait. I can't wait to get going.
Danielle (Scrunch) (00:27):
Amazing. Well, I hope you have a coffee in hand, <laugh>
Chris Blackburn (00:31):
<Laugh>. I do, indeed.
Danielle (Scrunch) (00:33):
Excellent, excellent. And now, so you are the creator of Yorkshire put.co.uk. Yes. And, but that's not the only thing you are, I have a laundry list here of let me read it out. This is so cool. So obviously you're the creative force behind Yorkshire put blog, the Raining World Yorkshire Pudding Champion, star of itvs Food, glorious Food, itvs Country House Sunday. And you've been on the bbc, the one show, and obviously regular contributor to BBC radio leads. I, I'm like, so do you sleep ever <laugh>
Chris Blackburn (01:11):
<Laugh>? Well couple that with the fact that I've got a proper job and I've just, I've just bought, or I've just spent seven months converting a horse box into a mobile bar. Oh my God. It's a question I get asked an awful lot. How on earth do you sleep? But I suppose really my creator and influencer journey is, is that's been a 10, 11, 11 year journey now. So that, you know, all that sort of list of achievements that we we've done over the years has been done over a, over a long period. And I would say that I was there right at the very beginning, if that makes sense of, of when influencing really kind of got going to an extent.
Danielle (Scrunch) (01:56):
Absolutely. If we're talking 10 years, that's definitely at the beginning. Yeah. We're not even calling them influences. It's bloggers back then <laugh>.
Chris Blackburn (02:04):
Exactly. Exactly.
Danielle (Scrunch) (02:07):
So how did you get started? What was your you know, career path before becoming a creator? How did you actually get into it?
Chris Blackburn (02:15):
It was completely by accident, if I'm, I'm brutally honest. So for a very, for 20 years I worked as a learning and development manager. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So I worked for corporate organizations teaching management, leadership et cetera. And I had this idea, I had this idea that when we're in a classroom and when I'm teaching people in a classroom, you always get what I would call the class. What now, I dunno if you're familiar with that word, but basically the person who's got the biggest mouth mm-hmm. And therefore quite often comes across as the most knowledgeable and the most intelligent in that field because they are, they're very good at putting themselves in that classroom situation. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So my idea was to take the leadership training to a next level and take them out of the classroom. And we were gonna do almost like a master chef type situation where we gave all these people a load of ingredients. So there you go. You gotta cook for the directors of the business. So I interacted with a local cookery school. Anyway, for one reason or another that sort of went, went down a different path. But this cookery school put me on a a newsletter if you like that came out one day and said, look, we're gonna do a Yorkshire pudding competition. Would you like to enter? So I'd been on a corporate event the day before. I was a little bit hung over to say the least, and
Danielle (Scrunch) (03:47):
Turned off. That's old. Yes,
Chris Blackburn (03:50):
Exactly. Yeah. So I, I turned up to this to this cookery school and I made some Yorkshire puddings. I lo and be old. I won't <laugh>. I couldn't
Danielle (Scrunch) (04:02):
Believe that. Wow. Have you ever made a Yorkshire pudding before?
Chris Blackburn (04:05):
Yeah. I mean, look, when you're from the Yorkshire, it's like the task that you have to learn at some point in your life to be a true yorkshireman <laugh>,
Danielle (Scrunch) (04:17):
You
Chris Blackburn (04:17):
Have to be to make pudding. So yeah, I'd spent some time learning the art of making yosh puddings. And, and like I say, I turned up and, and I won this competition and I got this trophy. And, and in the conversation afterwards they, the, the creators of the competition said, we should call this the world Yosh pudding champion. Cuz there's no, there's no other, there's no other event that takes place where this is, is. So I jumped on that straightaway. Yeah, absolutely. Oh,
Danielle (Scrunch) (04:43):
Absolutely. Yes, definitely. I am the Well, Jim Yes. <Laugh>.
