Tastemade, the streaming media company behind the Emmy-nominated series, Struggle Meals, is entering into its first brand partnership with Walmart for two holiday cooking episodes airing on November 19 and December 17th. The episodes can be viewed on Tastemade’s streaming network, as well as YouTube, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
Become the best CRMer you can:
CRM Hack: measuring the right marketing campaign KPIs
How To: use loyalty data to power retention and reactivation
See how brands take their email deliverability to the max
Get inspired: great sports betting campaigns to follow
Struggle Meals viewers will be able to seamlessly shop Walmart for holiday recipe ingredients and get them delivered or pick them up curbside using Walmart’s pickup & delivery service for delivery or curbside pickup. The preference for shopping online – even for groceries – has grown markedly since the pandemic struck.
At the same time, people who normally ate had to adapt to eating at home. Even if they had access to takeout, some preferred to cook either to economize or to just fill the empty hours when stuck at home, and one industry’s loss proved another’s gain, as we saw in Not Your Mother’s Tupperware Party.
While Walmart’s eCommerce sales soared, so did media content, and the concept of Struggle Meals, hosted by Chef Frankie Celenza, was perfect for consumers who sought guidance in preparing economical meals as easily as possible. The series can boast an audience of over a million viewers a week.
“We know Chef Frankie Celenza has a massive, loyal fan following,” observed Mary Schulke, Associate Director, Strategic Partnerships at Walmart.
Accordingly, she is certain the holiday cooking shows will be a hit that will lead to increased sales as they shop for the ingredients involved. The folks at Tastemade concur.
Chef Frankie declared: “It’s been awesome to work with Walmart to give our engaged and passionate audience a special gift when they need it most, making the recreation of these meals at home as convenient and cost-saving as possible. The ability to text and instantly purchase recipe ingredients through the Walmart app is quick and simple, which we know our fans will appreciate during the busiest time of the year.”
Not all their audience members extend their love of the show to Walmart, as indicated by the comments on the Struggle Meals Facebook page. But certainly, making it easier to buy through Walmart than through any other means while watching the show would at least tip the balance in the retailer’s favor for those who may have had only neutral feelings about it.