Insta-piration of the day: donuts and more
Donut or Doughnut? We’re going to go with ‘donut’ seeing as a quick search on Instagram brought up 51,023 photos and counting. Tens of thousands of photographs of donuts. The act of indulging in a warm and moistly sweetened dough of goodness, bombed with sugary crystals or if you were feeling especially daring, covered in velvet chocolate and crunchy nuts – was once privy to an elite few, your loved ones, family or the circle of trust of whom you have dubbed ‘friends’.
The iPhone combined with mobile apps like Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest has taken food porn to a whole new level. Gone are the days when one would knuckle down for an evening of Nigella Feasts in order to satiate their appetite. There is no longer shame in worshipping food, in fact, armed with the iPhone and one of the said social platforms, you can even join the movement – food fashion. As Harry Balzer put it in a recent article, “Food is fashion. You wear your diet like you wear your clothes” and judging by the photographs, some people have taken this literally and are now wearing their donuts on their head…
Food and beverage have always played an integral part of determining your social standing. While it’s not a new trend, what has changed, is that it has become all-inclusive. Anyone armed with an iPhone and Instagram or similar can partake. We have never before taken so many photos of our meals. The geo-tagging and social sharing ability of these apps have propelled food-snapping to an unprecedented place. A place where for many, allows you to show your friends (and the world) that you are ‘cool’ because you get your daily coffee from Manchester Press, or that this isn’t just any tiramisu but a “tiramisu from Jamie’s Italian, Sydney”; or that you’re a domestic goddess (god) who not only works a 60hr job but entertains your dinner guests with 4-course meals.
The ability to design your social status aside, what this offers for cafes, restaurants and food & beverage companies from artisan to large, is a rich opportunity to amplify their brand with this prime social real estate. This is just an example of the opportunities presented to one industry but all retailers will do well to get their heads around this space and start cultivating a distinctive identity, outside of their logo and bricks & mortar stores.
Author: Antonia