After hearing speakers from Mondelez and Starbucks at QMAC, I started thinking about how fun it would be to promote food and drinks as your day job. Chris Tindal, co-founder of Postmedia Labs, does the next best thing; he oversees the operations of Gastropost.
Since Gastropost’s Toronto launch in May 2012, it has expanded to Edmonton, Vancouver and Calgary, and it now has over 10,000 members. Recognizing its success, I was excited to hear Tindal speak about the content strategy behind Gastropost’s growth. Tindal explained that his team’s goal is to inspire people to love their city by encouraging community members to share their expertise.
Gastropost offers anyone with an internet connection and camera the opportunity to share pictures of food with a large audience. The main incentive to participate in Gastropost’s weekly missions is the chance to see your name and photo in National Post. Each mission has a different theme, such as holiday treats or Father’s Day BBQs. Some themes are created based on brand partnerships between Gastropost and CPG brands, such as Kraft.
Anyone can become a self-proclaimed foodie. Gastropost, however, differentiates amateur food photographers by featuring a selection of food lovers online and in the newspaper every week. 50 likes on your Facebook photo of a fancy appetizer doesn’t qualify as a claim to fame in the same way that being in the National Post does.
Gastropost proves that print newspapers still have value, authority and credibility. There’s no doubt about how exciting it is for a photo of your dinner to be featured in one of Canada’s most popular newspapers. Even though Gastropost doesn’t offer any monetary compensation, the personal validation members receive is evidently sufficient motivation to keep the #gastropost hashtag and community alive. “Every week we send people an email to do something and they do it,” said Tindal. How many email marketers can say that?
Some Gastropost members are so committed to completing the missions that they postpone grocery shopping until receiving a notification of the week’s theme. I’ll admit that I have chosen to eat at certain restaurants because I knew I could order something I could photograph for Gastropost.
In that sense, Gastropost is a vibrant community both online and offline. After Gastropost acquired its first 100 members, they hosted a free event for members to eat, meet and mingle. Tindal explained that many of the meetup attendees were already loyal readers of each other’s food blogs and were grateful for the opportunity to see each other in real life. A new clique formed at the meetup and they continue to meet for monthly dinners.
Gastropost’s direct effect on National Post’s readership is that it encourages younger people to pick up the newspaper’s print edition. The newspaper’s average reader is 47 years old, whereas Gastropost’s members are predominantly in their 20s and 30s. Postmedia Labs’ ability to connect with millennials led them to create more online communities: Each Coach (for runners), Capital Ideas (for entrepreneurs) and The Afterword Reading Society.
Interestingly, Tindal shared that Gastropost members are less competitive than you might expect. Even though telling friends and family about Gastropost creates more competition, when Gastropost shares members’ photos, members eagerly spread the word. That’s how I initially heard about Gastropost: one of its members posted on Twitter that her photo was in the paper, I clicked the link because I was intrigued and the rest is history.
If you want to join Gastropost, sign up for emails about weekly missions and share your pictures!
Brittney Le Blanc, Gastropost Alberta’s community manager explains how it works on the west coast:
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