The Unorthodox Brand Trip

believes she's found hers too. Now the new woman in question is a twenty four year old AFLW player called Madison Presspackers, who Sophie has been close friends with for years. Funnily enough, she's also teammates with Sophie's ex girlfriend, Sophie Vanderhovel. Wow, that's pretty scandalous. I love that she's also another Maddie because Sophie was engaged in Maddie Garrick a couple of

years ago. She definitely has a type. Rumors did start swirling when Madison was at the gender reveal, but they have been friends for a long time, so if they were actually together at the time. Sophie did say that they've only been together for a couple of months, but she was dropping that they're in love and that she's found the one. It seems very serious, very quickly. Yeah, and she seemed quite surprised that they've fallen in love

while she's been pregnant. Here's what she said about the blossoming romance.

too easily. And this was a time that I had really committed to myself for the first time, for the first time, I think since I left my mate, this is the first time that i'd gotten no, it's your turn, this is finally your moment. And I did that, and to still have someone there going I love you, and I love everything that's going to come with you, and I am prepared to front up and love you and however you need me to love you.

not her children. I am their mother and my support person, and I am so grateful to have someone that has been able to accept all of this and still love me.

She does seem to go for younger women at the moment. The last couple of girlfriends have been considerably younger than her. I died when I looked up a date of birth and it said two thousand, I was like, oh my god, like someone who is a very similar age to Sophie Kaisher. I was like, I couldn't imagine dating someone who was born in the two thousands, and I'm known for going young. Well, I think people are going to be dubious about this

relationship because it's another AFLW player. Maddie is only twenty four, They're not living together. I mean, Sophie's made it clear that she is the sole parent in this situation. I don't know if people are going to take this relationship that seriously or as seriously as Sophie wants people to. Well, she said that she likes the fact that Madison is really independent and has her own life. In this interview, she said she doesn't need anything from me. I don't

need anything from her. We don't live together, we have no plans to live together. She's just bought her own house. She has a wonderful career, a wonderful job, wonderful family, so are simply there to compliment each other. I do wonder if Madison knows what she's getting herself into, because it would be a really difficult situation to navigate your partner having a newborn baby. You're not living there with her.

She's also got two older kids. I think there must be genuine love between this pair, because it's not an easy situation for either of them. Sophie's spoke in depth about how she wasn't looking for anyone, she was really trying to focus on herself, and she kept trying to push away Madison. It kind of reminded me of how she was pushing away Maddie Garrick when she was with

Alana as well. I also think Sophie doesn't want to put a lot of pressure on Madison, her being so young, so she's saying, look, I don't need you to move in. I don't want this very fresh relationship to turn stale pretty quickly, because when you've only been together for a few months and suddenly there's a newborn baby involved. You're not going out on these exciting dates anymore. I've got a different take on her. I think Sophi Kasia must be a bit of a gay icon in the afl

W because she's dated so many different players. I think it's a bit of a status thing to have Sophi Kaisha on your arm at one of these football events. And I think this twenty four year old is a bit in awe at the power of Sophi Kasha. She's a huge influence, So like this is good for this

Maddie's brad. I'd never heard of her before. It'd be pretty awkward being in the Essendon Foota Club chage rooms at the moment now that this articles dropped, because maybe Sophie vander Hoovell knew that they were dating, but she might not have known that they were each other's loves of their life. Like this is a pretty huge statement to make in a national publication. It would be so awkward now. There were a few other insting nuggets dropped

during this podcast. I really enjoyed hearing Sophie talk about the sperm donor process because there have been a lot of question marks when she first announced this news, because a lot of people at the start actually asked if it was her ex husband, Jared who was the sperm donor. She said she actually found it quite funny. Yeah, she said that it was really funny and she laughed it off, but she felt bad for him and that's why she

felt it was necessary to come out and explain. I'm sure Jared Kaisha is very pleased that this was cleared up because he and his wife actually welcomed a new baby this week, talk about timing. Something else that surprised listeners was finding out that Sophie didn't go through IVF, so she confirmed that she was artificially inseminated and she felt pregnant the first time there. That was really interesting because I think a lot of people just assumed that

she had had IVF. One thing that excited me is that Sophie said she's bringing her blog back, so she actually found fame from her blog The Young Mummy. Well, she said it will be a slightly altered version, so it's not exactly clear what capacity it'll be in because I mean, when she started that, what like ten years ago, blogs were all the rage, But I don't think that people really log onto individual's blogs like I wonder if she'll more be writing for Mamma Mia or another publication. Yeah.

