Food Network launches cupcakes iPad app with Pillsbury

By Natan Edelsburg 

The Food Network has launched a brand new iPad app that leverages the beauty of the display to showcase a very guilty pleasure — cupcakes. The app features 55 cupcake and frosting recipes from FN talent, kitchens, and shows; scrumptious cupcake categories (cupcake centerpieces, cupcakes for dinner, hall of fame and more); how-to videos; and interactive decorating tips.

Another great feature about the app is that you don’t need to be connected to the internet to use it, except to view the videos. The beautiful photographs of cupcakes is an amazing compliment to shows like the Food Network’s Cupcake Wars, a show that pretty much forces you to go find the nearest cupcake shop immediately after. Both the economics behind the app (including sponsor Pillsbury) and the way it was built are creative ways to extend the network’s content beyond linear.

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We spoke to Bob Madden, GM and VP of online brands for the Food Network and Cooking Channel. He described that the app is a, “totally focused content experience around cupcakes.” The app isn’t trying to create a co-viewing experience necessarily, instead it’s hoping to be a resource and guide for cupcake lovers and bakers alike. They also built the app, “100% in house on Adobe,” and that “engineers didn’t need to touch,” the creation, proving how important and potentially easy it can be to create fun network-branded experiences on the second screen that don’t require endless budgets.

The app is $2.99 to download in the app store, because Madden and his team are launching this as more of a magazine, cookbook type product. Pillsbury has even launched with them as the sole sponsor, proving once again that networks and brands can create content together on new platforms in a digital and mobile environment.

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