Project 1
Reflection
My breakthrough while building this paper was during the conference. Before that I had a slight idea of what the task at hand was just from the rubric and my classmates tweets. But after hesitantly turning in my first draft I made my real breakthrough during conference. Talking out my ideas and the objectives cleared the confusion. In my papers you can see the difference because from the start I was focused more on what genre meant and less on what my topic was trying to promote. Rather than immediately beginning with my topic I filtered in definitions and background on what I was referring to. This was not my objective.
I also had an issue with simply summarizing my topic rather than explaining what happened and directly connecting my examples to successes and/or failures in promotions.
The changes between my first and second draft are almost non existent because I was still trying to grasp what I was trying to put down in words. But, you can tell that I really started to grasp my goal by the final draft. My 3rd draft turned out to be more focused due to the clarity I received in conference, leading to a paper that more clearly states who my topic is, what her brand is, how she promotes it and whether or not these methods are successful.
Draft 1
Final Draft
Jen Phanomrat
Jen Phanomrat, of Tastemade is an outgoing bubbly chef with a sly, dirty sense of humor. She represents the age of quick recipe breakdowns that are cut down into two to three-minute-long videos. She is featured on Tastemade which is both a cooking app and a feature on Snapchat’s discover page, she has a Youtube Channel, and a following on her personal snapchat as well. Each of these social media sites promote her recipes and persona and are directed to her foodie and life loving audience.
Jen’s genre is informative for the most part but in some ways, can be considered persuasive. She is informative in the way she gives her followers step by step instructions both through videos of her making the recipes and through written recipes that explain how to make meals. Furthermore, she is an advocate for living life to the fullest and branching out of comfort zones in the kitchen and in everyday life. In every episode, she establishes her genre by giving clear instructions on how to make a meal or by branching out and trying new things. Her goal for each video is to encourage her audience to try new things and cook.
Jen of course has multiple ways to communicate her genre to her audience. Tastemade, is the home base for Jen’s promotions. Tastemade is an app that allows people to get recipes and explore individual chefs depending on the style of cooking they enjoy. The mode of this artifact is both visual and auditory while the media she uses includes both print and digital production. This form of exposure allows for Jen to really dive into step by step processes in the kitchen. The videos are short in length so the audience is not overwhelmed by the task she is presenting but they are long enough that they do not skip steps and leave the viewers wondering how she got from A to B. The audience that this app and Jen are reaching out to would include anybody who loves food. Whether they love to eat it, watch people make it, or learn for themselves and get ideas this app will peak their interest.
Jen is a regular feature on Tastemade with a primary goal to inform and encourage people to cook. On Tastemade she does this by making recipes that are original and user
friendly while also experimenting with other people's recipes or ideas. The trials she runs tend to force her to step out of her own comfort zone. Not all are successful which in turn makes her relatable and makes trying new things approachable for her audience. One example of Jen stepping out of her comfort zone is represented in the following video where she tests out vintage hotdog recipes. https://youtu.be/c2AnrftCqwQ
As you can see she was not completely comfortable with the idea of transforming hotdogs and in addition some of the trials were fails. Although they were not entirely successful in outcome they did support her brand of trying new things. The video is fun and adventurous, it includes informative step by step instructions on how to make the recipe at home while also persuading the audience to try and have fun in their own kitchens. A person who knows Jen’s cooking style knows that this would not be something she would choose to make on a normal day, but her “why not” attitude results in an entertaining video and a great example of how stepping out of a culinary comfort zone can be fun.
Her credibility lies in her Tastemade featured videos, she was also a chopped contestant and won. In addition, she makes the recipes in front of the camera proving her abilities. So, when it comes to cooking her skills are genuine. Each of her videos have attachments to the written recipes which include the measurements and the written step by step process that she demonstrates in her videos making her facts true and credible.
Also, a trademark of Jen is her Youtube channel “Just Eat Life” which also follows the same video and auditory mode with digital media. The mode of this artifact is visual but now rather than being restricted to a time slot on Tastemade she has more room to be creative and endorse herself in a more personal way. This form of social media helps to broaden her audience. Not only is she now catching the attention of people who are actively seeking food videos but she also gains an audience who is just looking for entertainment. She draws people in with her humor and personality so that even someone who was not passionate about food could appreciate her videos and be inspired by her mission to live life fully with good food and fun. Follow the link to experience a little bit of Jen and her boyfriend Leo living their life fully. https://youtu.be/9GwW6XLlHQo
Each video reinforces her credibility through the relationships she shows online. Each enforce her realness. Her boyfriend and friends make appearances frequently making the episodes even more enjoyable. She attracts her audience's attention through humor and an overall joyful presentation. Like in the video above she shows her viewers how to literally and figuratively eat life. This mode of communication is effective in allowing her to incorporate ideas. This mode is more effective than say her Tastemade features because it allows her to personalize her brand even further. Rather than being restricted to a time slot she can make the videos as long or short as she would like. She uses ethos in every episode by making her audience happy, and when people are happy they are more willing to try new things which successfully endorses what she stands for. In addition, the relationships she presents to her audience draws them in. They are the power couple that most people strive to be, combine that with food and creativity and an effective advertisement for her brand is made.
Along with Tastemade and Youtube Jen has a personal snapchat that her viewers can follow. Her stories expose her realness and everyday life in short ten second intervals. This artifact is completely distinct in that it incorporates her everyday life and is not restricted to food. As a follower, you can see her everyday life play out which involves free time spent with her boyfriend or cooking, and even remodeling her kitchen. She advocates and demonstrates a life of food and creative experience in practically real time on her snapchat story. Due to the mode the stories she post is limited to ten seconds so to really engage her audience they must be interesting. A lot about who she is and what she stands for can be exposed in this way. These are raw unedited moments that show everything from her making her promoted recipes in real life to being adventurous in the kitchen. In addition, this form of media reaches a different audience. With the use of Snapchat she is attracting a younger audience. Before with the
Tastemade app the audience may have been more
The Work in Progress
commonly used by the younger generations.
Jen is not a traditional pop culture icon in the sense that she does not live an outrageously lavish life with expensive things and fancy events. She lives a life like her viewers, one which makes her incredibly relatable and more fun to watch. There is an approachable way about her that only helps endorse what she stands for. In all her videos, she presents ways to live life fully within the means of any average person. Assuming the average person owns a computer or a smart phone access to her brand is easy and more than likely becomes routine, as people tend to go back and forth from the same apps all throughout their day. This means that every day is a new opportunity for promotion. Not only is access to each artifact easy but each of these modes of communication are tied to one another. So rather than having all the attention be on one mode she draws attention to each
separate domain. Accruing all sorts of audiences along the way, her style is that of upbeat positive videos all meant to be entertaining and fun. This style remains consistent regardless of the mode she chooses making her purpose and objective effective.
Although each mode of communication represents her in similar ways each one also has a way of both expanding her audience and further promoting her and her brand. Some of her artifacts are more straightforward and informational, they have structure and predictability so that the audience knows what to expect and can get information that they are looking for. Furthermore, her additional artifacts make room for creativity where she can be slightly more spontaneous and off topic in ways. Each affirm who Jen is as a chef and as a person while also being highly accessible to all in this tech savvy world which in turn helps to successfully promote her and her brand.