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A recent USA Today article brings to light the growing trend of referring to food products as “artisan, ” with the number of “artisan” products in store shelves having doubled in the last four years. The word “artisan” implies that a product has been created with care by a craftsperson, yet these seem to be mass-marketed and -produced products. (Nevermind the fact that the ”artisan” refers to to craftsperson, while “artisanal” refers to the product itself.)
Now, when a company sub-brands its product as “artisan,” as is the case with Tostitos chips or Domino’s Pizza, what does that say about the rest of their products? Seems to me that the flip-side to going up-market with a sub-brand is that you’re admitting some sort of deficiency in the rest of your products. At the very least, it raises questions…
- Are “regular” Tostitos not as tasty as their “artisan” counterparts?
- If my “artisinal” Domino’s pizza is hand-crafted, what about the rest of their pizzas?
Like “organic” and “natural” before it, “artisan”seems to be the next ill-defined food buzzword.
As Marty mentioned in a previous post, the new Delicious design is a little wonky, and no longer pumps content to our blog and Twitter account. So here’s a roundup of articles I’ve stumbled across over the past month that you may find interesting:
- Two sides of an argument/book review about the value of unpaid internships in the modern workforce
- Compelling infographics on voice recognition applications, inspired by the launch of the iPhone 4S
- Scott Adams (Dilbert) on creativity, and the stifling thereof
- A press release for an academic article on learning while sleeping
- We’ve posted several entries about publishers moving content online, but here are some folks who are moving in the opposite direction
- On confidence
- The End of the Future
- “Creative Class” around the globe
- There is no evidence supporting auditory and visual learning…(some psychologists say…)
- The back story on Lorem Ipsum
- Tumblr on the up and up
The U.S. Census Bureau Center for Economic Studies has long supported (for the past ~5 years) an online system for pulling area-based employment and residence data using a visual map-based selection tool called OnTheMap. This software is fairly intuitive and fun to use, but can also be quite useful in exploring a specific market or region to understand where workers live and work, and how that has changed over time.
OnTheMap is useful for more than work location, however. It’s a multi-layered mapping tool, with companion data on demographics, earnings, industry characteristics. We’ve also used it to identify exact metropolitan statistical areas and radius ranges, to find transportation routes, greenspace, and tribal and military lands, and to simply better understand a physical marketplace.
For years, organizations like the Census Bureau relied heavily on point-in-time estimates, tables of statistics and physical and static maps for data exploration like this. As new systems come online, are developed further, and improved over successive versions, our ability to access information from our desktops is not only facilitated but empowered.
Infomous is a dynamic and intuitive navigation solution – perhaps soon to pop up on websites you visit. Web developers for content-rich sites have integrated word cloud and tablet-style flip navigation over the past few years, but this is a solution that seems to combine aspects of both: reference triggers and dynamic script. The tool is currently available in preview/beta version through a relationship with the provider, but will roll out later this year, ready for embed. More info at Infomous – they have a demo up for world news, a version for sports news, entertainment news, science news. It’s easy to explore and find links to try.
As a food enthusiast I’ve become addicted to watching the Food Network as well as following which chefs make it out alive on Bravo’s Top Chef. What still amazes me though, are the personal brands these chefs have created. Rachael Ray, Emeril Lagasse, Paula Deen, and of course the original celebrity chef, Wolfgang Puck, have all engineered successful food product lines or cookware franchises. When do these chefs find time to cook between multiple TV shows, books, endorsements, product lines, and appearances?
Today, the mark of a celebrity chef seems to be more about their branded merchandise than their restaurants. As more and more consumers turn to celebrity chefs not only for recipes, but for nutritional and lifestyle information as well, their credibility and brand equity continues to grow. The secret ingredient in the celebrity chef recipe however, is personality. Each chef has a signature style that sets them apart, from the “Domestic Goddess” Nigella Lawson to the hot-tempered Rocco Dispirito. The identities they create are often more important than the food they cook. Take for example, The Food Network’s series, The Next Food Network Star. The candidates are hardly professional chefs, and many are self-taught. Instead of culinary expertise, they compete for their own cooking show based on their unique personality and point of view.
