How food companies can engage viewers without rehashing the same boring recipes.
I love food. And if you are like me and like to cook as well, you probably also enjoy watching food programming. The Food Network. Top Chef. Anything online. But heres what Ive realizedthese cooking shows succeed mainly due to the appeal of their star chefs or the stories they tell, not the recipes themselves. Thats why Top Chef on Bravo is the #1 food program in America.
So, as more consumers turn to the Internet, why arent new celebrity chefs emerging online?
For one, the web is crowded with recipe videos - no one chef will emerge from the pack doing the same chicken parmesan recipe weve all seen countless times. And secondly, there isnt a brand (or a channel supported by brands) promoting video pieces across multiple outlets. Individual CPG companies create recipe videos to post on their site, without thinking about putting them across other channels. But the biggest failure is most likely that the recipe video format has become stale. It doesnt work for the online attention span.
A typical TV recipe show aims to do around 3 dishes in 22 minutes. But thats TV. In the online world, the best video is under 3 minutes (and hopefully closer to 1-2 minutes). Its hard to put together an instructional video thats both engaging and instructional in this timeframe.
How can food brands and media companies overcome this problem? Some sites, like Rouxbe have done a great job of segmenting and sub-categorizing each task of the meal into individual videos. The best approach however is to forget one specific recipe and instead, become a factory of ideas and instructions. Use your time in front of the camera to teach someone about an ingredient or a kitchen tool and then point them to the full recipe on your site. Odds are they are going to print the recipe anyway. And the best new food sites will fully integrate shorter videos with text so people can read through the instructions and then turn to videos to visualize the more complex parts. You can almost envision how this would work on an iPhone.
Another option tell a story. Create talkability around your product by telling a great story that can be repeated over dinner. Consumers love to be educated on their food sources. Mass market brands like Lays Potato Chips and high brow companies like Williams Sonoma have decided to feature where the food comes from instead of how it is cooked. I mean, who really knows how oatmeal gets from farm to dried flakes? Now thats a video that would pique my interest, and I dont think Im the only foodie whod be curious.