The Brutal Truth About Brand Deals in 2026

[00:02] years that brands invested in the creators. So there's still money going to creators. I'm not having problems. You're not having problems. The extended issues. >> Yeah. I think there's more opportunities

[00:15] than ever. I think the spaces are just a lot more saturated than ever and a lot >> Yeah. >> [music]

[00:43] overnight to break up the the trip. We just picked a hotel in the nearest city and it's like the hotel's a part of this big nice area. Like this is a giant mall. Sucks we're going to be leaving before they even open up. I stay

[00:58] before they even open up. I stay strapped up. If you carry If you can quiet. If you carry Are you guys a side Obviously I can't be doing that because of my fanny pouch.

[01:11] >> All right, baby. You ready to go? >> [music]

[01:24] on the channel. I'm officially partnered with Kinetic. You guys can use code Big E for as of right now it's 25% off. Any anytime outside of that it's 15% off. You get a discount, I get commission, complete transparency. It's a 6-month

[01:38] deal to to start things off. I'm pretty pumped. I've been drinking this [ __ ] myself for about a year now. I don't do energy drinks. It's ketones. Highly energy drinks. It's ketones. Highly recommend.

[01:52] coffee. Always black coffee to start off the day. You're a loser if you don't. Oh, Rexy-poo takes that premium [ __ ] It gets expensive. It's about a full tank.

[02:05] going to be. Um okay. So, talking brand deals 2026. The first thing to do is build like framework or get an understanding. Uh brands aren't cutting back on creator funding. That's like one of the biggest

[02:19] now. What's happening is there are some creators who were getting brand deals over the last few years because of either specific followings or because longer getting deals because brands are changing who they're investing into. And

[02:33] online telling everybody that, "Oh my god, brands are pulling out of creator I seen a stat lately where they are investing more this year than they have in the recent years. I've seen this

[02:46] happen a few times throughout the course of time as new things became popular like way back in the day when YouTube was blowing up and brands were investing along. It was like the same concept or like when YouTubers were just making

[03:01] YouTube videos and then people got way more creative and started buying better first ever brand deal uh when I was averaging 200 views a video on YouTube and it was for $20,000. It's kind of the same thing now. It the

[03:16] same shift is happening. The pandemic came around, everybody was on online, all this [ __ ] spiked, TikTok, Twitch, streaming, you name it. And basically Brands have figured out like, "Oh, there's no point of advertising here or

[03:32] streamer because there's no [ __ ] conversion." Like yeah, they get 1,000 views or 1,000 viewers in their stream, but like 10 people are buying a product. One of the best lessons I ever learned in this space was back in the day when I

[03:45] to why G Fuel was investing so heavy into me. At the time I maybe had 30, 40, 50,000 followers across all platforms and I was at TwitchCon. I'll never forget this. I was at TwitchCon and my G Fuel manager at the time, he said how

[04:02] appreciative they were having me and everything and and like how much I'm everything and and like how much I'm killing it. my god. One number off from perfection. Anyways,

[04:15] I was at TwitchCon with G Fuel and really I'm just I'm a I'm a small guy, biggest creators in streaming at the time. This was like 2019. So it's like it's like peak Twitch growing, you know, they're they're blowing up. I I talked

[04:29] to my manager at G Fuel and I was like, I just can't believe I'm here. Like all these other people are are so massive. They're they're huge and he's like, you yeah. He's like, that person has a million followers on Instagram. I'm

[04:43] million followers on Instagram. I'm like, okay. He's like, you 10x'd her last month. You are more valuable not even just the the content that I provide to the company, but also too literally in in the sales.

[04:57] They get these subscribers, these followers over the last few years. TikTok exacerbated the [ __ ] out of it. Twitch exacerbated the [ __ ] out of it and they think the world's owed to them and they just suck at working with

[05:10] brands. They're not creative and they can't convert. They have people that them. >> [music]

[05:26] T here, baby. So now that you guys know that these people are full of [ __ ] and that brands are still investing in two creators in 2026, three things brands want, you stick to them this year, you'll do [ __ ] great. Number one,

[05:41] content they can reuse. This is where so many creators go wrong. This is idea and that a brand is basically coming to me and saying the only way that they would want to do a deal is by giving me money to push

[05:55] their product on my page for conversion. Now that brands in 2026 don't constantly have to run ads, even though they do, but now that they can just post content on their pages and they can just use that content in of

