by David Bishop
We live in a world of Imagery
Camera phones have created the closest thing to a national hobby in a new world where imagery reigns. Everyone’s a photographer so why not use this easy tech and save some marketing dollars? The answer’s simple. Lower image quality increases real costs, damages the brand and stunts potential revenues.
Mantra comes first
During shoots marketing managers discuss brand passionately like a mantra. One can renovate properties, build more fabulous ships, create new cuisine but once brand is damaged, results can be irreversible. I interpret that as no image will be published unless it represents the highest brand quality.
Is it safe? Is more better?
Top photographers aren’t cheap. Local talent may seem like an obvious answer. The problem is that streamlined imagery costs have produced a saturated environment of uninspiring food imagery that looks safe – safe like everyone else’s. In other words, no matter how innovative the chef’s creations, it all ends up looking pretty much the same. Chefs work night and day creating new and exciting culinary sensations. Content should mimic that same ultimate quality with an equivalent visual effect. It should always be about quality – not volume.
Please don’t swipe left
This is an inflection point. Now’s the time to make a pivot. Consumers of imagery anticipate beautiful F&B and when found they respond to it. We watch food competitions, attend cooking classes, entertain friends and family with our newest recipes and scour the net looking for the newest, sexiest and most fabulous. And if not found in a split second – swipe left!
Can one person really have a positive impact on the bottom line?
Hard to wrap your head around it but yes. Major food advertisers quantifiably increase revenues when successfully investing in top specialists gaining the most effective and lasting content. I do it by targeting cuisine’s most sensual hunger cues. That creates interest in order to capture consumer attention faster and hold it longer, translating to market share and adding to the bottom line.
Cuisine: One of the biggest influencers
Cuisine is consistently named one of the top reasons vacationers choose a destination.12345 Despite hospitality’s massive culinary investments, social media promotion and company websites often fail to visually reflect the spectacular quality of the chef’s constantly evolving creative cuisines. When food imagery is shot by less experienced shooters, it ends up all looking the same. Failing to visually define hunger cues misses some of the strongest most impactful motivators. Every image released to the public reflects on your brand ethos and potential sales.
All you need is love (and profits)
Food content is one of hospitalities’ most unique advocates and reliable friends to be counted on to always be there. Fine cuisine is meant to be savored. But it’s fine imagery that has the unique ability to create desire long before customers ever walk through the restaurant door or book a destination.
Time to swipe right yet?
David Bishop Marketing Content https://www.dbishop.net
1 https://blog.windstarcruises.com/why-people-like-cruising/
2 https://www.hospitalitynet.org/opinion/4037197.html
3 https://worldfoodtravel.org/what-is-food-tourism/
4 https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190408114002.htm 5 top reasons tourists choose a destination