“Celebrity” is no longer an adequate term for these culinary moguls. Their new name is “super chef”. Just look at “Naked Chef” Jamie Oliver’s empire. His show, Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, aims to educate kids and parents about healthy eating. He also has five restaurants, fourteen cookbooks, and an entire collection of products ranging from cookware and tableware to product lines including spices, meats, and everything in between. He even endorses his own line of wood fired ovens. Food critics are bothered by the lack of time these chefs actually spend in the kitchen, but fanatic followers clearly could care less, myself included. I’ve been coveting Giada de Laurentiis’ Target cookware line for weeks. Now, not only can I watch my favorite celebrity chef’s show, but I can emulate her in the kitchen as well. According to Nielsen, celebrity chef branded products and restaurant sales increased 12.6% in 2010. Additionally, cookbook sales rose by 5% in 2010, despite a 4% decline in total book sales. By defining not only their culinary style, but personality, charm, and authority, these chefs have risen to the status of movie stars and athletes. Forget Brad Pitt, I’ll take Bobby Flay any day.
Google has released its Zeitgeist 2010, highlighting the search trends for the past year. What’s up, what’s down, what do we care about? There’s a lot of information to look at here, but in a year that the United States saw mid-term elections and a host of other contentious issues the fastest rising queries included:
- iPad
- chatroulette
- iPhone4
- World Cup
- Justin Bieber
You can find additional trends for rising and falling terms across news, image, maps, etc. here.
Interesting little infographic from Newsweek about the differences between books and e-books.
Few fans of the magazine Gourmet expected the November issue of 2009 to be its last. However, a struggling economy, along with the internet, has made it hard for many magazines to survive.
After nearly 70 years, publisher Condé Nast abruptly stopped production of the monthly magazine due to lack of advertising sales and a shift in consumer interest. At the time of Condé Nast’s decision, both Gourmet and its sister magazine, Bon Appétit, were struggling with ad sales. Bon Appétit made the cut. Gourmet didn’t. Bon Appétit was offered as a substitute for Gourmet for the remainder of almost one million subscriptions.
Since then a slight margin (a slim 20 percent to be exact) of past Gourmet subscribers have chosen to switch to Bon Appétit. This seems odd for such highly dedicated and long-term subscribers. The lack of transferred subscriptions poses a hard question. Why did Condé Nast choose not to research the niche market of such an obviously successful magazine like Gourmet in order to keep those dedicated subscribers?
On the cover, the magazines look similar. Both share great recipes. Both feature articles about food, culture, and politics. However, the audiences of each magazine differ greatly. This is evidenced through both magazines advertisements as well as their contrasting takes on good living. Gourmet was luxurious and indulgent. It stressed extravagant travel and an elitist lifestyle. Bon Appétit stresses a comfortable home life, centering on family cooking. It offered complex, yet more accessible recipes.
While many Gourmet readers feel heartbroken about no longer receiving the magazine each month, Condé Nast’s decision makes good sense, especially when considering the economic forecast that sunk Gourmet. Foodies aren’t paying for exotic trips to experience food anymore. They’re cooking at home with their families, growing their own gardens, or buying local food. Despite a large fan base, Gourmet’s attention to life’s luxuries and hefty subscription fees failed to keep advertisers interested. In the case of Gourmet and many other magazines, ad money trumps readership and loyalty.
But after loosing 800,000 subscribers, it seems that Condé Nast missed a really great chance to study their Gourmet readers. The magazine may have been out-of-touch with the current economic reality, but its subscribers were still writing checks every year. If Condé Nast saw the end of Gourmet magazine in sight, why not find out what it was that appealed to readers and kept some subscribing for decades. That sort of insight would have been exactly what Condé Nast could have used to align Bon Appétit toward the views and preferences of Gourmet’s readers in order to boost the number of subscription transfers and keep those loyal consumers.