I thought maybe she would go down the Indy Clinton route and just start sharing her life on TikTok, because that's how she progressed. So she went from the blog and then she went on to Instagram. I think it would be a lot easier for her to just share it as she goes.

location like Newcastle as opposed to Bora Bora. But that's because the location is very on brand for Fate. Yeah. But would it have been more revolutionary or created more headlines to send a bunch of nobodies who have no following to some luxurious location. No, because I don't think that's the point of it. Because these seven competition winners

were treated like influencers. They got completely spoilt. They stayed in a five star hotel, they had a private shopping experience, they went to fancy dinners, and they actually attended the event that was in Newcastle. So two hundred customers were in attendance and they were glammed and pampered before the event. The only influencer in attendance was britain A podcast co host Matt Hay and he was the MC at the event.

The overall reaction to this brand trip has been really positive, so one of the outspoken Facebook community members wrote, as a consumer, this is what I'd rather see than trips and free stuff given to influencers. Your average girls slash guys take on a brand trip and spoiled definitely makes me want to buy and support her empire. Hats off to you, brit absolutely killing it. Do you guys think the same? Do you think this is a good move? I think it's really refreshing to see a brand treat

their customers so well. And I love that Britt Saunders is leading this fight against influencer marketing. It's quite ironic because, as she has said herself, she used to be an influencer. She was one of the people that was taken on these brand trips, and after the trip she actually went on Instagram to explain more about her decision. Let's throw to some of what she said.

I mean, she's even part of our Facebook community. She knows what people like and she knows that people are getting sick of seeing the same influence as spoiled. I mean, someone points it out in our Facebook group that there was a recent Pepper Mayo trip and this person said it was the same rich Melbourne influencers going to the concerts getting spoiled and leaves such a bad taste in

your mouth. And I think it is really good to see brands like Fate putting more money and attention into rewarding their customers because it does make you want to be loyal as a customer and get involved in their promotions. And even though these customers would not have a huge follower base, they are probably sharing and tagging so much more than any influencer. Equally they might not have followers. We see with TikTok that you actually don't need a

huge following for your content to go viral. So actually might be part of BRIT's strategy because there is a lot of talk around this trip. Some of these videos might be getting more views because of the fact they

are normies as opposed to influencers sharing about them. I mean, we recently saw Matt Sakowski on that private jet influencer trip, and I say that because I actually don't even remember the name of the brand because he tagged flight Center in the post, like he couldn't even get it right.

There are so many customers that would be so ecstatic to be sent on something like this that they're going to put the effort into creating content amy as you say that has the potential to go viral on TikTok, Well, that's the thing. I think some influencers are just lazy and they've gotten used to getting to go on these extravagant trips and they don't really put any effort into the content, and I think if influencers want to continue going on these sorts of trips, then they're going to

have to start putting in a lot more effort. I also think the brands need to start thinking outside of the square, as Brit said, but also manage the influencers better, because I think there needs to be a list of deliverables that these influencers have to actually produce while they're on the trip, because there's so many that are like, oh, I forgot to bring my camera out. Yeah, it's so true.

I think a lot of people thought that the pandemic was going to be the death of influencer brand trips, but I was really surprised to see them popping up again, particularly because at that time everyone had had a gut full of influencers basically being spoiled and receiving free items, and I think that they still have left a bad taste in people's mouths. And this is why it's really

interesting to see brit doing something revolutionary. You I just feel like there's no value exchange anymore, Like the influencers will go they literally use all of this brand's marketing spend up hardly give anything back. I would like to know the return on investment. And at the end of the day, these sorts of trips aren't new. Yes, it's knew that influencers get to go on them, but the media used to always be the ones invited on these trips.

