Dan & Phil Part 83: Where in the World is Daniel Howell

[scientia]

dan's Jan. 17 2017 liveshow: "Yes, get some storage, that literally is on the agenda"
dan's April 4 2017 live show: Dan asks the chat what he could do to change his background; he names it "Project Make Dan's Video Background More Aesthetic"
dan and phil's joint liveshow; April 27 2017: *someone in the chat*: "We predicted you moving." dan: "....well we did deliberately plant seeds."
dan's May 2 2017 liveshow: "You shouldn't rent for too long."
dan's Oct. 17, 2017 liveshow: he discusses that March was a hectic month for him because him and Phil were moving

Now I don't want to move on to moving hill but I'll pitch a little tent. I think this could be very similar to things they did in 2017 before they moved but I'm still slightly unsure. I think that they definitely have left the filming flat but that could be the reason why they are at the storage unit- to store all the props that they kept in there. But as above states, a lot of the same clues are being dropped.

See now this just makes me miss liveshows they would be live while I was at work and it was a fun sneaky thing for me to watch them weekly at my desk

[kavat]

Rhett and Link were in London for Vidcon, that could be a collab that has been requested for years. They did collabs with Tomska while being there so it's not impossible.

Lol as soon as I woke up and saw that story I thought 'IDB is gonna have a field day'. Didn't realize it was gonna be a literal field day on the hill. I'll bring wine and cheese.

I also think that they left the filming flat at the beginning of the year and are perhaps moving the stuff into their new home now. They could have stored some IRL-related inventory there as well, or just needed extra hands, who knows.

[noodlebum]

The possibilities for the video and for the storage unit is exciting, good for something to be going on at the mo for us all to discuss and theorise about

[George]

So, the gaming room is now a storage unit, eh? Can they film a new dapg video from there? Does this mean no gaming videos until they've moved again? Guys you better hurry up, Phil please think about saving money and how to make more money (=gaming videos).

I don't know what video has been requested for ages, but all I want to see is house hunting and renovating.

I should really go back to work now.

[noodlebum]

How about reenact old AmazingPhil videos? That could be quite fun, like some of his music videos...

[alittledizzy]

I do think moving this month but having already gotten rid of the gaming flat would explain the hiatus from DAPG pretty well. Not wanting to put a cap on it makes sense too, because things can always get delayed or fall through with the moving process. If they'd said two months and something happened and they couldn't move in for an extra month they'd have been pretty screwed.

I saw this suggested by someone else and I think I'm going with it as my Phil video theory: another Weird Kid video. And if that's true... I don't hate it.

[fancybum]

Happy International Women’s Day to me

A planner will get my life together for me, right? I’ll report back.

[sapienveneficus]

Happy International Women’s Day to me

A planner will get my life together for me, right? I’ll report back.

Poor Phil (I don't know how to correctly write Capital Lester so I'm not going to try). The prolonged hiatus can't be good for business.

[Ablissa]

Poor Phil (I don't know how to correctly write Capital Lester so I'm not going to try). The prolonged hiatus can't be good for business.

True. I feel a bit bad for him.
This isn't the first discount on the planner, right? How much do y'all think this hiatus is costing them? I'm genuinely curious.
Phil's video views are low, with the latest video not even at 500k yet. None of the vids he made this year reached 1 mil. Maybe this new video will really be something new and will gain more views? Let's hope so.

(not trying to be a doomsayer - they're millionaires, they're ok. this is curiosity)

[sapienveneficus]

Poor Phil (I don't know how to correctly write Capital Lester so I'm not going to try). The prolonged hiatus can't be good for business.

True. I feel a bit bad for him.
This isn't the first discount on the planner, right? How much do y'all think this hiatus is costing them? I'm genuinely curious.
Phil's video views are low, with the latest video not even at 500k yet. None of the vids he made this year reached 1 mil. Maybe this new video will really be something new and will gain more views? Let's hope so.

(not trying to be a doomsayer - they're millionaires, they're ok. this is curiosity)

You're right, it isn't. And Phil's solo videos aren't doing that well, relative to his videos last year and of course videos on DAPG and the illusive DINOF channels. DnP may be set for a bit, money-wise, but what about Martyn? Isn't running their merch store his job? As in, his sole source of income? This must be a scary time for him.

[noodlebum]

Poor Phil (I don't know how to correctly write Capital Lester so I'm not going to try). The prolonged hiatus can't be good for business.

(not trying to be a doomsayer - they're millionaires, they're ok. this is curiosity)

what about Martyn? Isn't running their merch store his job? As in, his sole source of income? This must be a scary time for him.

Now you've made me feel bad Like I ought to go buy that planner right now or poor Martyn won't be able to eat next week

....Yep, I'm convinced. I'm buying it as we speak

[fancybum]

I’m totally down with all the negativity right now in general, but coupon codes aren’t a bad thing lol, they’re just little nudges to get people’s credit cards out. He would have made even more from me today if his fox sweaters weren’t sold out.