[06:09] itself to just be an ad and convert customers to their websites. This makes it super important to be able to create content talking about products, talking about things that you're into that brands can use to post on their own

[06:22] on throughout the years. It's exactly why I got the brand deal that I did that I mentioned earlier, the $20,000 for only getting 200 views a video. They to my channel. They were paying me because they wanted to take the videos

[06:36] content. deal that I literally got this week with a top top-of-the-line brand in the tech industry. They want three verticals across all platforms, verticals and they want to be able to

[06:50] utilize that footage for themselves. The second thing brands want from creators somebody who actually understands the product. This is why we've been seeing so many brands lately start to invest into the the smaller guy, especially

[07:05] for the last couple years. So while a lot of these big guys just sat back and and took the views and had horrible conversions, small guys actually went

[07:17] out there, invested into products, camera gear, tech, and on a small scale, they actually used the products. When a brand doesn't have to do the pitch, show the creator the campaign, and show them how to use the

[07:31] product, it's a it's a win-win-win. So being somebody who actually understands be a huge W, which means you should probably push and pitch yourself to brands around [ __ ] that you're actually into. Like right now my manager is

[07:45] reaching out to brands related to my Ram TRX, to camera gear, to EDC gear, to to guns and stuff. Baby, if you walk out on that road, so help me. This guy's a crazy ass dude. But yeah, you know, being somebody that actually knows how

[07:59] to use the product, you're already like 15 steps ahead of everybody else who just wants an easy bag. Number three, be somebody easy to actually had to work on. There's a period where I was doing so many brand

[08:12] deals that I thought so highly of myself that I became difficult to work with. I And when I actually realized I had to do is I had to stop just saying yes to content working with brands that I really didn't with or align with. So,

[08:27] there was no point to actually work with them to begin with. But because of that, I just made it extremely difficult to to work with. I made all these rules, all these stipulations. I I thought I was more important than what I was.

[08:41] 2026, they need to they need to drop that ego. I see some of you guys like you'll pick a $2500 charge for an integrated video or something or or like $5000 for a vertical and a brand comes along that

[08:56] vertical and a brand comes along that you [ __ ] with and their budget is $2000 There's there's no push for you. That's you being difficult to deal with. Look, I'm all for creators getting the bag like know your worth but some of you

[09:11] like know your worth but some of you guys are just leaving easy money with dope brands around dope products just because you're [ __ ] stubborn. just because you're [ __ ] stubborn. >> [music]

[09:25] healthier is like I'm I'm actually very very dialed right now. I like I don't want to justify the fact that we're on a road trip like let's eat >> You're supposed to let the vlog eat first, dude. You're supposed to let the

[09:39] vlog eat first. >> One thing that's really It's been good wallet as well. We started getting in the habit of when we go places, if we do the habit of when we go places, if we do eat out, we try to share a meal. This is

[09:53] eat out, we try to share a meal. This is half a wrap and a salad. She get a whole wrap and a salad for one person. So, typically that's like what we would do. We'd each get a wrap and a salad. And she would never

[10:05] eat what's left over, so I have to finish her stuff. Anyways, so I get less calories, we spend less money by just getting one meal together. I seen a couple talk about this on Instagram one time, and we literally talked before

[10:19] like sometimes we go to places and the proportions are so insane, there's no point in us getting an entree together. We could just split it together because they just overfeed everybody in America. So, but big tip

[10:33] for the guys that are like me, you're a big guy, the wife is a a tiny little person, split a meal together. You'll lose weight, you'll save money. It's lose weight, you'll save money. It's been a game changer.

[10:47] >> [music] >> I was old, I was young, I was sitting in the sun. of the run. I was done.

[11:00] >> [music] >> Life was great, life was hard, and weighing [music and singing] a awful card, you can't win the losing [music] hand.

[11:18] But the rain [music and singing] stopped falling, and the line on the floor was falling, and the line on the floor was crossed. And [music] the pain [singing] I'd been feeling washed away to

[11:31] I'd been feeling washed away to [singing] return another day. >> And you got to say bye to the big fish. >> Bye fish. >> Bye fishies. >> Go to daddy's truck. Go go go go.

