Here’s how a Small Youtuber Gets a Press Car for Review.

Impossible right? Those small youtubers who have tried can probably vouch this post, it’s the most insane amount of work possibly imaginable. But the expectation is, that it’s easy. You start a YouTube Channel somewhere in the Automotive Niche and the big companies will come running to you!

Sure why not? You make great content (Do you? In a world where amateur YouTubers have studios that are Professional?) Just grab your Camera phone and go! People will jump on your content, why wouldn’t they. Overnight riches, Exotic Car Drives in Monaco, pretty soon you’ll be hanging out with Super Car Blondie and driving your own variant of Supercar? Too easy Right?

Well, as a small Automotive Youtuber with a very small following, I was pushed to find out. My following (God bless these ladies, I’m followed by about 60% women, and they don’t like taking no for an answer) deciding to reach out to Car Manufacturers for me. While I was flattered, I was pretty sure the answer would be no.

After this video, which was honestly my first time reviewing a Super Car, they shot it to McClaren Automotive on my behalf.

So here’s where it gets interesting, while nobody else in their right answered, McClaren did. They were quite polite, in explaining to me (so I could explain to my super sleuth following, who refused to hear the word no) that it takes a little bit more than just having a YouTube Channel, to get my hands on a Quarter Million Dollar work of art (this should have been a ‘duh’ moment for me).

But they did explain to me a little bit about how YouTube works, and what they themselves were looking for. I’m going to go ahead and list those for you.

1. A bunch of subscribers simply isn’t going to cut it, in a world where my measly 18k followers (Huge to me, and more than I ever thought I’d have), wasn’t the baseline. They were looking for significantly more.
2. Reach, the Creator’s initial Reach, how many people, on how many platforms, this matters.
3. The Creators viewers reach, yup you guessed it shares.
4. Finally, the total reach, how often, how much it was shared, and who it was viewed by.

Kind of the same thing YouTube itself worries about.

So I had to do a great deal of digging, while I could synthesize what MClaren wanted, I had zero idea how a little channel like mine could deliver that. In short, I thought it was a dead event, and I may as well pack my bag and go home.

But that wasn’t what happened, I just kept creating, I kept doing reviews, and making videos. Suddenly, I was invited to the Mclaren Artura Unveiling here locally.

Whaaat? little old me? I was just elated that I would even be considered.

I forwarded the video to my contact at Mclaren, and they politely told me they enjoyed it (to be honest, I believed they were just being polite British folk, and laughing hysterically at me).

A few months later, it came, I was getting enough reach, where I finally got my hands on this, Courtesy of Mclaren USA, a brand new Mclaren GT.

In this moment (and you can probably see it in the video as well), I was uber nervous, I seriously wanted to do a great job, simply because I was super grateful for the opportunity. But as is the case of my YouTube Channel, and it’s reputation, I’m kind of the anti Automotive Youtuber, and had to tell the truth about it, I was convinced I’d find something I’d hate.

To my dismay I loved every bit of it.

So what’s the secret sauce?

What’s the moral of the story Jason?

The moral of the story is really, keep grinding, keep creating, keep hoping, and keep improving.

While nobody may ever give me the opportunity again, and I myself may never be able to afford a Mclaren myself. Mclaren USA made a lasting impression in my mind, and if I can ever afford a Supercar, you can guarantee that’s where I’m going.