BUT to maybe add needlessly to worry if anybody missed it: Chris is closing down his crabstickz shop. But I highly doubt that was making IRL anything to write home about to begin with, getting rid of it will probably save them money (lol sorry Chris).

A coupon code for one specific item just isn’t a harbinger of anything bad. Especially considering it’s for what is essentially a calendar, one of the fastest depreciating retail items (though to be fair this one doesn’t have set dates - 10 points to Mr Lester for that).

[Ablissa]

I’m totally down with all the negativity right now in general, but coupon codes aren’t a bad thing lol, they’re just little nudges to get people’s credit cards out. He would have made even more from me today if his fox sweaters weren’t sold out.

BUT to maybe add needlessly to worry if anybody missed it: Chris is closing down his crabstickz shop. But I highly doubt that was making IRL anything to write home about to begin with, getting rid of it will probably save them money (lol sorry Chris).

A coupon code for one specific item just isn’t a harbinger of anything bad. Especially considering it’s for what is essentially a calendar, one of the fastest depreciating retail items (though to be fair this one doesn’t have set dates - 10 points to Mr Lester for that).

You're right of course, I meant more in general that his merch is likely not selling that much now when the phandom is half asleep.

I'm all for supporting Martyn though! Cornelia did an ig story about some expensive furniture she couldn't afford, so... let's get her that table or something

[alittledizzy]

The coupon code is still the one through Honey, right? I would imagine that was part of the deal for the sponsorship. He got a paycheck in order to offer that discount, I wouldn't take it as a sign of bad times.

I think merch sales are probably just fine. I know I tried to buy the planner when it first launched and it sold out in the US shop pretty quickly. I'd also guess that the mark up rate for planners is enough that even at a 30% discount incentive he's still making money on anything that sells.

(Not that I'm arguing that his views are down. But I'm pretty sure this was a calculated risk they fully knew about when they put DAPG on hiatus.)

[fancybum]

I'm all for supporting Martyn though! Cornelia did an ig story about some expensive furniture she couldn't afford, so... let's get her that table or something

Patiently waiting for corneliashop to open up.

Isn’t a second ~season of Dan merch supposed to be happening? Maybe that’s where he’s been - buried in the artistic turmoil of designing new black t-shirts.

[noodlebum]

Isn’t a second ~season of Dan merch supposed to be happening? Maybe that’s where he’s been - buried in the artistic turmoil of designing new black t-shirts.

Ahh, it's probably true though

[Templeofshame]

I'm all for supporting Martyn though! Cornelia did an ig story about some expensive furniture she couldn't afford, so... let's get her that table or something

Patiently waiting for corneliashop to open up.

I don't know how old https://cornelia.bandcamp.com/merch is, but I seriously considered buying the shirt.

[plinthofmylife]

Yea, tuning in to say as someone who runs her own merch shop: don't worry about that coupon code; I do sales consistently and it doesn't mean that business is bad. My markup on printed, non-sized items is about 110%, meaning I can put it on a 50% discount and still make money. That's just part of doing retail. Every time I do a sale, the volume I get from doing a sale more than makes up for coupon code's cut. It also just helps to have a reason (a sale) to promote a specific item.

Also, 30% is *less* than the cut that any traditional retail takes (when my book is sold through my distributor, I get only 40% of the listed price).

Anyway, that was business 101 don't-freak-out by plinthofmylife.

I *do* kinda want that doodle planner but already have a planner I just like pretty paper things.

[alittledizzy]

Yea, tuning in to say as someone who runs her own merch shop: don't worry about that coupon code; I do sales consistently and it doesn't mean that business is bad. My markup on printed, non-sized items is about 110%, meaning I can put it on a 50% discount and still make money. That's just part of doing retail. Every time I do a sale, the volume I get from doing a sale more than makes up for coupon code's cut. It also just helps to have a reason (a sale) to promote a specific item.

Also, 30% is *less* than the cut that any traditional retail takes (when my book is sold through my distributor, I get only 40% of the listed price).

Anyway, that was business 101 don't-freak-out by plinthofmylife.

I *do* kinda want that doodle planner but already have a planner I just like pretty paper things.

I always love your insight!

Also, that last line: fully me. I'm on a no-buying-anything spree until I get my taxes paid so I'm just staring forlornly at the planner, knowing fully well I don't need it anyway and yet pining away because... pretty paper things.

[MythicalPinkTrashCan]

Rhett and Link were in London for Vidcon, that could be a collab that has been requested for years. They did collabs with Tomska while being there so it's not impossible.

Stop getting my hopes up!

