Creating a meaningful brand experience
It can be a rare occasion in the marketing and tech realms when your work aligns with your personal values and contributes to the progress you want to see in the world. I currently lead brand marketing at OpenTable, and since we launched the new brand, I’ve aimed to lead by example and show how brand efforts can add incremental value to business and society when approached in a thoughtful and authentic manner.
Earlier this week, we held our next Connected event at Plant Food + Wine in Venice, CA, the evening before World Vegetarian Day. Plant is a recent addition to the Abbot Kinney scene, but it’s one of many plant-based institutions created by Matthew Kenney, with the kitchen helmed by celebrated vegan chef Scott Winegard. Their food is not only delicious and nourishing, it’s local, seasonal and quite simply, a work of art.
With vegetarian food this good, how can one not want to share it with your friends, and the world?
The event was “progressive” in nature: First, a cocktail hour with passed appetizers in the restaurant’s main dining room, followed by a tour of the culinary academy in session upstairs, then a multi-course family style dinner in the beautiful outdoor garden patio.
A diverse group of Angelenos gathered around the table, ranging from chefs & restauranteurs, writers, designers, influential people in the vegan food world, animal rights advocates, dinner party hosts…even farmers who are key partners with many restaurants in the local area. New connections were forged, stories were shared and guests stayed well into the evening having that one last sip of organic wine under twinkling lights in a canopy of fig & olive trees with the harvest moon shining brightly in the nighttime sky.
It was so rewarding to see that everyone was having a great time — comfortable in each others company, genuinely appreciative to have been invited and thoroughly enjoying an amazing plant-based meal. (Everyone wished for seconds of the Zucchini Cacio E Pepe dish!) Most rewarding for me personally, was getting the chance to introduce the event with Matthew Kenney, reuniting with friends from when I had lived in LA a few years ago, sharing a meal with plant-based fitness & nutrition icon Brendan Brazier (one of my heroes since I became vegan) and meeting Stephanie Nicora, founder of Nicora Shoes.
Brendan and I talked about his latest venture, Refuel — a smart nutrition app that tells athletes when to rehydrate and refuel during and after activity based on certain factors such as heart rate, pace/speed and altitude. I admire his commitment and personal approach to fitness yet how he’s keenly interested in exploring how technology can help athletes reach their full potential. Stephanie invited me to tour her vegan shoe factory the following day, so of course I took her up on her offer. I left the time with her inspired by how she’s focused on her “corner of influence” in the world, and how her company and team are taking a truly innovative approach to American handmade, cruelty-free shoes. These are just two personal experiences from the evening that I will remember for some time, and will hopefully lead to future working relationships.
Beyond the personal win, the event was a win for the OpenTable brand.
We created and shared a memorable experience with the restaurant, the guests and the LA community in such a way that I hope sets the stage for future brand efforts in a similar vein. For those who are interested in more experiential brand and event marketing, I thought it worth sharing on Medium our approach and each component of what made this particular event a success.
Creating a strong concept
Connected was created to be an ongoing series of talks and gatherings that brings together the restaurant and tech worlds with food, drink and local culture. On the surface, a concept built on the notion of connection seems anything but unique. Too many brands claim to enable conversation and connection when in reality people are experiencing fewer true connections than ever before. Yet with OpenTable, our brand purpose is to connect restaurants, guests and communities around the restaurant table. Every night, memorable moments do take place when people gather to share a great meal.
For a tech brand, the ability to tap into a real, human experience and build your brand from there is invaluable.
So it’s with this foundation that the Connected series is intended to be an experience-driven representation of the brand, with each new event relevant to both broader and local culture.
Taking a progressive, cultural point-of-view
For this particular event, I wanted to share a progressive and current point-of-view, to provoke thought and discourse around existing cultural norms and to present a deeper, more meaningful level of connection:
The interconnectedness of plant-forward cuisine and the future of food.
Many chefs and restaurants across the country now feature vegetables at the heart of their menus. Vegetarian and vegan dining experiences are some of the most sought-after culinary experiences in cities across the country. Gone are the days when vegetarians were relegated to salads and sides in lackluster environments; Chefs are crafting cuisine with expert technique and serious attention to flavor. Veganism is now well into the mainstream, defying outdated cultural expectations, with society beginning to realize and embrace that plant-based food can ensure a healthier future for the planet. World Vegetarian Day is intended to bring more awareness to this cultural movement, so hosting the Connected event the evening prior became OpenTable’s way to celebrate vegetarian cuisine and foster true connection to the plant-forward concept.
Considering each component of the event to embody the core concept and the brand
When considering each component of the event, we tried to be authentic to the core concept of the event and to our brand purpose. Additionally, I wanted to make sure that for the restaurant and each guest (and their respective friends & followers) that we created an exceptional experience that would make a lasting impression and future relationship with the brand. It requires a hands-on approach with attention to both the bigger picture and every detail, but I believe it’s worth it in the end.