Chris Blackburn (04:47):
Exactly. And do you know, nothing really happened with that for at least another 12 months. And, and this is where this story gets even more crazy. So my wife used to be in the British soap coronation Street. Oh. And, and I used to do a little bit of TV work as well. So I've done some work on a, on a, on a British TV show called I'll Hit Holyokes as, as well as a few other programs. And I said to my wife, I walk up one morning, I said, I want to be on TV again. I've not done TV for a while. And we saw an advert in, in one of the national newspapers that said Simon Cowell was gonna do a regional food program. And they were looking for entries. So you can imagine when I wrote to them and said, I'm the World Arch Pudding champion, the, the, the television crew turned up relatively quickly,
Danielle (Scrunch) (05:38):
<Laugh>
Chris Blackburn (05:40):
Excellent. And, and literally a week before we were due to film, the cookery school held the competition again. I went along to the competition, I won. Thankfully. Otherwise it could have been quite embarrassing.
Danielle (Scrunch) (05:51):
Yes. <laugh> held onto the title. I love
Chris Blackburn (05:53):
It. Exactly. Hold it was like, you have to give me this. You we're about to go on tv, this could be good for you. Yes. and, and it went from there, really. So obviously I started the TV program. We bought the web domain at the time, yur obviously did the same with then, I mean, it was before Instagram, so we did the same with Facebook and Twitter mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. and it went from there really. I, I remember the night that the, the first episode was shown, me and my wife literally stayed up until four o'clock in the morning with tweet deck in front of us liking, sharing, commenting on anybody who had commented on me. And we just go the audience from there Really. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And it was a lot of hard work that we did, but it, it was the beginning. It, it was the beginning.
Danielle (Scrunch) (06:45):
Wow. That's incredible. It's really interesting though because I don't think people know that that's the amount of work that kind of needs to go into building your audience, that level of engagement with people that are interested in your space or interacting with you.
Chris Blackburn (07:00):
Yeah. You, you're absolutely right. And even to this day, there are people that follow me and interact with me on a daily and weekly basis who started with me in that journey 10, 11 years ago.
Danielle (Scrunch) (07:12):
Wow. That's incredible.
Chris Blackburn (07:14):
It it is. And it, and what it shows is that that investment that we put back in all them years ago is exactly the difference that is made. And, and sometimes I feel a bit bad in that we don't really use Twitter like we used to. Mm-Hmm. you know, today for us it's all about Instagram and, and, and Facebook to a degree. I haven't quite gone down the ticket talker route yet. <Laugh>. but yeah, it's quite a fickle sort of process, isn't it? Because you jump from one platform to another. But there are people that have followed and jumped from them platforms with us, which which has been Yeah, absolutely incredible.
Danielle (Scrunch) (07:56):
Yeah. And I guess having the website as well is probably super important. I often say that to people that, you know, it's great to be on ins a platform like Instagram, but you don't really own your audience on Instagram. You do need that home base.
Chris Blackburn (08:11):
Yeah, you're right. And I think what, what it's, it's been really interesting to see the difference in the website because at one point the website is where everybody would go for your images. So, you know, we, I went down a route where I was asked to eat at just about every restaurant. You, you know, you can imagine, and I, I still am today. Mm. But when I write a restaurant review, the website used to be the only place where you would see a multitude of photos. Twitter only really allowed you to post one. Yes. Facebook was very difficult because of the algorithms in Facebook to actually get that content out for a small creator mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. So your, your website was without a doubt of the place. I've actually seen that decrease over time. Mm-Hmm. I, I don't think it is anymore. I think Instagram allows you to put that multitude of imagery through reels, et cetera, et cetera. But even so, I completely agree, you've got to have a website because I think what it does is it adds value to what you create as an influencer or as a as a creator.
Danielle (Scrunch) (09:17):
Yeah, absolutely. And so how have you seen your business evolve? So you mentioned being invited to eat in just about every restaurant. I'm very jealous. <Laugh> <laugh>. How has that translated into a business for you? Are you able to make any money out of being a creator?
Chris Blackburn (09:36):
I've, it's been a really difficult, and sometimes I, I suppose regrettable journey in the fact that I have never taken the leap to make it a full-time job.
Danielle (Scrunch) (09:49):
Yep.
Chris Blackburn (09:51):
I strongly believe I could have mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, but what stopped me from doing that is that I was in quite a, well, I was in a very, very well-paid, I still am in a very, very well-paid job. And therefore the difference and the bridge was too wide for me to, to, to, to bridge effectively. And that's, that's been the difficult thing for me. I, I suppose I was, you know, I'm, I'm now 42, 43, so as my career and earnings have matured, the, the social media route hasn't quite kept up with that. So it was, you know, I think if I was 22, 23 now, and my earnings were a lot less, I would've definitely made the jump. But I, I couldn't afford to do that. So to some extent it's regrettable because I look at other influencers and I go, mm, yeah, I wish I had a bit of that.