[thatone]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx12jy-Q5Dw&t=

PsychIRL uploaded a video on "The Phandom". It's not her best work in my opinion, as it mostly consisted of older clips as examples, and she commented un-ironically on stuff that I would consider kind of jokes.. Oh well! I don't know if I'm happy or not that she didn't "dive deeper". She would be shook hah

[plinthofmylife]

I always love your insight!

I am so glad that finding ways to talk business brings some value to my trash phandom activities

Also, that last line: fully me. I'm on a no-buying-anything spree until I get my taxes paid so I'm just staring forlornly at the planner, knowing fully well I don't need it anyway and yet pining away because... pretty paper things.

OMG, I feel like it's worse for me because I buy things as "research" for my own products and it's write-off-able on my taxes as a business expenses. It makes things so dangerous.

[knq]

Where does the merch for IRL and Dan and Phil get manufactured, anyway? I don't think I've ever heard them talk about that and I find it strange. Dan said somewhere that if they made chocolate again he wanted it to be vegan chocolate for the cows, but I've never heard him or Phil discuss working conditions and safety for the people who make their products. I don't know why that is but it is something I thought about when I considered buying clothes from them before.

[plinthofmylife]

Dropping in with biz experience AND a degree in international trade economics again because this is more fun than doing my job.

Where does the merch for IRL and Dan and Phil get manufactured, anyway?

I've thought about this too!

Unless they emphasize the country of origin, it's extremely likely all shirts are made in China, Bangladesh, or Vietnam since they likely buy large quantities and the price of their shirts/bags do not reflect an EU-made product. (Country of origin doesn't necessarily mean poor working conditions I would note; there are plenty of ways to get products ethically manufactured outside EU/US.)

Unless you are emphasizing where your products are made and reflecting that in the price, consumers would riot about the price point necessary to make a margin on clothing made in developed countries. I've frankly been surprised that they haven't chosen something fair trade, etc, and simply jacked the price up - I wonder if they are concerned their audience can't afford a higher price point for shirts (we did all our merch shirts from American Apparel, but you better bet I emphasized that like heck in our marketing copy.) For comparison, purchasing print runs of 2000 shirts, less than IRL does for sure, it costs about double to get US-made shirts, and about 1.5 times the cost to get them printed domestically (I'm US-based).

Regarding chocolate: international trade of chocolate is complicated AF issue since child slave labor is responsible for so much chocolate manufacturing. It's estimated about 60% of chocolate trade worldwide is involved with child labor + trafficking (also did you know that chocolate is the third most traded commodity in the world!?)It's so embedded in the culture of cocoa production in West Africa, it's really challenging to source chocolate that isn't produced using child labor - EVEN the fair trade certification isn't a guarantee.

ETA: I'm sorry, posting about economics and business is my equivalent of shitposting when I'm supposed to be editing a video...

[knq]

Dropping in with biz experience AND a degree in international trade economics again because this is more fun than doing my job.

Where does the merch for IRL and Dan and Phil get manufactured, anyway?

I've thought about this too!

Unless they emphasize the country of origin, it's extremely likely all shirts are made in China, Bangladesh, or Vietnam since they likely buy large quantities and the price of their shirts/bags do not reflect an EU-made product. (Country of origin doesn't necessarily mean poor working conditions I would note; there are plenty of ways to get products ethically manufactured outside EU/US.)

Unless you are emphasizing where your products are made and reflecting that in the price, consumers would riot about the price point necessary to make a margin on clothing made in developed countries. I've frankly been surprised that they haven't chosen something fair trade, etc, and simply jacked the price up - I wonder if they are concerned their audience can't afford a higher price point for shirts (we did all our merch shirts from American Apparel, but you better bet I emphasized that like heck in our marketing copy.) For comparison, purchasing print runs of 2000 shirts, less than IRL does for sure, it costs about double to get US-made shirts, and about 1.5 times the cost to get them printed domestically (I'm US-based).

Regarding chocolate: international trade of chocolate is complicated AF issue since child slave labor is responsible for so much chocolate manufacturing. It's estimated about 60% of chocolate trade worldwide is involved with child labor + trafficking (also did you know that chocolate is the third most traded commodity in the world!?)It's so embedded in the culture of cocoa production in West Africa, it's really challenging to source chocolate that isn't produced using child labor - EVEN the fair trade certification isn't a guarantee.

ETA: I'm sorry, posting about economics and business is my equivalent of shitposting when I'm supposed to be editing a video...

I like having your insight! It's mostly the fact that they don't signpost even with words that don't have strict definitions like 'ethically' manufactured or anything to that effect that makes me a bit suspicious that no one's really checking? I'm not nearly informed enough about international trade or business/manufacturing in general to venture too far into the topic but I'm generally uncomfortable buying new clothing, especially if it seems like my buying it might lead to more of it being manufactured, when I'm not reassured it isn't being made in a sweatshop.

Also I did not know that about chocolate, wow.