The Taste of custom publishing success with Kate Wilson

It proves that true content marketing can be just as innovative and compelling as any other consumer content. Especially as the same issue for March 2018 also just won a Silver at the US Content Council’s Pearl Awards in the category of best print experience (B2C)!

It’s all about finding that balance between credible content and commercial value. We work exceptionally closely with the Woolworths team, and Abigail Donnelly, Taste’s food director is also employed by Woolworths as their chief food creative, which means we speak the same brand language as the client, but also have real insight into Woolworths’ priorities and what content needs to be reinforced.

This also gives us the freedom to innovate within the brand parameters editorially, because we know exactly what those are. And because Woolworths continues to set the standard for products, food trends and creative marketing ahead of other retailers, we have an inspired food-content space in which to operate.

Over the last three years, we have tried to bring Taste’s content in line with how real people cook and eat, rather than aiming above the audience - the idea being that presenting real food solutions and stories in an authentic, valuable way would build stronger connections with the audience and the retailer.

Our biggest challenge is that while we are a Woolworths' brand extension, Taste is also a consumer magazine with a cover price, and to some extent we face all the same challenges that other print media faces today, so it is essential that the content be seen as independently curated and relevant, not merely a hard-sell marketing vehicle.

Providing a credible product to a shifting audience, while also meeting the client’s objectives, is a real balancing act.

The client brief from Woolworths now is that Taste be positioned as the retailer’s food authority but in an accessible way. The brand is also fundamentally different to all of Woolworths’ other marketing in that it is produced independently, so we can tell stories and show Woolworths products in a very authentic, credible way.

The intention is that Taste as a lean-back media experience can offer end-to-end solutions for Woolworths customers who love food, but also have to navigate issues around time and budget.

As the “food authority” in Woolworths’ arsenal of communications, it’s not Taste’s role to drive promotions and specials with a direct-marketing approach, which gives us a lot of freedom to tell authentic stories in the print magazine.

On our digital platforms the same applies, but we are also trying to add value and convenience here and can do so with more agility than we can in print, so we do communicate relevant specials.

For example, via our newsletter, we might match that week’s content to a four-day deal on a particular item like avocados, which makes perfect sense for an audience looking to save money but also needing ideas and inspiration.

Woolworths Taste’s digital platforms are actually by far the biggest part of the audience footprint.

We currently reach over 337,000 consumers across our web and social platforms. Our strategy is to leverage the particular strengths of each platform so that we create unique content – for example, to compete on Facebook, you need to have a strong video offering and ability to engage with your community, while on Instagram strong visual images and in particular sweet, indulgent recipes do very well.

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This ice-cream cake will forever be known as *the* dessert of summer 2018. Take a bow, @sibamtongana. Hit the link in our bio to get the recipe (and watch how it’s made) now.

A post shared by Woolworths TASTE Magazine (@wwtaste) on Dec 10, 2018 at 1:25am PST

Our digital offering is about being able to offer daily solutions every day on whichever platform you happen to find yourself.

To close the loop on the customer journey, all the content is shoppable – either via linked catalogues on social or via a link on Taste, which takes you directly to a Basketed recipe on Woolworths’ online shop, so the shopping experience is seamless. On our digital platforms, consumers should only ever be two clicks away from shopping the exact recipe they are interested in.

Knowing what your customers want and giving it to them is the ultimate in customer experience, so it seems 2019 will be just as tasty for the Taste team! Visit their press office, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram pages and their new TasteTube Youtube channel for the latest updates.