[11:51] night and he first seen the fish and he was absolutely terrified. Terrified. And then this morning I actually I showed him like it's a glass. They don't do anything and they became best buds. Now he's got to watch a fish video in the

[12:04] back of fish. Now we're we watch race cars, which I approve, dirt bikes, airplanes, which has actually been pretty sick. Like airplane shows and now fish. Sick. Think about this. Can you think of

[12:16] anything more badass right now? We're in [ __ ] Texas. It is the 250th freedom. And we're about to start off the day at

[12:28] >> Yeehaw America. >> I could I could cry. >> I could I could cry. >> [music]

[12:42] Coffee Co. sells these giant bags of coffee and they had buy three get one free. 5 lb bags. So we got 20 lbs of of coffee while we were here.

[12:56] All right, we should probably get back to talking about brand loyalty. I wanted to talking about brand loyalty. I wanted to share I wanted to share my experience a brand [music] lately. I won't say the brand specifically, but well it was

[13:09] describes what's going on in the space cuz it's actually it's it's not important to make a video like this on the idea of like, "Hey creators, learn to work with brands." It's important to make a video like this because

[13:23] brands need to grow up. So, I had two brands approach me, ironically, like a day apart from each other. The first brand, they're a major brand in the

[13:35] creator space. They're huge. They're dominant. Uh the second brand, they make popular at all. I've actually made a [ __ ] ton of videos about their products. I've invested my own money into their products um because again, they make

[13:49] and their branding is is absolutely trash. So, we'll call it brand A, the big guys, brand B, the the little guys. They approached me at the same time. "Hey, we want an integrated video. Specifics, you you pick one of these two

[14:04] the pitch." And we asked, "What's the budget?" And they say, "It's it's for the product." Which, as much as creators get bent out of shape about that, again, not all of you creators are actually that special.

[14:17] If you can get a $500 product for free to talk about it in your video and it's something you would genuinely use, you're kind of stubborn to to turn it situation is the two products the company wanted me to push, they're not

[14:31] something I would push. Like, I've actively Yeah. Yeah, Mommy's literally 2 ft away, dude. 2 ft away. I'm talking to YouTube. Thank you. Appreciate that. But, um yeah, so they

[14:44] "Yeah, these are the two products we want you to talk about." They're channel before. I don't like light panels. I like softboxes. I'm [music] a big fan of them. So, then brand B approaches me. Not only do they have a

[14:58] Which some people would say, "Well, yeah, of course they've got an insane I understand that argument, but also too, in retrospect, you would think the big guys don't need to dump as much money because they have the more popular

[15:12] products and the more popular representation. They approached me with a great budget for just an integration. And then my manager and I asked, "What >> [music] >> Is it one of the recent launch things?"

[15:25] And here's the biggest change up in the space. Here's what's changing with everything. They said, "What do you think will do well with this audience? What products could he actually use to make a good video that

[15:39] would be well with his subscribers and his community?" That's everything. These brands nowadays are trying so hard to turn creators into

[15:51] just ads 24/7, but we are living in an era where content is becoming the ad. This is why so many brands are just creating their own content now. They're just taking content creators and hiring them and moving them to a central

[16:06] location to create continuous content for their channels. It's because people are tired of the [ __ ] People are clearly tired of the scripted ads. They want real. They want authentic. They They They want They want to see that I

[16:20] genuinely [ __ ] with Black Rifle Coffee and I'm willing to put them up here without a brand deal. So, the fact that I could also even get a brand deal on top of it, it just makes more sense because it's a natural integration.

[16:34] There'll be a day where I'll work with a nicotine pouch brand [music] or like a Liquid Death or I just got the Kinetic partnership. My community was excited about this because I've genuinely talked about them before. I've

[16:47] genuinely talked about the product. That authenticity is super important and the authenticity just pay somebody to appear authentic,

[17:00] All right. Back on the road.

[17:20] >> Is it a special bag? >> Oh, they're way bigger [laughter] than I >> I'm coming, kiddo. >> They had a deal where >> Buy three, get one free. I was like, well, 20 lbs of coffee will go a long

[17:33] >> The vlog, what up, vlog? Welcome to Texas. >> That's a lot. I see why you were so like >> It's clearly green. That's way greener in person. >> [music]

[17:49] >> Yeah. Cuz then like how everybody There's been so many trending posts on X. Oh, brand deals are drying up. Brand deals Nobody's investing. Q1 this year, like I I did basic [ __ ] research. It's been one of the largest investment

[18:03] [music] in the creators. >> Well, if you want my opinion, I think um there's a lot of money to be made out there, and I think [music] a lot of stuff dry, which I get. We all go through phases, and you have some hot

[18:16] moments, some slower moments, but no, there's still a lot to be made out there's still a lot to be made out there.

