Food and video marketing trends lead to a simple content approach from Mammoth.

Gregg Blanchard   /   Jun 8, 2016

I am not a foodie.

That is an understatement.

Even still, there are so many foodies these days it’s hard to avoid the way food brands market themselves.

For example:

Eggplant Parm Bites INGREDIENTS Servings: 12-14 bites 2-3 medium eggplants, thinly sliced Salt, to taste 8-10 basil leaves, chopped 15 ounces ricotta cheese, drained of excess moisture 1 cup mozzarella cheese 1/2 cup parmesan cheese 4 eggs, beaten, divided Flour Italian seasoned bread crumbs Oil for frying Marinara sauce for dipping PREPARATION 1. Slice the eggplant and lay out on a paper towel lined baking sheet. 2. Generously salt the eggplant on both sides and leave to sit for 30 minutes to soften and draw out excess moisture. 3. In a medium mixing bowl add the basil, ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, and one egg (beaten). Mix together. 3. Blot off the water and excess salt from the eggplant with additional paper towels. 4. Picking two equal sized eggplant slices, sandwich about a tablespoon of the ricotta mixture between the slices and place on a wax paper lined baking tray. 5. Freeze for 30 minutes to one hour. 6. In three separate bowls, place the flour, bread crumbs, and the remaining three eggs, beaten. 7. Remove eggplant from the freezer and coat each first in flour, then egg, then bread crumbs. Coat once more in egg and a final time in the bread crumbs. Place back in the freezer while you prepare to fry. 8. In a large saucepan, heat oil to 350˚F (180˚C). Fry eggplant in batches, three at a time, until nicely browned on all sides. 9. Remove and place on a paper towel lined plate to drain off any excess oil. Sprinkle with salt. 10. Serve with marinara sauce. Enjoy!

A video posted by Tasty (@buzzfeedtasty) on May 31, 2016 at 4:03pm PDT

This top-down, sped-up view is everywhere. And, thanks to the quickly decreasing attention spans of viewers, it works.

The video above has over 400,000 views on Instagram alone and another 36,000,000 on Facebook. When you look at Tasty’s (part of BuzzFeed) Facebook videos, you routinely see videos with 10,000,000-30,000,000 views. Some even reach nearly 100,000,000.

And it’s not just the big guns. With the size and format such a great fit for video distribution channels, one of my wife’s favorite food blogs, Mel’s Kitchen Cafe, has started using the style as well.

It's a S'mores Hershey Kiss Blossom Cookie kind of day. Search "s'mores cookie" on my website for the full recipe or copy and paste this URL (plus you can see the full minute long version of that cute video in the post): http://www.melskitchencafe.com/smores-hershey-kiss-blossom-cookies/ #smores #foodvideo

A video posted by Mel (@melskitchencafe) on Apr 7, 2016 at 1:01pm PDT

Just like skiers like to consume edits in a certain style and length, so do food lovers.

And if that’s the way they like to consume their content and many resorts place high priority on food quality and the dining experience, what Mammoth has been experimenting with is really, really smart.

Shared directly to their ski-heavy Facebook page, it still managed 12,000 views and 31 shares.

But I also like this content approach for a few additional reason.

1. It shows how their food is made and, more specifically, it doesn’t come from a “can” or sit under lights which is a key part of their story.
2. It highlights specific items on their menu in a way that, even if they try making it at home, makes you interested to try in person.
3. It’s fairly simple to edit. Not a shoot->upload flow, mind you, but with no narration, one main camera angle + a couple close ups, and fast pace, it’s fairly straightforward and repeatable.

I really like the idea here.

Mammoth realized one of their products didn’t fit the typical ski style, identified what was content creation techniques working in that vertical, and blended that style into their own with good results.

Well played.