(10:44):
However, what, what I experienced pre covid was a bit of a lull. Mm. So I'd been riding this way for a long time, working with some incredible brands, and then I, I experienced a lull. And the lull was during the time of a hundred thousand plus followers of, of influencers that were out there. And brand suddenly Mm. Wanted really to engage with anybody who had a hundred thousand followers or more. Mm. and that seriously affected me. But what I've seen in the last sort of post covid is that, that that attitude has changed again. Yes. Definitely. So, I'll, I'll, yeah. And, and I'll cite one brand that I work with. So I work with the Ivy. I don't know if that's a, a unknown brand for, for your listeners, but the Ivy is a very exquisite restaurant that's based in the uk.
(11:40):
They started with one restaurant in London that was a bit of a celebrity haunt, and now they've expanded across the uk. Now I've worked with them now for some time, and I asked them recently in a meeting, why do you work with me? Why do you work with somebody who's got sub 50,000 followers? Why aren't you working with somebody? And, and basically what they said is it's all about authenticity. So what they've realized as a brand is that while somebody may, on the face of it, look like they've got a huge following, actually the following have got wise to the fact that these people have been paid to go there, and therefore they will say anything to make sure that they secure the fee. Yes. And what they said to me is that for me, I don't actually charge that brand anything. And some people might think I'm stupid, but it, you know, it allows me to go and eat there whenever I want with my family, so I don't charge them anything.
(12:39):
And they said, what we get from you, Chris, is absolute authenticity. We know that you and, and your alert, your, your readers will know that you're not being paid to be there. Or if you are, you're being paid a lot smaller, some of them, maybe some of these. And therefore what you say is true. Mm-Hmm. And that's why I want to work for you. So I've seen that real shift in the last six to eight months. And it seems to be coming back to reward me again, which is, is lovely. Cause I get to eat in lots of restaurants again.
Danielle (Scrunch) (13:09):
And that is so cool. I actually love that you divulge to that piece of information because I think that they're, you know, if you say, you know, if you, even people who have got built 10,000, 20,000, 30,000, 40,000 followers, that is a, that's a mean feat. Like that is hard, hard work. It is. Yeah. And I think that there's, you know, this, this thought process that once you get there, it'll be so easy to replace your full-time income. And it's, it is just not true. You know, I think that if you rely on brand deals to to make a living, it can be really, really difficult. And so, you know, we see a lot of creators who have full-time jobs and then make that decision, do I wanna just use this as a way to live an extraordinary life, which it sounds like you are doing, or do I wanna have a little bit of income coming in? Or, you know, or do I wanna use it to kind of start a business around some kind of product and service? But like, how cool that you get to like, get the pick of restaurants that you wanna eat at and enjoy that with your family. That's incredible.
Chris Blackburn (14:16):
Yeah. And it, there's two points that you've made then. It's really interesting. I mean, look, first of all, I have eaten, you know, in everything from a Michelin star restaurant, you know, in, in London to, I once went on a five day press trip to Porto. Wow. and there's a funny story in this one, actually. I'll, I'll tell this story very quickly mm-hmm. Is I went, I was invited to go to Porto, I was a journalist, and I turned up and there was somebody there from the decanter and somebody from there from the Times. And I did at the time, think, what, what is why,
Danielle (Scrunch) (14:49):
What,
Chris Blackburn (14:50):
Why, really? Anyway, I went with it and we were trying port for five days. And I remember going into this first place and these two experienced port drinkers are taking a sip, spitting it out, and, and I'm a proper
Danielle (Scrunch) (15:05):
<Laugh>.
Chris Blackburn (15:09):
So I, off I goes. I literally, they had to wheel me into my bed that night. That's okay. The next morning, 9:00 AM we get picked up to start trying port again. I can tell you the next morning I was spitting it. There's no, absolutely no. That
Danielle (Scrunch) (15:23):
<Laugh> you learned your lesson. Yeah. <laugh>.
