Food photography surrounds us – from the proliferation of Foodstagrams, to food brands cleverly satiating appetites with mouth-watering food shots and recipes. But why the obsession with a gastro-centric lifestyle?

Food equals familiarity

The collective food fascination can be attributed to a yearning for something familiar, says Sheard. As a comprehensive content solutions provider, Greatstock has strong relationships with leading agencies and major brands dedicated to producing quality food content.

“In an ephemeral world of touch screens and technology, human beings long to connect with something familiar,” says Sheard. “Eating and food is intrinsic to the evolution of social gatherings as we know them – it’s no wonder food is used as a shared bonding experience.”

Sheard links this gastronomic fixation to a desire to better understand how our food is sourced, as well as the rise of the home cook after the Recession. Baking and super-juiced health trends have also contributed to food obsession. Smart brands are using this as leverage to promote their products with nuanced food content.

The struggle with stock

The high cost of original shoots, balanced with the need for unique material makes food content creation a struggle all its own. Time pressure and shortage of resources can make it difficult to produce and publish quality content – food needs to be styled properly, recipes tested and copy perfectly crafted.

StockFood to nibble on
With a great understanding of these challenges, Greatstock offers access to an exclusive collection, StockFood, designed to provide brands with a constant source of content to connect with their audiences through food. Greatstock’s world-class StockFood content hub includes a versatile and well-polished, original and relevant collection of food images, videos and feature articles.

Who’s got it?
If you keep an eye out, you’ll notice a number of food brands winning at creating and using food content to connect with their audiences, says Sheard. USA-based retailer Whole Foods is renowned for their recipe repository, while local foodies Nomu and Woolworths know exactly how to whet their audience’s appetite with stunning food content.

Brands as far afield as Whirlpool are even using food to communicate with potential customers. Their latest ad series features an up-close-and-personal pizza-making, as well as the vivid creation of a chocolate cake – to market a microwave and dishwasher respectively. The most recent collection of tantalising commercials by coffee brand Carte Noire has also garnered much attention for its sensory immersion, bringing the viewer so close to food they can almost taste it.

Snackable content
“Consumers simply devour recipes and food-related content,” says Sheard. “Food is sensory and sensual – we no longer eat to live, we live to eat. And the shrewdest brands are those who know how to whisper their brand messaging seductively, through beguiling food content.”

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