Looks like Brad sold his

[Rubicon_Wrangler_JL_2018]

For me, it's certainly not hate. I applaud how hard he's worked at turning a hobby into a career he's clearly happy with.

My discontent comes from how his content has changed. It used to be, "Here's my son and me doing fun stuff in beautiful locations with this Jeep that I'm workin on and learning as we go" And now it's, "Hey, here's a video of me talking about how much I love this [corporate product placement] while I'm taking three weeks away from my family to traverse the country" with a well-placed TrailRecon coffee bag in a bunch of shots. It all just feels like everything else I see everywhere else these days and that's the opposite of why I started watching his channel...

Well, that's still part of a natural progression. As you put out more content people like, you're going to grow your channel and you're going to get sponsors. Doesn't make him a bad person b/c he decided to accept sponsorship. When most of us first got our Jeeps, they were plain-Jane and we kept adding things as we go. Same with software, hardware, our phones have progressed, our computers, etc. If you follow Lite Brite, her channel started out with just them jeeping and having fun and has morphed into what it is now.

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[Hennessey17]

Nah, I just got mine in December... I'll be keeping it for awhile.

 

[Zandcwhite]

For me, it's certainly not hate. I applaud how hard he's worked at turning a hobby into a career he's clearly happy with.

My discontent comes from how his content has changed. It used to be, "Here's my son and me doing fun stuff in beautiful locations with this Jeep that I'm workin on and learning as we go" And now it's, "Hey, here's a video of me talking about how much I love this [corporate product placement] while I'm taking three weeks away from my family to traverse the country" with a well-placed TrailRecon coffee bag in a bunch of shots. It all just feels like everything else I see everywhere else these days and that's the opposite of why I started watching his channel...

But you’re describing his success as a negative? If after 10 years it was still just him and his son, with the same Jeep, somehow still learning as they went, he wouldn’t have the success. He’s now getting his wife more in to it as she doesn’t have to work as much. If you have the following he built and don’t think about product placement and marketing you’re doing it wrong. Switching out vehicles constantly keeps fresh content and brings in new viewers. I applaud the growth and expansion of his channel. There are plenty of start up channels if you prefer the less polished, grass routes, new to the business of YouTube style, I’d never expect any channel to stay the same year after year, especially not a successful one.

 

[Geos7812]

Honestly, this seems to happen to all of them. It startsout as average Joes doing things you and I could do. This appeals to people because it’s achievable, so the subscribe, and view their content. Then they grow, and end up with a fleet of hundreds of thousands of dollars of vehicles with tens of thousands of dollars of parts on them, which isn’t achievable for most of us. At that point, the loyalists stay on, and eventually a new person/group comes along and the cycle starts again. It’s been like this with Expedition Overland, LiteBrite, and now to some extent TrailRecon.

Why are we haiting on people who have been successful? Being an influencer is like starting any business. You start small and grow. If you don’t like the business don’t patronize (watch). I think Trail Recon does a good job of advertising and showing us cool stuff and sweet places to check out. I can’t do half the stuff he does but good for him for figuring it out. Last point, I bet Jeep doesn’t love the fact that he ditched the 4XE so quick. Doesn’t look good for that model.

 

[rcadden]

If you have the following he built and don’t think about product placement and marketing you’re doing it wrong.

This is 100% the reason I'm not doing it any longer - I *sucked* at monetization. If I was doing it again today, I'd hire a "Head of Monetization" to help me - they get a percentage of whatever I earn/generate. Let them deal with the sponsors, deals, etc.

 

[Jamrock]

I am not creative enough to operate a youtube channel. I would run out of ideas after the first month.

Plus my life is just not that interesting to watch.

Brad, Litebrite, etc. kept me sane during the early days of the pandemic when movement was restricted.

 

[OldBlue]

Plus my life is just not that interesting to watch.

I hear that! You and me both!

 

[sourdough]

Brad is living the American Dream IMHO and I like seeing that, keep on keeping on Brad.

 

[jwilson2899]

Why are we haiting on people who have been successful? Being an influencer is like starting any business. You start small and grow. If you don’t like the business don’t patronize (watch). I think Trail Recon does a good job of advertising and showing us cool stuff and sweet places to check out. I can’t do half the stuff he does but good for him for figuring it out. Last point, I bet Jeep doesn’t love the fact that he ditched the 4XE so quick. Doesn’t look good for that model.

It's not hate at all, it was more a comment on the natural progression of how this works. If you see my reply above, I spelled that out.

 

[jwilson2899]

I am not creative enough to operate a youtube channel. I would run out of ideas after the first month.

Plus my life is just not that interesting to watch.

Brad, Litebrite, etc. kept me sane during the early days of the pandemic when movement was restricted.

Amen to this, people would be bored watching me pretty quick lol

 

[jwilson2899]

For me, it's certainly not hate. I applaud how hard he's worked at turning a hobby into a career he's clearly happy with.

My discontent comes from how his content has changed. It used to be, "Here's my son and me doing fun stuff in beautiful locations with this Jeep that I'm workin on and learning as we go" And now it's, "Hey, here's a video of me talking about how much I love this [corporate product placement] while I'm taking three weeks away from my family to traverse the country" with a well-placed TrailRecon coffee bag in a bunch of shots. It all just feels like everything else I see everywhere else these days and that's the opposite of why I started watching his channel...

Al of this right here. Like I mentioned in my reply earlier I have no hate at all for him, or any of them, it's just changed the tone of some of the videos/content, and I preferred the earlier stuff.

 

[Jamrock]

To maintain the viewers you have to produce new content often. It is hard to do. I know I couldn't do it.

 

[John VonJeep]

Who’s Brad?

 

[OldBlue]

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEEgz9PD6iTRSB0VXNbWvRw

 

[Gladius Nova]

To maintain the viewers you have to produce new content often. It is hard to do. I know I couldn't do it.

Me too. A job like that would give me constant anxiety. My income based solely on “views” and sponsorship…..no thanks.

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