Chris Blackburn (15:24):
Absolutely. Yeah. So look, I've worked in Spain, I've worked in New York, I've worked in in Portugal, I've worked all over the uk, but actually it's only now, and it's only in the last six months that I've actually been able to turn that into some monetary value. Mm. I sat in a business and piggybacking my social, no. So I, I men, I mentioned at the start of this conversation that me and two of my mates have just spent seven months. We bought a 40 year old rice horse box which effectively is a trailer. It goes on, on the back of the car. We spent seven months converting it into a uber trendy bar.
Danielle (Scrunch) (16:05):
That is so cool. Yeah,
Chris Blackburn (16:07):
It is cool. It's cool. It's seriously cool. And what you Shire put has allowed me to do is put a brand together. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, I know what brands look for, what consumers look for. And we've put a really cool brand together. And now I'm piggybacking my yo podd social media to promote Northern Box Bar. And that's really, really working for me. And that's now converted into cash. You know, now I can look at the bank. Yeah.
Danielle (Scrunch) (16:35):
Yeah. That is so cool, because I think that people, I love this because people do get trapped in that sponsored post hamster wheel. Yeah. And they're going, all I've gotta do is try and grow followers and almost like they're working for the brands. But I love that you are now working for yourself. So you've had an awesome idea. You've had years of interacting with consumers and brands, so you know what they want, and you've got the following to promote it yourself. And you don't have to pay yourself <laugh>, you know, like, you know, you don't have to go out and pay the influences. You are the influences of the brand.
Chris Blackburn (17:07):
Yeah. And, and I know are not a lot more influences. You can help me to sort of push that brand and to, I mean, to give you some idea, when we were coming towards the end of that build mm-hmm. I said to the guys, I said, I think we've lost it for this year. I don't think we'll get any events. We, we've almost finished the project too late into the year. Mm. five weeks in, so five weeks since it was finished, we've done five events.
Danielle (Scrunch) (17:30):
Oh my God. That's awesome.
Chris Blackburn (17:32):
We, which is, I mean, we, we, we targeted ourselves eight events this year. We've done five already. We will smash that. Absolutely.
Danielle (Scrunch) (17:41):
Smash
Chris Blackburn (17:41):
That. So what it does is it shows the power. Mm. Not just of the social, but actually the ability to put a, a brand together because you've become an expert Yes. By working with some incredible brands. And, and that IP effectively now sits, sits in here, you know.
Danielle (Scrunch) (17:59):
Oh, exactly. And I think that creators or influencers or bloggers or however you identify these days, should really take that on board because it's not just, you know promote this lip gloss or, or whatever it is. It's actually developing a relationship with a business and a marketing professional. And I actually, I do this all the time. I, you know, it's Terry, what's, you know, what's your strategy at the moment? What's working, what's not working? Like pick their brain and, and take more than money or a product, like actually develop some IP and understanding so that you can apply that to your own business in the future.
Chris Blackburn (18:36):
And I, I think you're right. And I think the other thing that I would, and we don't know the answer to this, but if we look at influencers and creators who grow in age, does that appeal, appeal decrease as their age increases?
Danielle (Scrunch) (18:54):
Good question.
Chris Blackburn (18:55):
And, and we don't really know the answer to that, do we? Cause I'm probably at the end of that. You, you know, I'm, I'm nearing creator retirement. You're
Danielle (Scrunch) (19:04):
The og. Yeah.
Chris Blackburn (19:07):
I'm the grandfather <laugh>. We don't really know that. And therefore it's good at this point, just like a footballer would effectively mm-hmm. To start making investments now so that if you have taken that leap mm-hmm. And this is your full-time job, you have got something to fall back on when that influence in sphere ends for you, it all comes to an end.
Danielle (Scrunch) (19:32):
Yeah. And they do say that, that there is a, a timeline. It's really interesting. I think they say there's kind of like a window, like a three to five year window. Yeah. Unless you can take your audience somewhere new. So you might have been a, a fashion and beauty influencer, but now you've had a family. So if you can kind of attract new followers around the fact that now you talk about your family or travel or mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, if you can kind of take people on that journey or acquire new followers in a new niche, then you can kind of extend the life. But I love what you said about creating an asset for yourself. Yes. that's either related or, you know, in some similar area to what you've been influencing or creating content around. I think that's so smart because yeah. Creating a business asset is just like investing in, you know, shares or, you know, whatever it might be, so that you do have some other form of income coming in over and above a full-time job.