[18:47] >> No. Yeah, so it's finally instead of like a the traditional of like how to get brand deals. It's like I keep hearing people say Yeah, no, you're good. >> Make sure this is good. Yeah.

[18:59] >> That'd be good. >> We've been seeing so many of the X posts streamers specifically. So, like granted, a lot of them are A lot of brands are moving away from streaming, which I've I've explained in that. In Q1

[19:12] this year was the largest one of the largest over the last X amount of years that brands invested in the creators. So there's still money going to creators. And like I'm not having problems. You're not having problems. Rob's getting

[19:25] other people. Like you the extended group between us, nobody's having issues. But I'm seeing like a big denominator of kind of like the style. A lot of us are we're creatives of as well. We came from graphic design. We

[19:39] came from photography and videography. And we have more personal brands. But the section to end off, I want to do what creators get wrong. So like >> What do you think creators are doing wrong to set themselves up with brand

[19:53] >> Well, maybe it's not wrong, but I think the right thing to do, which I guess kind of says that too is I think especially this day and age brand deal stuff has to be has to make sense in your world and be very

[20:07] authentic to what you do or what you talk about or what you would use. Cuz I might see someone else do certain brand deals or want to do these certain things. But then they have no personal tie to it at all. Or like let's say, I

[20:23] don't know, someone wanted to do an electric car deal brand, but they've never used an electric car or never would do that or anything. Or if I decided, oh, why am I not getting a brand deal for

[20:35] I don't know. Kitchen products for cooking videos, but life. Like so I feel like the best thing that I always try to do is that I always try to do is you got to set up your own content and

[20:49] profiles and social media pages. If there's brands you want to work with, you need to make it look like it makes your world. Be authentic to you. >> have to take the risk up front.

[21:02] >> Like you almost have to invest into the product first. Like dude, how many you started getting invited to Apple? >> Uh yeah, a million. Same thing with Sony. I never got to do anything with Sony until I made a lot of videos around

[21:15] Sony and I mean, a big thing for me is I was working a 9-to-5 and it was helping me pay or helping me buy things and products to make these able to like have these opportunities and stuff. And obviously you do a lot of

[21:31] but then some of those things start to happen, you know, or they see you use these products already or whatever, you know? So, like if I wanted to do something with Fuji, but I've never used a Fuji camera in my life or maybe I

[21:45] don't even use cameras at all, it doesn't mean there's a 0% chance, but if world already or they see you're interested in that product, if they're picking between two people or the 100 people that they're looking at and you

[21:58] and they know your audience has already to them. So, I guess to say like what's people do wrong is I think they want certain things that don't make sense with even in their

[22:11] world already and they expect that to just like land sense. >> They want just to broaden their horizons >> Right. Yeah, yeah. >> For me, right? Like, I'm personally

[22:24] and for a long time that wasn't even a thing anywhere within my content at all. And so, I've kind of sprinkled it in a little bit, you know? And here there and then my first thing with Apple ended up being a random event

[22:38] that they were trying new and it was just running related, you know? And the only reason that happened to me is cuz I tried this one real cuz I decided to run turned it into a review. It was just total spur of the moment and that one

[22:51] thing that I trickled into my content ended up being the opportunity I really wanted to happen. So, you know, I made it make sense in my world and then it >> That strongly relates to the the one where I think

[23:04] creators nowadays that already have a brand, >> they're stuck in this like I constantly have to be charging too much. >> Like dude, there's brands that will come along and typically we have the set

[23:16] >> but like I'll do 25% of the budget if it makes sense. If it's a genuine product That and it's like even in itself, a lot of creators nowadays off the rip ego like it relates with it, but ego, they

[23:30] should be. They think they should have the self-respect and they have the value don't do affiliates anymore at all. I'm like, dude, like [clears throat] you you have It's like a balance. Like I do affiliates all the time on anything

[23:45] off suggesting something that >> Or I mean even like me, which I'm by no means a large creator, but I can make decent money from it. You know, I'll still do gifted campaigns if it makes sense for something or if it's something

[23:59] that I was already going to buy for myself or was going to buy to review it. Like why would I not, you know? But like am I going to do that for everything? Like obviously not as well, you know? So it's just it's balancing it for sure.

