Digitas and Partners Talk Eat the Book at NewFronts

At Digitas' NewFronts presentation this year, the agency once again highlighted content developed alongside KitchenAid. At last year's NewFronts, Digitas debuted a trailer for a documentary focusing on sexism in the culinary industry, titled A Woman's Place. In addition to KitchenAid, Digitas worked alongside Ventureland, Vox Creative and director Rayka Zehtabchi on the documentary, which focused on three female chefs' attempts to break through in a male-dominated field. The project was noticed by Reese Witherspoon's media company Hello Sunshine, leading to another partnership where up-and-coming women chefs took center stage. Eat the Book Hello Sunshine head of brand partnerships Zoe Fairbourn explained that shared values are a prerequisite for the company's brand partnerships. "We need to have a mission alignment [for brand partnerships]. KitchenAid is very mission-aligned with Hello Sunshine," Fairbourn explained at today's event. "We knew they had the appetite for storytelling, and seeing what they did for A Woman's Place, … we wanted to work with them in a meaningful way." "KitchenAid is a brand that understands different types of storytelling outside a typical ad format," she added. Digitas svp, creative Laura Keeler moderated the NewFronts discussion of Eat the Book, the resulting digital series pairing Reese's Book Club authors with female chefs for a meal inspired by each book. Fairbourn was joined by actress and author Tembekile "Tembi" Locke, whose book From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily and Finding Home was among those featured in the series, and KitchenAid brand manager Priyanka Rathore. "Both brands have a female-forward mission, and my story is about three generations of women, so it felt organic and like a place I could lean into [while elevating] this wonderful female chef," Locke said. "I leapt at the opportunity." While the production faced some limitations due to the pandemic, including sidelining a planned dinner party finale, it also found audiences longing for connection and brought together elements associated with the book clubs they couldn't attend in person. "This was one of the best projects where I've seen collaboration from [many partners]," Rathore said, "bringing reach to new audiences and making deep connections with them that traditional advertising won't deliver." Media-fueled creativity Eat the Book exemplifies an approach Digitas called "media-fueled creativity," which Digitas head of content, North America Mark Book explained included utilizing content as a long-term investment for clients. Efforts like A Woman's Place and Eat the Book require substantial time and effort to produce, but the result is content with much more longevity than traditional advertising. Eat the Book, for example, is now extending its reach through a partnership with Condé Nast to live on Bon Appétit's video-on-demand channels. Book alluded to further possibilities afforded by partnerships in the travel and hospitality industries. "The idea of investing in this type of long-form content is once [clients] do it they want to continue to do it because they see the ROI, the earned media potential and the longevity of that potential," Book told Adweek. As audiences continue to flock to streaming platforms, another benefit brands gain for such content is prime promotion and placement on such platforms acquired entertainment content typically isn't afforded. "Some clients think of campaigns [in terms of the] next quarter. For this kind of stuff, we have usage rights for five years," Book continued. "This is not just a one-and-done opportunity. The more we champion that with clients, the more they see this may be a longer upfront investment but it pays dividends." Digitas Makes This Clear at NewFronts: Nothing Is More Important Than Trust Right Now

NewFronts

Digitas' NewFronts Presentation Focused on Strength of Content Partnerships

The agency discussed series Eat the Book Hello Sunshine with KitchenAid and author Tembi Locke

Eat the Book

Erik Oster

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

Eat the Book

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Erik Oster