Chris Blackburn (20:30):
Yeah, absolutely. I think that's, that's key. And I, I've seen it with a few people and he, these, these one influencer in London who I watch an awful lot. I've known him for a long time. He left his job. He, he's, he's gone full-time and he's without a doubt making a success of it, but he's really looking that he's a personal trainer. Yeah. Yeah. And he has that abso he has that skill in the closet to fall back on. Should, should he ever need that. So, yeah.
Danielle (Scrunch) (20:59):
Interesting. And, and that's, it, it's sort of, it's interesting, you know, that's sort of how we try and open up people's minds a little bit as well is like, what's, what is the skill or some kind of expertise that you have. You might be talking about say food or whatever, but what's the skill that you have? Is it that you know how to grow Instagram followers or, or the personal trainer or the, you know, even you with your, the education background. So what is, what is kind of the thing, I think that's something that influences need to think about is how they can create that business or product and service around something that they're an expert in.
Chris Blackburn (21:34):
Yeah,
Danielle (Scrunch) (21:35):
Absolutely. So how did you find building the business? So, you know, you obviously have the full-time job. You've obviously been a content creator, but teaming up with a couple of friends and going through a physical renovation build and creating that business and attracting clients, like that's a whole nother kettle of fish. How did, how was that process?
Chris Blackburn (21:56):
Yeah, I think there's been a lot of learnings over the years. And now I've become quite an expert in it. Really. I think I, I learned through the TV industry that the TV will tell you what you need to know. Not exactly, you know, what you should know. Mm-Hmm. And, and, and I always think marketing teams are very similar. They will give you enough to entice you mm-hmm. But not enough for you to actually make a good educated decision on it. And back in the early days, I used to get really sort of wooed by things and I'd jump on it and then I'd start thinking, hang on a minute, this company's really getting their pound to flesh out of me, and I've not really put a cost in together on this. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And I think the other thing is, back in the early days, I used to do things either very cheap or free mm-hmm. <Affirmative>,
(22:52):
And then the marketing team wanted their pound of flesh out on me, but when they weren't getting that because there was no value to it mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, they were getting frustrated, if that makes sense. So yes, I think what I've now learned is where it's a brand that will propel your own brand and you've got a, a, a longer term relationship with them. And I cite the Ivy as a really great example. I'm willing to work with a brand like that for nothing or for a very little fee if, if that makes sense. The Ivy is a good example where I don't charge 'em anything. And these probably people screaming right now. No, don't do that. But they propelled my brand. They're a good, strong brand. It's, it's, it's working, working for them. I had an email just yesterday with a local company who wanted literally three F, can you do this, this, this?
(23:47):
And there was absolutely no, there was no discussion about what's in it for me. There was lots about what's in it for them, but nothing about what's in it for me. And what I would say to any of your agencies out there is, is with them what's in it for me. Yeah. So create that for the influencer so that they feel they're getting something out of this. Yes. And therefore, you're probably likely to get a reduced fee with that individual because they're getting something out of it. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> or Indeed. Right. In some cases, get it for nothing. Yes. The email I got yesterday where there was nothing in it for me whatsoever, got an email back that simply said, what's your budget?
Danielle (Scrunch) (24:30):
Yeah, exactly.
Chris Blackburn (24:31):
Yep. And, and because why, why should I do all of them things for them? What, what do just, what do I get out of that? Yeah. Whereas, you know, there are brands that, that will write to me and say, Chris, we're launching a re a new restaurant. This is our menu, this is our concept. And would really love it if you can push it. And the best way we think you could push it is if you came to our restaurant, let us spoil you, your wife and your little girl, and come and enjoy and we will look after you, et cetera, et cetera. Then that pulls on my heartstrings. Mm. I'm like, totally, totally. I'll do
Danielle (Scrunch) (25:09):
That. And the fact that I even like went to the effort of finding out that you had a wife and a little girl as well.
Chris Blackburn (25:16):
Oh, my days, the amount of companies you send me message and, and they claim to know everything about me. And then you look at the content, anything. No, you
Danielle (Scrunch) (25:24):
Have knowledge me up at all. Yeah. <laugh>.
