Behind the Scenes: How Press & Media Drives Work

[Sutripta]

From the point of view of dessimation of technical information, which manufacturer is best? And worst? Or does it depend more on the PR agency handling the do, rather than the manufacturer?

Regards
Sutripta

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

From the point of view of dessimation of technical information, which manufacturer is best? And worst? Or does it depend more on the PR agency handling the do, rather than the manufacturer?

Regards
Sutripta

And.. how do they divulge more information, when asked for, which is not presented in the PPT?

[Simhi]

Originally Posted by GTO

• An FAQ: Nope, we don't screw on actual Team-BHP number plates on test drive cars. They are photoshopped later on.

Thanks GTO and team for very informative article. I really thought the team had Team-BHP number plates. Thanks for the clarification.

Yes, all official reviews on our forum have been outstanding and can be used as reference even after many years. But there have been instances where we kept waiting for the official review to come but it never came - for example, latest model of Toyota Corolla Altis. But yes, fellow bhpian Severus came out with a very good review and his thread became the official review thread. Contribution from all bhpians is what makes the actual review truly meaningful.
Hats off to all bhpians.

[fazonater1911]

That was really an informative thread. I always used to wonder how the team-bhp reviews turn out to be so crisp and unbiased. This has enlightened me.

On a lighter not, everytime there is a new official review on Team-bhp it's christmas for me!

Merry Christmas!

[prabhu789]

Thanks GTO for the wonderful article. for explaining things in detail. It was informative as well as interesting read. Time and again you guys prove why Team-BHP is unique. The review standard set by Team-BHP is next to impossible for anyone to match. Thanks guys for providing us with excellent reviews. Keep up the good work.

[AshBabu]

Great informative thread. Thanks for sharing GTO. This type of information sharing makes this forum great to read. The logistic arrangement and investment from car manufacturers is surprising. Of course that is their part of investment and business strategy.

The effort put in by reviewers especially from Team BHP who are driven only by their enthusiasm and love for cars is really great. From the pictures and beautiful locations in the review one would easily assume it is a pleasure trip. Your thread brings out the other side highlighting the effort and difficulty reviewers have to go through to present the facts. Hats off to all the Reviewers.

[reignofchaos]

Threads like these are why team-bhp is better than all other automotive journals (both offline and online) combined. Amazing review of the review process.

Hats off to you for taking time to post this.

[MSAneesh]

Thank you so much GTO for explaining the review process in detail. Appreciate the GREAT effort that goes into each review!!!
I haven't laid hands on an auto magazine for the past 5 years, why do so when all you need to know is right here in an absolutely unbiased perception.
Thanks a ton and keep revving......

[rrsteer]

Originally Posted by GTO

The Smaller yet Significant Things

• Inexpensive caps, t-shirts, scale models, bags etc. are okay. Super expensive gifts make us uncomfortable (politely refused an iPad once and a laptop another time).

No Statement pleased me more than this.

[Jaggu]

Thanks GTO! The way you captured the details of behind the scene's is just awesome! Just like the reports.

Yes it's hard work but I like doing it, if I get the time to do it. Now I have grown a little more wiser, I look at the schedule before I commit these days. I don't like being pushed around and the guilt feeling that you haven't done justice to what you are passionate about, is not something I want to carry

Best part about these drives for me are the interaction with the techies and the management lot, and most of them I met are truly passionate about what they do.

[rajeev k]

Many thanks indeed for the whole lot of aspects that goes into each car review. Also I liked the honesty part of declining of valuable gifts which goes a long way in publishing an unbiased genuine review. Kudos to our own forum.

[theMAG]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

From the point of view of dessimation of technical information, which manufacturer is best? And worst? Or does it depend more on the PR agency handling the do, rather than the manufacturer?

Regards
Sutripta

Categorization might not be possible, however from my observations, launches in India tend to involve lesser technical details than launches abroad.

E.g. the India launches I covered did have lesser technical information shared by the manufacturers than the coverage I did in Japan.

Not sure if this trend has changed now.

[V.Narayan]

All those who contribute their time on Team BHP doing these detailed well assessed reviews deserve our praise. Few forums on any subject are as disciplined and serious in content as Team BHP. GTO thank you for sharing the 'behind the scenes' story. - V.Narayan

[AlphaLamb]

So finally "the Great TBHP Number plate" trick is revealed and I thought I was the only one with this itch to find out more about how every car reviewed carries this number plate and is there so much time during reviews to attach and remove these plates.

But now that the issue has been clarified, I finally have one itch less to scratch.

