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Tom Suddard
Tom Suddard GRM+ Memberand Director of Marketing & Digital Assets
1/10/22 10:15 a.m.

Just saw this news:

https://drivetribe.com/p/dear-drivetribe-community-Lu6PrOvgRuWjMioTSA_UQQ?iid=IOO4C5zcQkGKnlDuowUOTw

Dear DriveTribe Community,

Over the past five years, we’ve had huge fun getting to know you all, and sharing in the adventures and ideas of this great global community which has grown far beyond our expectations.

For many months we’ve been facing significant industry challenges, which unfortunately aren’t going anywhere. The protracted global shortage of computer chips has caused a number of challenges for the automotive industry, and led to severe reductions in marketing budgets across the industry. This has made for an incredibly difficult operating environment for businesses like ours which are dependent on advertising.

We, therefore, unfortunately will be bringing the DriveTribe and FoodTribe websites and apps, and the business behind them, to a close at the end of this month.

However, we are delighted that Richard Hammond will be keeping the DriveTribe community alive through our social media channels which will remain very much in action. Richard is excited to share with you more about his new projects including his Smallest Cog Workshop. Jeremy and James will be with him every step of the way and may even make an appearance from time to time.

Jeremy Clarkson says: “We’re all really disappointed that challenges in the industry - not in the least helped by the ongoing pandemic - have simply made it impossible to continue with the business in its current form. I’m very much looking forward to seeing what mischief Hammond and his team get up to as they take the channels and the community forward.”

James May says: "It’s a crying shame that we have to let this go. DriveTribe and FoodTribe are brilliant platforms that have inspired many new writers and bloggers to come up with great stuff. But ultimately, this is a business, and businesses are being kicked in the nads by everything that’s going on in the world. It’s not the absolute end, though. We still have an outlet for food and car tomfoolery, so the global economy can whistle dixie out of its arse. See you soon."

ADREMOVE?

Richard Hammond says: “Although we’re all really disappointed that our DriveTribe Website business has to come to an end, I’m really delighted to be continuing our relationship with this brilliant community. There’s never been a more exciting time to talk about the industry as we deal with these hugely challenging market forces and the rapid evolution of what we mean by motoring. Come and join me on the channels along with lots of familiar DriveTribe faces as we continue to keep the brand alive and the conversation going.”

We know this will be disappointing news for those of you who have helped us create such a brilliant community on the site over the past few years. We’d encourage website users to please download your content, for which you can find guidance here.

We’d also like to thank our wonderful team who have worked exceptionally hard to bring our vision for the site to life - you’ve been truly brilliant.

Yours, The DriveTribe team.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ PowerDork
1/10/22 10:16 a.m.

Oh No Anyway Template (as HD as I could find) : r/hdmemes

Javelin
Javelin GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
1/10/22 10:17 a.m.

Surprised they are folding FoodTribe, too.

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
1/10/22 10:21 a.m.

One of our cars was featured in a DriveTribe video - it was part of the material they built up before launch so the site wouldn't be a wasteland. And even with some of the main players there to explain it to me, I never did figure out how it was supposed to work. I just couldn't get my head around it.

Still a shame to see a car-focused...platform go away because that's one less venue to find good stuff for some people. See, right there, I had to think about what it was. A car based...channel? No, it has channels. Site? No, it's trying to be more than that. App? That's not even a real word.

tuna55
tuna55 MegaDork
1/10/22 10:34 a.m.

I don't know what this is. Is it a TV show, or like a Grand Tour spinoff?

Mr. Peabody
Mr. Peabody UltimaDork
1/10/22 10:36 a.m.
tuna55 said:

I don't know what this is. Is it a TV show, or like a Grand Tour spinoff?

Same.

 

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
1/10/22 10:41 a.m.

It was a (waves hands) thing that had the Top Gear/Grand Tour trio behind it, at least from a marketing standpoint. I think the plan was to build a (waves hands) empire using their names.

Some sort of Pinterest/WordPress/Facebook hybrid.

pointofdeparture
pointofdeparture GRM+ Memberand UltimaDork
1/10/22 10:45 a.m.

Yeah, it was a sort of odd car-focused social media thing led by the ex-Top Gear guys.

I tried very hard in the early days and I could never quite mesh with it either, it felt like a platform designed for influencers to push content downstream more than anything else.

Aaron_King
Aaron_King GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
1/10/22 11:21 a.m.

The only thing I regularly watched on there was May's Mail Call.  He opened packages that fans sent in and then would give away the items to another fan with what he decided was the best reason why they wanted it.