[24:11] But yeah, I think a lot of people expect these crazy things when when that isn't >> That's funny that you said that cuz I was the cat I wanted to just point it out and prove it. The first thing was chain charging more than what they're

[24:24] that is a mindset that opens up into both categories what I said. >> You have to have to prove your worth, too, you know? And so even like one of my friends, uh I mean I don't think he'd mind if I say it, but Kiko, right? Like

[24:37] Kiko's like kind of more starting out through the whole journey, right? And a couple smaller brand deals. He just started. And you know, he's asking for my advice and it's like you just kind of like got

[24:49] you know, like accept some stuff like dude, this dope new office chair so you >> Cuz then guess what? That works as the same way as a freelancer with their portfolio. You show these brands your portfolio of other deals or videos

[25:04] you've done before, and then they're like, "Oh, like you can make dope stuff, buy >> Right. >> yourself cuz you [ __ ] with, you need to be putting in that work in itself.

[25:16] >> Like if I decided to be I don't know. If I wanted to get a road bike tomorrow, they'd be like That doesn't make sense in your world. But like, if I I had a real big goal for mine, then I need to start figuring out

[25:29] like, "Okay, like how does that make sense that a brand could see my stuff?" him, you know?" >> Because essentially in nowadays, I think that's what actually brands want. It's like, "How did that guy get so creative

[25:41] that he took this niche, but like really the thing he's in, and he put a little pillar out there?" And like his audience was like, "Wow, I [ __ ] with this thing out there." >> Because a brand is going to pick

[25:53] someone with 10,000 followers with a crazy strong running community for a treadmill deal over someone that has a million followers that has no concept of is their community even care what he does, or is he even into that,

[26:08] >> That's point number that thinking views alone will get you the brand deals. only reason, and definitely not only followers. I know someone, I won't name who it is, that's a similar level to me

[26:21] socially, you know, like probably less than half a million across all. And >> That's insane. be made. There's money to be made. You just got to figure out your angle for

[26:35] connects. Making ads nobody wants to watch, it goes back to the to the main point, and then expecting brands to to carry the creative. I think that's where I think that's the big shift. If there's a shift, I think too many creators

[26:48] expect to just have an audience, sit back, a brand comes along, Lab Cultures that you have an audience. Do this video. Here's the creative stuff." >> And nowadays, that's not what's happening. Brands are coming to guys

[27:03] been creative with multiple things, all the flops, everything we tried, to their >> Yep. >> Because it's just [ __ ] creative. They did a good job narrating, they did a good job creating, and that's what they

[27:18] >> Yeah. And I think also like sometimes people will see again like you you know see these other people doing things that you might want to do, but I think they are, you got to realize like brands are already going to go to

[27:33] the person that's doing that, you know? And so like you got to like any niche, any like thing like you got to figure out a way to make it different in your own at least to some degree because like otherwise there's no

[27:46] are never going to find you compared to the other 20 people doing the same exact you got to figure out a way to like at least make it you somewhat. do it different, you know? >> And it's dope because like

[28:01] when you start doing more [ __ ] with your friends, like even just this weekend, like the photos that you were taking, like I I try to help you out as much as I can with like Lab Cultures stuff. Or if you had an integration this weekend,

[28:13] >> I just signed with Kinetic. You went out of your way this weekend and we're like, >> Yeah. >> of Kinetic stuff that helps him out as >> Yeah, it all comes back I think for me just being really authentic within your

[28:27] stuff, you know? Because then it just makes sense for your community, it makes sense for yeah, your friends being around, whatever, but it's just like yeah, for you like I know you've been talking about Kinetic for a long time

[28:39] a year ago at your house, you know? And so like now you're working with them, So it's like yeah, I don't want to work with them. Like also your community like it's the same thing with me. Like people still think I'm connected with Ghost

[28:52] I guess that's a great point. Yeah. You know, it's just because everything. Well, and so it's just because it's part of who I am. I think it's just being you and then >> And it's just more fun, dude. I think I

[29:05] like we talk about it all the time, but if like if more of you guys would just stop taking the online guru advice and you would just [ __ ] take the [ __ ] you like and you think is cool. It doesn't matter if you're into knitting,

[29:19] cornhole, shooting guns. Like it it doesn't matter. There's other There's people out there that [ __ ] with it and there's brands that sell products. >> I think there's more opportunities than ever. I think the spaces are just a lot

[29:34] people are just really lazy. >> Yeah. That's >> I'm going to cut it right there. That's good.