- Eat wholesomely
What I get from Jamie O's tutelage on diet sums up like this: home cooking with fresh, in-season, local ingredients and balance the food groups. And the sick thing about this, it's actually easy to do. His recipes will keep you curious, happy and healthy.
- Spend your time doing the things you love to do
This is not an original idea, but Jamie O personifies this. When I first saw Jamie on TV I thought this is weird, he looks, talks and acts like a celebrity, but he's a chef, aren't celebrities suppose to be music stars, sports heroes, actors – not chefs'? Then the light went on, his celebrity comes from the fact that he loves what he does, he's inventive at what he does, and people feed off of that, in his case both figuratively and literally.
- Be cool with your brethren
So Jamie O is cool, his friends are cool, but what is really cool is his commitment to others. He launched his apprentice program with Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Restaurant and grew the legacy through the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation. Famously he travelled to America to expose their off-the-track food consumption habits and helped bring healthy food options into their schools. Along the way he exposed Pink Slime as a filler for hamburgers – and got McDonald's (U.S.) to change their recipe.
- Include a killer native mobile App in your digital diet
You have two options when wandering through the market wondering what fab dish to make for your dinner guests, go with what you know or reach for your smart phone and launch a foodie app that on the spot gives you ideas and a list of the needed ingredients to do something special. Yes, Jamie O has both a free app, his gift to you, and paid apps.(For those readers who are wondering why he's giving it away for free read on.)Actually it's only partially free, based on the 'freemium' model, there is no download fee and it offers some great free content but after that content is fee based a la carte.
- Why go with the freemium model?
It's more likely that people will download a free app, which is great because it gets your brand onto users phones. Once people get hooked on the content and if the user experience is good, users are likely to start paying for content, one nibble at a time.
Jamie O's app does this brilliantly, offering enough useful free content that keeps you returning to the app while displaying gorgeous photos of the items behind the paywall.
- If the app has the content you want and is convenient, is it cannibalizing his own book sales?
No. The app probably boosts his book sales. Jamie Oliver is a brand and in today's increasingly mobile world one of the most effective platforms for gaining and entrenching customer loyalty is through a native mobile app. The digital exposure will draw in new customers by whetting their appetite for more Jamie content, like say, a beautifully photographed cookbook.
- What other boost can this free app offer Jamie Oliver the brand?
Word-of-mouth 'sharing', which of course the app enables so conveniently.
- What advantages does Jamie's mobile app offer over a well functioning mobile website?
The app is his ecosphere built to his specifications and needs so he can shut out third party clutter that interferes with his message and his products. Forget about the competition, this is Jamie's world. Imagine walking into an athletic footwear store and the shelves only have Adidas for sale… welcome to the Adidas app.
Apps also let you take advantage of hardware capabilities like the camera. If your favourite wine store had an app that allowed you to take pictures of your wine purchases, rate them and then help you pair them with food, wine pairing with Jamie O's 'pan-baked pork chops with herby potatoes, parsnips, pears and minted bread sauce' might be very simple.
Geolocation is another hardware capability that can boost app value. If you have several locations, a user launching the app can immediately pinpoint your nearest location drawing a straight line between them and you.
- One last word. Subscribe.
You download the app, Jamie offers great content, you like it, you get free stuff and then you subscribe.
Well done Jamie. Your inspiration in the kitchen, your activism in helping others achieve their potential, your marketing sense, are all rock and roll 100%.
\Mainstreet Equity Corp. is a publicly-traded (TSX: MEQ) residential real estate company in Canada. Mainstreet currently owns and operates properties in Surrey, BC; New Westminster, BC; Abbotsford, BC; Calgary, AB; Cochrane, AB; Lethbridge, AB; Edmonton, AB; Fort Saskatchewan, AB; and Saskatoon, SK.
Mainstreet provides affordable, renovated apartment suites to Canadians, and is committed to creating real value without diluting shareholder interests.