NickD
NickD MegaDork
1/10/22 11:34 a.m.
Mr. Peabody said:
tuna55 said:

I don't know what this is. Is it a TV show, or like a Grand Tour spinoff?

Same.

Same. Which might explain why it's folding up shop. When your thing has been around for 5 years and the people that you marketed it for don't know what it is, you went wrong somewhere.

Gearheadotaku (Forum Supporter)
Gearheadotaku (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand UltimaDork
1/10/22 11:40 a.m.

Never ever heard of it untill today. However, I do live under a rock...

Mr. Peabody
Mr. Peabody UltimaDork
1/10/22 11:43 a.m.
NickD said:
Mr. Peabody said:
tuna55 said:

I don't know what this is. Is it a TV show, or like a Grand Tour spinoff?

Same.

Same. Which might explain why it's folding up shop. When your thing has been around for 5 years and the people that you marketed it for don't know what it is, you went wrong somewhere.

Something occurred to me as I was thinking about this and the last few comments in the car show thread.

Of all the people I know who are into stuff like this and watch the automotive related car shows, most of them are not automotive enthusiasts, and with top gear especially, I have a number of friends and coworkers who love it, and none of them are car people.

Cooter
Cooter PowerDork
1/10/22 11:47 a.m.
Javelin said:

Surprised they are folding FoodTribe, too.

Well, they did mention a shortage of chips...

02Pilot
02Pilot UberDork
1/10/22 11:48 a.m.

I never visited the site, but I enjoyed a lot of the stuff they posted to YouTube, particularly May's cooking stuff. And the one where he and Hammond build Lego kits while playing a drinking game is really, really entertaining.

Streetwiseguy
Streetwiseguy MegaDork
1/10/22 5:55 p.m.

It seemed like a good idea to me, but it sure didn't seem easy to, well, notice it.  I'd catch the odd thing here and there, but only on YouTube after somebody else uploaded it there.

LifeIsStout
LifeIsStout GRM+ Memberand Reader
1/10/22 6:26 p.m.

Watched the video today that Hammond posted.  They are going to continue the YouTube content going forward, that's been successful fo them at least.

DirtyBird222
DirtyBird222 PowerDork
1/10/22 8:00 p.m.

I remember when it first hit the scene and I also remember it not being super engaging. It should have been a hit given the trio supporting it. Their YouTube channel is cool though. 

Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter)
Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) MegaDork
1/10/22 8:03 p.m.

So the fact that several people here, where the uber-geek ratio tends to be high, plus those inside the industry, didn't understand what the stupid thing was for in the first place, it's kind of surprising it lasted this long.

Claff
Claff HalfDork
1/10/22 9:33 p.m.

I think I signed up for it when it launched, and never went back afterwards. A car-themed social media platform doesn't seem like a terrible idea, but (speaking for myself) it was quickly out of sight and out of mind.

Fueled by Caffeine
Fueled by Caffeine MegaDork
1/10/22 9:56 p.m.

It wasn't good. 

GTwannaB
GTwannaB GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
1/10/22 10:14 p.m.

Some of the YouTube stuff is good, not amazing. It sound like they may still do some video content. I don't think the web content was very impressive. The TG/GT team were only occasional contributors. It felt as though 90% of it was fanboy derived. 

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
1/10/22 10:17 p.m.

The correct term is "community generated" :) Means "we give them a place to play and they do all the hard work for us".

gunner (Forum Supporter)
gunner (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
1/11/22 8:06 a.m.

I remember when they created it they had a big marketing push to get people to join their community, which I did. Then promptly forgot about. I remember a few articles early on being pushed through advertising on facebook but nothing really of interest enough to click on it or to visit.

Ian F (Forum Supporter)
Ian F (Forum Supporter) MegaDork
1/11/22 8:26 a.m.
02Pilot said:

I never visited the site, but I enjoyed a lot of the stuff they posted to YouTube, particularly May's cooking stuff. And the one where he and Hammond build Lego kits while playing a drinking game is really, really entertaining.

Same.  Some of the videos have a decent "TG/GT" feel to them.  I imagine the videos on YT won't be going anywhere and it seems they could keep the channel going with minimal staff. 

pinchvalve (Forum Supporter)
pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
1/11/22 8:36 a.m.

I remember it being very difficult to use and figure out and I walked away very early on. (Full disclosure: I'm not very bright) But a lot of the content they produced was enjoyable. 

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