The place
Both the food and the space of Plant Food + Wine was a perfect place to host this event. I have never seen food presented quite so beautifully, and the flavor and inventiveness definitely lives up to Matthew Kenney Cuisine’s tagline: crafting the future of food. Their space is beautiful, too. The dining room is warm and inviting, with the evening sun streaming through the windows. Once you step foot into the outdoor garden patio, you’re immediately at ease in a serene, romantic environment where you know you’ll want to stay awhile.
The community
Location indeed matters. The produce bounty in California is unrivaled, and Los Angeles has always been a continually-evolving, progressive city. So it’s no wonder that LA has been at the forefront of vegetarian and vegan cuisine. Plant Food + Wine sits at the Northern end of Abbot Kinney Boulevard, the famous strip in the heart of Venice Beach. Not only are they sharing a unique experience with visitors and locals alike, they’re now part of the fabric of the neighborhood.
The people
We invited many different local “influencers”, but I feel it’s important to consider different definitions of what it means to be influential. Yes, some of the guests had a very large social following which helped us gain additional reach and exposure for the brand, yet they needed to have a good aesthetic that aligned with the brand. Most of the guests, however, were influential in their own right. I didn’t care if someone had only a handful of followers — if their profession or personal endeavors aligned with the core concept and he or she brought a unique perspective to the conversation, I wanted them there.
Additionally, the event needed to feel inclusive to both vegetarians and non-vegetarians. This couldn’t just be vegans talking to vegans.
Including both those who have made the connection and fully embrace plant-forward cuisine, as well as those who could be surprised, impressed and therefore more interested in it, would ensure relevance to broader culture and embody one of OpenTable’s brand pillars of being warm & welcoming. If we weren’t as lucky to have had such a diversity of people and perspectives join us this past Wednesday evening, the event wouldn’t have been quite the same.
The content
Both offline and online content was created for the event itself as well as the campaign that has since followed, and each piece stems from the core idea. We created an eight-page newsprint that featured the overall concept for the event, profiled some of our favorite restaurants pioneering plant-based cuisine in Southern California, showcased organic farms around the area and provided a recipe from one of the evening’s entrees that guests could make at home. Conversation starters were placed on each table as well. Topics ranging from “The moment that inspired your current path” to “A meal that changed your life” to “The future of food is…” became a nice way to encourage discussion relevant to the evening. The Connected event served not only as a kick-off for World Vegetarian Day, but also a way to enable additional brand and social content tied to the same concept and theme. A small budget meant a focus on earned and owned media — from blog pieces featuring Matthew Kenney, Scott Winegard and expectation-defying vegan dishes, as well as a social and email campaign celebrating innovative plant-forward cuisine and encouraging people to choose vegetarian the next time they dine out with OpenTable. A small effort, however my hope is it opened some hearts and minds to viewing and experiencing plant-based food in a new way.
A lasting impression
Now back home in San Francisco, I begin to rummage through the gift bag we put together for each guest. The bags themselves were unbranded yet “the goodies” were emblematic of the brand and the event. I’ve already consumed the jar of cured black olives, granola and chocolate truffles prepared by the restaurant. Still inside is Kenney’s book, Cooked Raw, which promises to be an inspiring read of how he went from a meat-centric chef who eschewed vegetables to leading the plant-based and raw cuisine movement. Also inside is Brazier’s Thrive Energy Cookbook, an excellent resource for plant-based whole food recipes, and heirloom seeds from The Living Seed Company whose vision stems from the premise “for you — for the children — for the future”.
The day after the event, I received a gracious note from one of the guests. Part of her note included thanking OpenTable for the gift bag. I think it’s relevant to share here:
“No logo!? Thank you. This shows profound good taste and absolute confidence in the customer/consumer. a) It’s a bag I’ll actually use and b) I’ll always remember that OpenTable gave it to me. I like the trust it implies: I don’t need a logo to feel good about myself or to be reminded of OpenTable. And I don’t. As a consistent OT customer, can I say that I’m more committed than ever?”
I hope her sentiment is emblematic of the larger intent with the Connected series and the type of brand marketing I intend to lead — one of fostering real connections and lasting impressions with people, and having a positive impact on both business and society. There are of course many things I would have done differently and we’ve gained good learning to make future efforts even better. Yet, I’m proud of the team, and it was thoroughly enjoyable working with Plant Food + Wine and knowing they greatly benefited from the event as well.
Before I know it, we’ll be devising a concept for the next Connected event — the next city, restaurant and idea. And while the realist in me knows it won’t tie directly to plant-based cuisine and may not be quite as personally gratifying, I know it will involve sharing another great meal in a place equally as enjoyable and interesting, with passionate, intriguing people who I’ll consider myself lucky to have met. Of course I’ll still fight the good fight — speaking up for veganism, a better future and a more thoughtful, meaningful approach to brand marketing. I’d much rather be fighting for progress than not being part of it at all.