There used to be junkets and companies would pay big dollars to get a good write up in a magazine. Now we probably need to pivot a little bit. Because the influencer trip has been around for ten years. I thought we would see a shift where maybe we saw more relatable influencers being invited on these trips, but I think that that's at the detriment of those people's brands too. They want to be relatable, so they know they're not going to be relatable if they're getting this free trip.

It just pisces their audience off. Okay, you touched on brands needing to pivot. There's been a lot of discussion online about makeup brand long Com because they recently did a collaboration with UK influencers Saffron Barker on her YouTube channel and it was this really bizarre AI ad that popped up in the corner of her video. So she was talking about something completely different and this little ads

banner popped up with the makeup. They like a TV in the background, and a lot of people were confused because with YouTube often people put it on in the background and they'll clean or they'll do other things. So there was a discussion around was that money well spent. I think in terms of her video, there were a lot of people talking about it because it was so unusual. But when that becomes run of the meal, I think that people are going to switch off from that type

of advertising. I was waiting for her to start talking about the product. It was distracting. If anything, I don't understand why a brand would actually pay to be included like that, because surely you would just have a dynamic ad that was inserted in a YouTube ad place because it gaybe they know that everyone just clicks through and skips through it, so they thought, well, if it's in the background while she's talking, people might take notice of it.

I just think that this is just another example of what an amazing business woman brit is. So she has managed to grow fit into an eight figure empires. They almost have sixty employees for retail shops. It is super successful, and I think that a big part of her success is always trying to pivot and also understanding both sides of influencer marketing. Wonder how many brands are going to jump on the bandwagon now and start doing a customer

trip like this as well. I wonder if all brands start doing this though, if it's going to lose any novelty, because I think people have tuned in, particularly to this trip because it was something that was novel.

showroom system. Soph How did this all unfold? If you'll believe it, This pr shit storm has been ignited by just one shopper's negative review, which inspired other unhappy customers to come out of the woodwork. Now, the story has hit mainstream publications like news dot com and The Daily Mail. The TikToker in question is Claudia Rose, now eight thousand followers. She's a lawyer and a young mum, and she posts a lot of get Ready with Me videos and general

lifestyle content now. She entitled the video I'm sorry, but treating customers like this is not a vibe. What a flop. I won't be back, and in the TikTok video, which has now amassed over one hundred and forty five thousand views, she shared footage of women queuing on the steps of the Henny boutique waiting for their turn to be let in. Now she showed that there were around eleven women in front of her in the line, and told news dot com that she was very surprised to see a line

because it didn't consist of that many people. Now, Claudia had traveled from the Central Coast to visit the store. Let's have a listen to what she said about her experience.

one hour wait to even get into the store. Me going two hour weight to step foot in Henny in Sydney, Australia. I'm sorry, so we've jumped it. We abandoned ship. I'm not staying there for another hour, but like everyone was going in s like we'd already.

I think what's annoying about waiting in line is that you're actually acting is like free marketing to the outside well, because it makes everything look so important that's going on inside.

It makes it look like a very exclusive store. A lot of brands almost seem to create these lines just to make the place look popular, because in the case of the Handy Store, this is a really tiny shop, so they have a system where they only allow a set number of customers in the store at one time, so there might have only been ten people in the shop. But you walk past and you're like, oh my god,

look at this line outside. I want to point out though, because I was quite surprised when I saw this TikTok. I thought, oh, has the Henny store just opened in Paddington. But this store has been opened since June, so the line wasn't in response to the store opening, It was just this is just a run of the meal day for that. Do you think it makes people more likely to buy clothes because you're like, if I've been waiting for fucking two hours, boy, I need to buy something

to actually justify the way. I definitely think so, because I saw people in the comment section saying, well, I waited for so long, I just had to buy the pair of jeans even though they didn't look that good. But also, you wouldn't want to be like I think I'll come back and maybe get it next time I'm here and then have to wait another two hours. Yeah. I was really keen to see what the response was like in the comment section, because, as we know from

previous segments, Henny Stands can get very defensive. We saw TikToker Kate Forster inundated with prank calls when she called out the Henny Cardigan. But to my surprise, the majority of comments sided with Claudia, and they were going on to tell of their really bad experiences at not only the Paddington store but also the Melbourne boutique. So one woman who was also in line that day responded under the video saying totally agree. I was in that line.

