Marketer Feeds Social Media’s Hunger for Food

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Marketer Feeds Social Media’s Hunger for Food
Seat at Table: Alex Kakoyiannis at marketing firm Mothersauce in Hollywood.

Alex Kakoyiannis is passionate about food. But he didn’t want to get into the notoriously fickle restaurant world, where even experienced operators often flop.

Instead, he decided to launch a marketing agency that caters to the food industry. More importantly, he’s betting that companies selling everything from tech to cars to fashion are willing to hire his firm, Hollywood’s Mothersauce, to promote their goods through foodie channels, especially online.

Kakoyiannis’ main challenge is drawing eyeballs away from amateur food enthusiasts’ Instagram pages to his ads instead.

“It used to be brands would have to compete against other brands,” said Kakoyiannis. “But now they’re competing against X-blogger that’s shooting beautiful stuff.”

The idea behind three-year-old Mothersauce goes beyond promoting restaurants, chefs, food and kitchenware, although the firm counts as clients Van Nuys’ La Brea Bakery and KitchenAid, a subsidiary of Benton Charter Township, Mich., appliance giant Whirlpool Corp.

Kakoyiannis also wants to help mainstream brands such as former clients Lexus and Yahoo Inc. leverage foodie culture’s popularity for their own products, targeting consumers who would rather read blogs about beer and ramen than flip through glossy magazines.

Mothersauce has brought in $2 million in revenue this year, he said. He plans to add two or three employees to his current staff of three in the next year.

Kakoyiannis started Mothersauce at the same time traditional advertising and marketing firms have been struggling to satisfy the needs of foodcentric clients. That’s been exacerbated by so-called food porn’s domination of social media – imagine mouth-watering photographs of steak tacos garnished with kimchi or red velvet cupcakes coated in white buttery frosting.

David Spiegelman, creative director for the digital sector at Hollywood hospitality PR firm Wagstaff Worldwide, said that’s forced marketers to up their game and get comfortable with the new social media-driven conversation – or risk being left behind.

“There’s no way to be in this industry if you’re not insanely passionate about food,” he said. “There are now apps, bloggers, Instagrammers, YouTubers, Pinners, Viners – you name the outlet, there’s someone using that platform to influence customer food decisions.”

Ryan Fey, co-founder and chief brand officer at Culver City ad agency Omelet, said that food companies that want to make a splash in today’s competitive digital landscape need to raise their creativity game.

“Food has been marketed to death, so if you’re going to focus on that industry, you better have a brilliant mind,” he said.

Right recipe

Kakoyiannis, 42, began his career at billboard company Clear Channel in New York before co-founding Navigame, a now-defunct company that helped brands use video games as marketing platforms. In 2002, he moved to Los Angeles to work in entertainment media and marketing. But seeing the surge of attention surrounding L.A.’s restaurant and cooking world convinced him to try a different tack.

So, in 2012 he created the Culinary Agency, which this month switched to a new name with a lot more personality: Mothersauce. It refers to the five essential – or “mother” – sauces of traditional French cuisine.

“If you’ve mastered those, you’ve liberated yourself and can go out and do anything you want to do,” said Kakoyiannis, drawing a parallel to his own marketing ambitions.

He envisions Mothersauce as a one-stop shop for brand strategy, marketing and creative content production. The firm also does consulting for early stage companies such as restaurant-review app ChefsFeed. It already has helped chefs who want to establish a brand, such as pastry maven Ashton Warren, who baked a s’mores-flavored cake in a video commissioned by Yahoo.

But hitting the right notes isn’t always easy, especially given the enthusiasm and opinionated nature of the foodie world. When KitchenAid hired Kakoyiannis to create a video promoting its siphon coffeemaker, he anticipated scrutiny from coffee connoisseurs who have extremely strong views on their stimulant of choice. So Kakoyiannis turned the camera on the item’s designers, showcasing their dedication to producing a beautiful appliance.

“They were the same sort of enthusiastic, cool designers that are at startups – they just happen to be working at KitchenAid,” said Kakoyiannis. “I felt like we needed to emotionally engage – and do it with people.”

His current social media campaign for La Brea Bakery, a client for the past three years, also focuses on people. The campaign’s graphics, photographs and video invite viewers to nominate “heroes” who must work during Thanksgiving. Five participants will win full Thanksgiving meals delivered to their home.

“Whether it be their mom or a firefighter or someone working retail,” he said, “the sentiment is that we’re part of your table.”

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