The fourth BSME Lockdown Lunch was broadcast on Wednesday 20 May, where we spoke to three editors of the country’s top food media brands about how they are feeding the passions of their readers during this unprecedented time.
BSME Vice Chair and moderator, Laura Rowe, (Editor, olive magazine) led the conversation with:
Karen Barnes, Editor, delicious. magazine
Christine Hayes, Group Editor-in-Chief, BBC Good Food
Gaby Huddart, BSME Vice Chair and Editor-in-Chief Good Housekeeping & Group Editorial Director Hearst Lifestyle & Homes
10 Things We Learnt:
Summarised by Alexandra Meunier
BA journalism student, Roehampton University
1. People’s habits have changed: Cooking has taken a central place in people’s lives. Now they have the time to be creative in the kitchen, it has also become a form of entertainment.
It is about “creating something special out of something difficult” explains Karen Barnes, Editor of Delicious. Others are just craving normalcy; they are on a “hunt for simplicity” believes Gaby Huddart, Editor of Good Housekeeping. For some it is simply about finding “new challenges” adds Karen Barnes.
2. The choice of content is different… And it has been largely influenced by the Covid-19 situation. People are relying a lot more on store cupboard ingredients due to food shortages explains Karen Barnes.
Food editors have had to teach their audience on how to make do with what they have at home. They also started to include more ‘no eggs’ and ‘no flour’ recipes.
Christine Hayes, Group Editor-in-Chief of BBC Good Food and olive notes that the way people view cooking and search for recipes has been affected by the lockdown. She notes four different stages.
The first being a use of food publications to find help and explanations, the second to seek ways to avoid boredom, the third to search comforting food recipes and the last one to discover methods to improve their health.
3. The focus has shifted: If newsstands sales are declining, due to shop closures and people staying at home, subscriptions sales are up, shares Christine Hayes. Online the situation is also looking bright as “digital traffic is off the charts” reveals Gaby Huddart.
4. Digital content is on the rise: Food editors are creating more digital content to be where their audience need them now. Christine Hayes mentions how BBC Good Food has had to rewrite its videos strategy to focus on what their audience really needed. Karen points out the rise of cooking videos on IGTV and the growing number of brands and people establishing themselves online.
5. The relationship with the audience has transformed: Social media is great to interact with your audience and create a sense of community. Making your team available for people’s questions and concerns will have a great impact on the way your publication is perceived.
Christine mentions the importance of adding a personal touch when engaging with your customers as your actions will be remembered post Covid-19.
6. Learning more about their readers: The immediacy of the internet helps teams learn more about their audience’s needs and enables these brands to quickly adapt their response to match their interests.
Gaby Huddart reminds us that data is an incredible tool for publications as it gives access to a “depth of knowledge” concerning their audience’s habits and behaviours. This will be useful to create successful content in months to come.
7. New ways of working: As the pandemic has affected all of us, news ways of working have surfaced. Gabby Huddart talks about a new tendency of “working closer to print deadlines” as circumstances tend to change quickly. Christine Hayes mentions the use of programmes such as Zoom, Trello and a ticket system to keep track and stay organized remotely.
Laura Rowes, editor of olive takes notice of a “collaborative spirit” between teams and across brands that has proven to be very helpful and uplifting. Panellists praise the incredible work of their teams, putting further emphasis on their ability to adapt and move fast.
8. Community’s pillars: Food publications will play an essential part in supporting not only people but also smaller and local companies as times ahead promise to get tough.
Christine Hayes explains how brands can help make a difference. She shares the example of a paid BBC Good Food commission asking several UK-based chefs to write a piece on the food culture in their hometown.
9. Things will hopefully change: There is a lack of certainty coming from the advertising industry, which is a challenge for the whole media industry. However, this will be temporary as “thriving businesses will want to connect with us” says Gabby Huddart.
10. Leading the way: Food publications will have “a massive role to play in what’s coming” insists Gaby Huddart. Times will get difficult while the country slowly tries to get back to ‘normal’. As people will be struggling, food publications will be here to help provide comfort and guidance.
We’re aiming to run a BSME Lockdown Lunches every other Wednesday at 12pm. Register now for our next online discussion on Wednesday 3 June at 12 noon
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Jasmina Matulewicz, BA journalism student at Roehampton University