Our weight stuffed up my order, blamed me. Rude, arrogance staff. They need to chill. They are retail stuff, not design its. There's nothing that bonds people more than waiting in a line in the heage. Well, another commenter said pathetic since the day they opened, you're lucky you got through iqued with a lock door as if they were protecting the Prime Minister, and then the same hour long wait for

a change room. I think this just shows brands that they need to be really careful about the staff that they pick, because I really relate to the Kokai thing because when I was younger, I was so intimidated to go in there. And you can tell that Kokai higher staff based on their appearance. They all look the same, they're all very beautiful girls. There's definitely a level of prestige if you were to get a job at Kokai, because it's basically like saying you're a model, we want

you and our clothes. Yeah, because I've heard of so many I've heard so many stores say that if they dress the shop assistants in the clothes, those clothes sell out instantly of how good they look in them. Yeah, but also you've got to think, well, we also need to get people that are nice, because you don't want people scared to come into your store. You know people intimidated by the staff because that is not a good vibe.

It actually does put me off to go into some stores because of how snooty some of the shop assistants act. But I think a lot of brands do this because they only want certain customers to come in and try their clothes. To be fair to the Henny staff, some people did defend them. So someone said surprised of the feedback of the staff at Henny. They've always been so friendly when I have gone, while another said it's weird. I went into the Melbourne one and they were nice

to me. I'm not particularly hot, skinny, or young either. I'm forty and a size ten to twelve. And then there was another person who was perplexed by the line, so they said, I live around the corner. There are never lines during the week, but the weekends it can go down the street. What's also come out since this criticism is that Henny has a really unique showroom system. So what do you mean by showroom system? It sounds like they're selling car Yeah, Well, is different to a

regular clothing boutique. It's sort of like a shoe shop where they only have the sample sizes on display, so they'll have one pair of Valentina jeans in just the

one size. So basically you go around the store, figure out what you want to try on, and then they have an iPad, so you have to enter into the iPad the items you want to try on and the size, and once the shop assistants then receive your order, they have to go upstairs fetch your sizes for you to try on, and then they finally bring it down to you for you to then weigh in another queue to try them on in the change room. So it's a very lengthy process. So why that these staff are pissed off?

It sounds ridiculous. It sounds like a lot of work on them, running up and down the stairs finding the items. I just hate this system because it's like you have to be so honored to get into the surface and then it's like and here's my size, and oh my god, thank you so much. You've spent all this time, Like

it's really weird. For a lot of women, they don't actually like having to tell people what their size is, particularly if these people are very intimidating, like if you're in a bigger body you feel uncomfortable, particularly if they might not even have your size. It's like they're unsure what their price point is. They're kind of acting like they're a luxury brand like Louisverton by making people wait around like this when an actual fact, they're selling garments

for a couple hundred dollars well. Following the backlash, Nadia was forced to publicly apologize, and she also addressed the complaints so she told news dot com we absolutely knowledge the disappointment felt. This is not an experience we would ever choose for our community. The rapid rise in demand for Henny exceeds anything we could have possibly expected. It is incredible to have this support, but it also creates

growing pains for us such as this. Right now, we are actively working to improve the instore experience on a short term and long term. She also added that the Henny team is working hard to find a resolution, stating it was increasing staff support and revising its fitting room protocols, as well as actively exploring new locations and also different sizes for their boutiques. It's a good responsor of Nadia.

I mean, I always find it hard to be angry at Nadia Bartel for some reason, because she's just such a likable influen. Yeah, it's a tough one because it's pretty incredible that this business woman has grown this brand in a couple of years that they can't even reach the demands it is that popular this brand has exploded. Yeah, but also Nadia just has this ability for people not to be angry. I mean, remember the cocaine scandal with the came up plate. Well, I think it came out

about really well, I know what it is. It is because she apologizes and she takes responsibility for it, like she doesn't try and shirk it and come up with all of these excuses as to why there was a line and why it was busy and why people were rude. Well, I think that's all we've got time for today. Thank you for listening to another episode of Outspoken. If you do enjoy the podcast, please leave us a five star review. This podcast was recorded on the traditional land of the

Ghana people of the Adelaide Planes. We pay respect to Elder's past and present