SOCIAL FOODOGRAPHY

The Changing Ways of Discovering, Defining and Displaying Food Content Online 

‘Social Foodography’ is a progression of JWT India Planning’s initiative ‘Juniper Wheat Tabasco: Perspectives on Foods'. In this report, JWT curates digital content from over 50 online sources to explore what the foodies are doing and what the food brands do.

Automotive buyers actively use the internet to research company news on new products and user reviews to help make brand decisions. Mobile phone buyers take pride in being ahead of the curve on new product news and use the internet to build their sense of expertise. Foodies on the other hand contribute to colorful content creation and use the internet to express their creativity. 

The study finds out that there is a gap between what the foodies are doing and what the food brands do. While Indian food brands are going where the Foodies are, they are not doing what the Foodies are doing.  

‘Social Foodography’ explores reasons and resources for brands to curate consistent, visually-compelling, social personas that simultaneously mimic and inspire their target consumer’s Foodie lifestyle. It recommends that aspirational Indian food brands that want to communicate a lifestyle should acknowledge the implications of Social Foodography as a branding vehicle.

For more details on the complete study, please write to mythili.chandrasekar@jwt.com

Are we healthy because we are happy or happy because we are healthy?

JWT Intelligence trend report ‘Health and Happiness: Hand in Hand’  examines the rising notion that a happier person is a healthier person - and, in turn, a healthier person is a happier person. The report looks at what’s driving awareness around the health-happiness connection, how this development is playing out in culture and how marketers can leverage it.

As health has come to be viewed in a more holistic way, with both mind and body taken into account, happiness has been getting folded into the idea of “health and wellness”.

What does it mean for brands? For brands that can bring happiness, emphasizing a health aspect will help create a one-two punch. And for brands that are health-related—whether in nutrition, fitness, etc.—it may be just as or more effective to tout the happiness effects than the medical benefits.  

Several brands globally have already begun to weave the health and happiness interconnectedness into their propositions. Nestle has launched ‘Happily Healthy’ Project, while Campbell Soups has come out with ‘Road to Happiness’ campaign and Lipton has come out with ‘Drink Positive ‘campaign, among others. 

POV: JWT India Planning

Isn’t it interesting to note that while the trend has caught on globally, in a country like ours where the interconnectedness between food, health and happiness has been age old knowledge, not many food brands have taken up this proposition. 

Understanding that ‘Health & Happiness’  is emerging as top propositions that consumers seek globally, and given that this connection has been an age old concept in India, is it time for brands to start spreading happiness through health? Or making us healthier by adding to our happiness quotient?