Finally to sum it up, the time and effort taken for these reviews does reflect in the output in terms of the quality of review and attention to detail, which is one of the things that sets apart a "TBHP Review" from others.

Kudos to all the reviewers and GTO for this insightful post.

[ajmat]

Brilliant topic. Let me share a few snippets

Originally Posted by GTO

• Travel & accommodation expenses are borne by the car manufacturer. These include air tickets, hotel stay for a night and meals. Additionally, some manufacturers offer airport pickup & drop-off.

The airport pick up and drop from home is the scary part - I always like to control this so that I am sure I get to the airport. Have had quite a few skin of the teeth moments when the taxi does not arrive!

At the destination, I am in the manufacturers hands, some times, the wrong timings are given, other times, you get to go in style. At one time, poor me had to slum it in a chauffeured XJ-L as the others were being collected on a bus as they were arriving at a different terminal

Normally, international flights are usually business class for two reasons, the schedule is hectic and brand image

• For 3 out of 4 drives, a photographer is allowed to accompany the reviewer. This greatly improves the review quality. The work is split up and there's an additional pair of eyes to make observations on the new car.

• Some unfortunately don't; after spending 2 days at their events, we've gotten barely 4 - 6 hours with the actual product. I hate these kind of trips. Prefer to do things at my own pace, and don't like being hurried up on something as important as a car review.

Believe me, there is a lot of pressure! The toughest time was driving two different cars in a day. The initial location to take pictures was poor and the sun was really strong that day.!

The slideshow is broken up into 3 parts, each presented by a different member. These briefings can be informative and if you listen closely, you'll pick up some fabulous cues & titbits for your review.

Another aspect that us mods in Team-BHP bring is that we come from other professions and some of us hold senior positions. This enables us to probe and ask the odd difficult question which gets the odd interesting answer

Originally Posted by GTO

The Cars

• The route is predetermined and explained (ironically) via powerpoint. The longest 10 minutes of my life! Would you remember the route within an unfamiliar town from 30 slides & pictures? I never do. Guess manufacturers have to warm up to the idea of Google Maps.................... I always wonder, if there was an award for the 'worst job in the world', these dudes holding the big placards under the hot sun would get it.

I must take my hat off for the Range Rover drive. Each car had the route embedded in the GPS system, The cars had a GPS and also a local mobile in the car. You just could not get lost

• Who your co-driver is depends on your luck. While most people drive alright, a small % drive like maniacs. If you get uneasy, just request and the person will drive safer. Of course, you can't do anything about those who are inherently bad drivers, even when they aren't speeding.

I sometimes get interesting insights about how forgiving the car is under such conditions. However, driving in mountainous places can get scary, there was a situation where the company driver forced a journalist out at the behest of the PR head.

• As mentioned earlier, the real challenge is time. This is especially the case for comprehensive Team-BHP Official Reviews, where we cover every detail of the car (have seen some other reviewers being done well before the time allotted!). There's not a moment free and, if you're not physically fit, it can get very exhausting. Once, I bought tickets for a later flight (at my own cost) so that I'd get a couple of extra hours with the review car.

Time is never enough, I recommend you also wear old clothes!

Originally Posted by GTO

• Because of the unique nature of Team-BHP, manufacturers are often . We get a lot of questions about Team-BHP on media events. Why we don't accept advertising for new car models, how Team-BHP is a Forum (NOT a blog), that Team-BHP Moderators have other full-time professional / entrepreneurial interests, why we don't see any value in launching a Team-BHP magazine...the list goes on.

• For massive international media drives (e.g. S-Class, Range Rover), manufacturers have the event running over several weeks, with journalists flying in from all over the world. For one of the drives, they had shipped 37 test-drive cars from one country to another!

I once created confusion landing in same same hotel on business during another car launch where another mod was present. I did tag along for the final part of the shoot but avoided the evening hospitality for obvious reasons.

Originally Posted by Indicruz

A curious question though - how do Mods rotate the review responsibility? Do you guys fight with each other when you get an opportunity to review a high end performance car?

Ideally it is strictly by rotation but then considerations like location, mods availability, mods speciality are also considered. Competence is another key aspect - I am not detail oriented which is a requirement for more popular cars. It is pretty fair and transparent

Originally Posted by rrsteer

No Statement pleased me more than this.

-

We sleep well at night , actually, am lying, squeezing your brain out for the last detail keeps us awake. The toughest review was a cars with no features, it was agonising but luckily I had the car for 4 days (the manufacturer would not collect it) and I found more snippets.