Coincidentally, sitting next to me on the plane en route was Dave Lefkow, a former tech entrepreneur who had left the industry to start a food company that specialized in bacon-flavored products.
Having put in several years at the social networking site Jobster, Dave told me he marketed his products almost entirely through social media. His Twitter feed had nearly 2,000 followers, his Facebook page nearly 6,700 followers, and he has 1,500 MySpace friends. Looking at that page later that week, I read dozens of testimonials for his company’s signature product, BaconSalt. You’d think he’d developed the secret formula for ketchup; fans seemed to think they couldn’t survive without BaconSalt on their fries, in their salads, on their grilled meat, or paired with chocolate. On a scale of fanaticism, I would characterize his customers as rabid.
Dave told me that to promote a spinoff product, Baconnaise, he staged a fight between two people dressed as a strip of bacon and a jar of mayonnaise at a venue in Seattle, where he is based; hundreds turned up to see which artery-clogging indulgence would win. He videotaped the fight and posted it on his MySpace page, along with his appearances on Good Morning America and Money Matters (where his product was positioned as a low-cost alternative to fattening, expensive bacon). He reached out regularly to a cadre of “bacon bloggers” who loved the product and gave it a bacon-lovers’ blessing. He mentioned a recent April Fool’s Day trick he played by pretending to launch a non-existent bacon-flavored erotic oil on his blog and receiving over 600 pre-orders in 24 hours. He still seemed shocked by the turnout.
“I just didn’t think we could put something out there like that and get such a reaction,” he said. “I might just have to make that product.” On a lark he’d made bacon-flavored lip moisturizer, and though his wife hated when he wore it around her, it was selling like gangbusters.
As we got off the plane, he handed me a canister of BaconSalt, which he always had on-hand. I asked him if he was heading to the culinary conference, where I was going.
“Naw,” he said. “I just couldn’t get a direct flight out East. I’m taping more segments on QVC.”
Wow, I thought, I speak to corporate brands about establishing the kind of following he has with his customers; it seemed his entrepreneurial approach to his business gave him the agility he needed to really leverage social media.
Dave also made for an interesting comparison to the foodie audience I was to meet, some of whom might not recommend seasoning food with meat-flavored salt, but many of whom have toiled for years in relative obscurity, or who are struggling to push their businesses to the next level online and just don’t know how.
For them, the timing couldn’t be more perfect. Though Mommybloggers are often perceived as the demo that attracts the most marketing attention, food bloggers are a highly respected lot, not only by food and appliance companies, but by luxury product marketers, credit card companies, green brands, and electronics and tech manufacturers who are willing to pay the higher end of premium rates to market on sites whose readers spend on quality. Other media have learned to borrow from the food blogosphere. I was tickled to see foodblogger Pim Techamuanvivit of Chez Pim judging episodes of Food Network’s Iron Chef America. Speaking with a PR director from a top cookbook publisher, blogging acumen is now a standard criteria in deciding what writers to take on in print. Anyone who can think like Dave Lefkow could do well in this space.
The niches within this community are nearly countless, from grillers to vegans, restaurant reviewers to crock potters. And while many do publish their recipes, many integrate cooking with stories of their lives, use their food blogs as activist platforms, or provide comedic relief for the community. Breakout blogebrity Gary Vaynerchuk elevated his Wine Library retail enterprise by filming a vlog that combined wine tasting with the informed banter and camaraderie of a show on ESPN.
Food CPG companies often have a tougher time reaching foodbloggers than they’d expect because, unlike Dave Levkow, they don’t always research the individual proclivities of this group. For instance, Elise Bauer of Simply Recipes, one of the largest food bloggers in terms of site traffic and unique visitors (and one of our network bloggers), will not advertise processed or pre-packaged foods on her blog. She’s more open to non-food items than she is to having TV dinners promoted on her site. In order to maintain credibility, foodbloggers must walk their talk. That means if they are vegetarian, whole grain cooks like my co-panelist in Denver, Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks, they would never run meat ads. If she is a scratch cook, she won’t endorse or likely accept advertising for your prepared, baked goods.
Brands like Lefkow’s do so well in this space because they are so in-tuned with their particular niche.
I had prepared my remarks for the conference, but I felt a sudden need to veer off-road: “So I need to tell you about this guy I met on the plane out here … Have any of you heard of BaconSalt?... ”
I never received more questions and post-event follow-up notes. It would seem that Dave’s marketing strategy was as appetizing to this crowd as his product is to baconlovers.
As co-founder and President of Strategic Alliances for BlogHer, Jory Des Jardins is an innovator in online advertising, women's media and Internet entrepreneurship. Jory can be contacted at jory@blogher.com.
Read all Jory’s MediaBizBlogger commentaries at Jory Des Jardin - MediaBizBlogger.