Chris Blackburn (25:28):
Yeah. Go away. Go away. Mm. So, so I think that that's the biggest tip is to make sure that when you are wanting something that you really outline to the influence of what they're gonna get out of it. Yeah. And I think by doing that, you are likely to reduce the amount of cash that you have to pay somebody for them to do something. The, there's absolutely no doubt about that. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, and that's, that's, that's come with time. I've learned that with time because I, I think there was a period where people were taking advantage of me mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. but the desire and influences will have this, the desire to get on that bandwagon means that I was able to be taken advantage of. And, and when I look back, I'm like, I was a bit silly there, but, but I always, I always think spin things into a positive. It's not about being silly, it's about learning from that experience and making sure it doesn't happen in the future, you know?
Danielle (Scrunch) (26:25):
Absolutely. That's right. And so obviously you've had plenty of time to learn those lessons. <Laugh>, do you, do you think that there is still room for people now, if somebody was listening into this, they're sitting in their full-time job and they're thinking, gosh, I'd love a little side hustle. Do you think there's still room for people with great ideas to become content creators or build a business out of their influence?
Chris Blackburn (26:54):
Yes, I think there is. But I think, and I, and I don't know what this is, like, obviously this is a big show and going out to different countries, but in, in the uk right now we are in the midst of a crisis in terms of income and spent. And our energy bills are increasing massively. Mm. and, and, and the cost of living ultimately is going up. You know, hugely. Now I, I don't like to concentrate on negatives. I, I always like to look at the
Danielle (Scrunch) (27:31):
Positives. Good. Love that. Yes.
Chris Blackburn (27:32):
And I'm already planning what this will mean for me as an influencer. Okay. So if, if people out there listening right now what I would say is listen very carefully, because there is that open door for somebody to come in. However, I strongly believe habits in the UK are gonna go back to how they were in the 1980s. And what I mean by that is that going out for something to eat is no longer gonna be a flippant decision. I'm not gonna, me and, and other people in the UK are not gonna go shopping on a Saturday and suddenly say, do you know what? Let's not bother with having dinner at night. Let's let, let's go for pizza. Mm-Hmm. That, that flippant decision is, has, is gone or is going mm-hmm. That will lead to a lot of restaurants closing down. And, and I predict over the next two years, 50% of restaurants in the UK will close.
Danielle (Scrunch) (28:25):
Wow.
Chris Blackburn (28:26):
It's huge. It's huge. And a lot of them will close because they simply can't afford to turn on the, on the lights or put on the cooker because of the cost of, of that versus the customs that are coming through the door because of that quali that, you know, that decision. Yeah. So I strongly believe that people will start going out for dinner as a special occasion. So it's a once a month, or it is a birthday or a celebration, or it's something. And therefore, for that reason alone, quality will become number one priority. Mm-Hmm. If I'm gonna spend money and I'm willing to spend money at the rate I spent before, you know, I'm, I'm more than happy to, to spend 50, 60 pounds on per person on on a really good meal. Mm-Hmm. But I'm gonna demand absolute 100% quality. And that's not just from the food, that's from the service, it's from the ambience, it's from all of them things. Yeah. And what we've had over the last 20 years is a load of restaurants that have set up that, that I've just delivered that flippant decision food. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, I'm not saying bad quality, I'm just saying that there's a pizza. It's 9 99. Ah, that's really good.
Danielle (Scrunch) (29:41):
Mm.
Chris Blackburn (29:41):
Yeah. Absolutely. and therefore, I now as an influencer and a creator, need to start thinking about how do I position my business
Danielle (Scrunch) (29:52):
Yes.
Chris Blackburn (29:53):
To make sure that I'm ahead of that. And that actually I'm now starting to interact with businesses who deliver that quality, and therefore people start naturally following my direction because they're looking for restaurants that are delivering absolute quality as opposed to, you know, big smashed, you know, burgers that are that size that we're gonna pay 15 quid for because they, they're gonna become that that fad food is gonna become a thing of the past. Yeah. Without a doubt. What somebody's gonna be looking for is a burger that size, but as absolute prime beef, the best cheese, you know, the best birkins that have been, I don't know, putting some sort of water solution for 800 days taste to make homemade ketchup with honey in it. That's what, we're not gonna be looking at tower burgers that fall apart and get messy. And, and, and that's gonna change. Wow. That's my prediction.
