Contemporary Marketing 16th Edition by Louis Boone,David Kurtz

Exercise 12

Product Decisions
The Line between Content and Commerce
When you're watching a cooking show, how do you define the product? Is it the show itself, the celebrity chef, the recipes demonstrated, or the sizzling pots and pans? In this case, the product is a little bit of everything-talent, entertainment, and food. It's a combination of goods and services bundled together in a single brand:
Food Network. And while the selling of the brand is important, part of its value lies in its mission to entertain and inspire. "There's a line between where a brand is inspiring and when it becomes overtly commercial," points out Sergei Kuharsky, senior vice president and general manager of licensing and merchandising at Scripps Networks Interactive, which produces and markets Food Network. "Everyone walks that line." Food Network's product mix serves up an array of popular shows that appeal to food-loving viewers. Cooking shows such as Barefoot Contessa and Giada at Home demonstrate how to whip up delicious meals in various styles. Competition shows, such as Food Network Star, Great Food Truck Race, and Chopped, entertain viewers as they watch contestants cook off for bragging rights, cash, or a television contract. Celebrity shows such as Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives and Restaurant: Impossible showcase famous chefs in various scenarios as they visit favorite eateries or try to help restaurant owners save their businesses. Each of these individual shows fits into the product line and overall product mix in a certain way-but all are designed to entertain and inspire.
Inspiration about food and cooking is integral to the Food Network brand-the challenge for marketers is to take this to the next level, from the TV screen to wherever consumers are in their daily lives. Social media has emerged as a major tool for Food Network marketers to converse with viewers on a regular basis. "Social media does so much for our brand," says Kate Gold, director of social media for the company. "It's really about being able to have a dialogue with our audience. It's being able to listen to them. It's the one platform where all day, every day, we're getting feedback." Several years ago, Scripps reorganized its social media marketing to reflect consumer categories: food, home, and travel. The shows offered by Food Network and the Cooking Channel fall into the first category. This reorganization helped marketers understand more clearly how consumers behaved with social media and what those consumers wanted from the Food Network brand.
"We saw what was in the competitive market, and people not only wanted recipes, they wanted the tools to accompany them," observes Leora Schachter, vice president of digital strategy and planning for Scripps. So the company developed various apps to meet this need-and solidify the Food Network brand in consumers' minds. For example, the "Cupcakes" app stems from the popular shows Cupcake Wars and Cupcake Champions. The app provides additional content that consumers can use and enjoy-videos, recipes, and cooking or shopping tips. "In the Kitchen" is another popular Food Network app among consumers-listed as one of the top-five paid apps in the lifestyle category at Apple.
On a broader scale, Food Network's core social media platforms are Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. But the network is also active on Google+, Instagram, Foursquare, and Tumblr. Marketers use Foursquare to support location-based shows; for example, many viewers request a list of all the restaurants visited by host Guy Fieri in Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. "We're very careful about the new platforms that we expand into, based on audiences that are there, the actions that people are taking, and how our brand could fit in," explains Gold. For example, Facebook is the ideal platform for Food Network to hold chats with celebrity chefs, while Twitter can give quick updates behind the scenes from a TV show.
Customer feedback is one of the most important factors in category and brand management. By its very nature, social media provides plenty of feedback to Food Network about its shows, celebrities, recipes, choice of restaurants to feature-the list is endless. Marketers also receive feedback on their choices about social media, including Facebook posts and tweets. Apps are no exception. "When you're in an app store, you get direct feedback from your audience, which is unlike any other channel we have at Food Network," says Schachter. People rate and review an app immediately after using it, which means that Food Network can update and improve the app on a regular basis. "It's expensive," notes Schachter, "but worthwhile."
Questions for Critical Thinking
1. How would you describe Food Network's product mix in terms of width, length, and depth?
2. Where would you place Food Network in the product lifecycle? What steps could marketers take to extend its lifecycle?
3. What sets Food Network brand apart from the brands of other networks? How has social media helped Food Network enhance its brand equity?
4. How might Food Network marketers use social media to speed the adoption rate of a new television show?