Nothing works better on Instagram than #foodporn. And that is why kitchen foil brand Reynolds is taking it a step further in its latest campaign — creating an entire interactive cookbook on Instagram in its bid to emerge as a lifestyle brand.
The “Endless Table” campaign features overhead shots of seasonal recipes that appear as different pieces of the same puzzle and are seamlessly stitched together to create one long endless table of delicious fare on Instagram. Each of the recipes opens up like a virtual cookbook, leading to sub-accounts that contain step-by-step photos and instructions on how to make the recipe. Ikea did something similar last year when it used Instagram to build a virtual catalog.
Instagramming pictures of food — whether it’s a greasy egg sandwich from a local deli or a fancy, well-manicured entrée at a Michelin-rated restaurant — has emerged as a huge trend in recent years. A quick scan of popular food-related hashtags on Instagram reveals over 198 million mentions of #food, over 64 million mentions of #foodporn and over 22 million mentions of #foodie at present. But that may not necessarily be a good thing. A 2013 study from Brigham Young University found that looking at too many pictures of food can actually make it less enjoyable for people to eat.
The recipes being offered by Reynolds are classified under seven different “seasonal tables” — including summer, grilling, back-to-school, fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Holiday — and are being released in that order. Every seasonal table features 21 recipes, which are posted week by week to create a long, beautiful table that flows through the seasons.
In the ongoing back-to-school table for instance, users can find the recipe for some delectable brown sugar rice cookies or some healthy and filling apple yogurt muffins. The campaign kicked off with the summer table and will continue until the end of the year and holiday season.
“Until now, no one has really spoken to food-photography enthusiasts from an education standpoint, instead merely providing beautiful visuals,” said Lisa Burns, vp of marketing at Reynolds. “We are trying to create additional usage moments for Reynolds Wrap throughout the year and use Instagram’s layout in an innovative way.”
With this push, Reynolds is also aiming to reframe consumers’ perceptions of foil as just a product to package up leftovers. It instead wants to serve up as a handy, convenient partner for millennial moms who want to make creative meals with easy clean up.
“Reynolds has been known as a kitchen staple for years, but the younger demographic just isn’t brand loyal,” said Ecole Weinstein, group creative director at Havas Worldwide Chicago, which is behind the campaign. “We realized we had to reach a whole new segment of digitally-savvy moms, be more relevant to their cooking routine and talk to them in a way they want to be talked talk to.”
Reynolds is driving users to check out its cookbook via targeted online video, Facebook, Pinterest as well as print ads. It is also partnering with Teads and YuMe and other programmatic partners to employ purchase-based targeting and with Meredith and AllRecipes.com to target interest groups such as foodies.
Further, Reynolds is also jumping on the bandwagon of brands partnering with influencers, and roping in a range of influencers with sizeable fan bases to help create and share its recipes. To premier its “Fall” season table, it will also host a dinner party for these influencers, including food bloggers, Instagrammers and popular chefs like Joy Wilson and April Bloomfield.
“It comes down to being relevant,” said Weinstein. “If we can partner with the right people that share our ethos and our voice, then hopefully the people already following them will also come to us.”
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