Danielle (Scrunch) (30:49):
Yeah. And I, I, and I think you're right in terms of if we're being more considered about where we go, that research will happen with influences and creators.
Chris Blackburn (30:59):
Absolutely. I'll, I'll give you one example. I, I was asked to go and consult in a restaurant a couple of months ago, and this restaurant was struggling with footfall. Now the location wasn't great, but their menu was superb. It was based on an American smokehouse that invested something like 40,000 pounds in a smoker that the dad imported from the US Wow. Incredible. But when you went inside, it was very cafe style tables, chairs and tablecloths, and you got your food on a try.
Danielle (Scrunch) (31:33):
Mm.
Chris Blackburn (31:34):
And, and you were paying 30 to 35 pounds ahead for this food. Wow. And I simply said to them, I said, I'll give you six months maximum six months maximum. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, you've gotta change your business model. Three weeks later they closed down.
Danielle (Scrunch) (31:50):
Oh, no.
Chris Blackburn (31:51):
No. Really sad story. Mm. But that will be, that's what's gonna happen. It's definitely what's gonna happen.
Danielle (Scrunch) (31:57):
Yeah. It'll, it'll be really interesting to watch, wont it, because I mean, it's not unique to the uk. We've, we've got the same thing going on here, and I think globally, you know, people are there's layoffs of people's jobs. There's, you know, so much change and uncertainty going on. I think you're right. If people are making far more considered decisions about where they go, then researching with the influencers is gonna make a lot of sense. Amazing. Well, I mean, that's, to be honest, you have provided so much incredible value today. I can't thank you enough for, for coming on the show. I guess maybe to, just to close it out, you mentioned, so, you know, trends moving towards the smaller influencers and higher quality mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, is there anything else that you see, you know, if you were somebody either a brand looking to, to run a campaign today, or you are a creator who was kind of thinking about the future, what do you think is coming for the influencer or creator industry?
Chris Blackburn (33:01):
Well authenticity, I think. Yeah. I, I think that, that that's got to be meaningful, authentic. You, you know, I, I watched a very, very, very well known female Instagrammer two days ago claimed that she was wearing this cycling gear because she liked to cycle from time to time. And she referred to the road bike that she had as a mountain bike or a road bike, or a sports bike or whatever it's called. Mm. Straight away. I knew she was being paid to wear them clothes and it was nothing. She'd never been on a bike and a life
Danielle (Scrunch) (33:42):
<Laugh>. Yeah.
Chris Blackburn (33:44):
And that's the one tip, authenticity. Mm. And that will be driven through our culture change that we are going through. Covid has changed that Yes, the cost of living will change that we, it's gonna be about making sure we're getting absolute quality. And I think that that will also transfer into the influencer market. So my tip would be stop working with females because they sexualize their Instagram <laugh> and therefore you get lots of people looking at your product, engage with people who are actually knowledgeable about clothes or fashion or makeup or food and are authentic and actually know their stuff. And I think that's the way the market's going.
Danielle (Scrunch) (34:34):
I love that so much. And I feel like it's going to actually help people break through. Because sometimes I think people hold themselves back thinking they've gotta create this beautiful image. And that's not the case because I'm doing this podcast in my tracksuit pants, <laugh>, cause it's cold here. But you, you know, but it's like, that's what I wanna see. You know? I wanna see the real life. Yeah. Because I'm, cuz that's what we're all dealing with at the moment. We're all, we've all got challenges, we're all, you know, trying to figure out our place in this new world. So if we're seeing creators reflect that back to us authentically, I think that that's gonna be massive. I agree.
Chris Blackburn (35:13):
Mm-Hmm. And I suppose the only other thing I would say is if you've got any clients in Australia who wants me to come and make your puddings Yes. They, the man, authentic, really authentic, really
Danielle (Scrunch) (35:24):
Genuine. Well, you're the world champion.
Chris Blackburn (35:26):
Exactly. I'll come and make Yosh puddings.
Danielle (Scrunch) (35:28):
Fantastic. Well thank you so much Chris. You are incredible. I appreciate your time. I appreciate you getting up early and being open and honest with our community.
Chris Blackburn (35:39):
Thank you so much for inviting me. It's been an absolute blast. Thank you.
