Guest post: Masterchef and the perfect consumer
In this guest posting, Tony Richardson, of TacticalTV, argues that Masterchef has a lot to teach marketers.
A giant piece of real research into the Australian character has just been completed. You can access it for free. If you watched the final of Masterchef Australia last night, you took part in the study.
Australians have put down the tea towel and wandered into the TV room in record numbers.
It’s been said that Masterchef has captured the spirit of the times (or zeitgeist for the show-offs): that we’re staying in and learning how to cook again.
Maybe so, and that’s nice, but the show has also handed a gold plated gift to all Australian marketers and agencies. What the producers of Masterchef have done brilliantly is turn ‘likeability’ into an art form. They have spent millions supplying advertisers with a picture of the perfect consumer.
Let me explain.
The original gang of contenders were no random bunch of kitchen wannabes. Each had the potential to be Australia’s most loved person. The producers selected a cross section of middle Australia. Young, middle aged, pretty, average looking, Asian, even black.
Then they made them jump through culinary hoops as we grew to know and like them. The contest was not really about cooking, it was about who had the grit to pick themselves up after a near loss, dust off the flour and come back fighting the next day.
Gradually contestants were eliminated until a group small enough for us to remember their names remained.
Up until then Masterchef looked like any TV contest show (albeit a much friendlier one). ‘May the best cook win’ and all that.
But suddenly 3 eliminated contestants were given a second chance and brought back! Back came pretty blonde Justine. Back came pretty Asian Po. Back came gentle black Tom.
Justine was fairly good but Po and Tom were bit hit and miss when it came to cooking. Could it have been that the punters just liked this trio? Were they too good for the ratings for Masterchef to let them go?
The game continued. Tom left. The ratings climbed.
When Justine left the judges cried! Now that’s taking your ratings seriously!
Finally Po, slightly overweight Julie, and zany, hat wearing Chris were left.
Again if viewers thought this was just a cooking competition Chris’ departure answered that. He had been a strong performer throughout. His dishes were for the most part original, tasty and well presented. But had his confidence started to become cocky-ness? Had Australia fallen out of love with him?
Chris was astonished when Julie’s incomplete, unfinished, mess of a meal beat his unusual but professional offering. If Chris had won, as he should have, the final night could well have had a smaller audience than it did.
But as it turned out, over 4 million Australians (a fifth of the nation) stopped to see if Julie would beat Po. She did.
And now we know the kinds of women Australia loves at this moment.
Po is attractive, creative, experimental, hard working, organised, gutsy, determined, and ready to laugh.
Julie is middle class, a little overweight, obsessed with her family, a bit messy, brave, undaunted, focussed physically tough, and good humoured.
Australian marketing community, meet your ideal consumer. 4 million Aussies say so.
Tony Richardson runs TacticalTV and Tony Richardson Advertising. A version of this posting can also be found on his blog AdNotes.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Chris was a wanker… Nobody likes a wanker..
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Here is the mass market presented in all its glory.
Holding a mirror up to society is always good practice in terms of ratings. What it does is capture the spirit of the times, reflecting the need for security and “feel good TV”. Delivered in spoonfulls from Master Chef. Even the love-in in the final ep did a great job.
What it doesn’t do and shouldn’t be expected to do is introduce new innovative thinking to programming and force a change in the mass market viewers expectations. Sometimes it is better and more profitable to deliver what the punters want now. And what advertisers need.
We might have to wait a while for a truly new and innovative format / idea to appear on Australian screens which are increasingly conservative.
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In response to Sully’s comments about new and innovative TV, I say ‘thank God for the ABC.
Would Cath and Kim have ever launched on commercial TV without 2 years of building an audience on ABC first?
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Did i say Po? I meant Poh. Sorry about that.
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I’m sorry, but I have to take exception to the opening comment describing Chris as a wanker. Meg is certainly not the only person I’ve heard describe him as such, but I don’t think he was. He had a clear vision of what he wanted to achieve if he were to win, was calm under pressure and was fairly consistent in his cooking. Clearly, this upset many people, but I do struggle to understand why. Since when has competence been so offensive?
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Sorry Tony [11:57] but Kath and Kim was a sta[le skit on Big Girls Blouse on 7 long before the ABC comedy department rejected it.
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I agree with Daisy.
Our reality stars don’t all have to be glamazons to the cameras or obsequious to the hosts. Big Brother made us hate reality stars who invariably were publicity obsessed individuals with no appreciable talent. The mood has changed.
He may not have had the full-on feel-good factor of the two finalists, but I got the impression that he was genuine wrt the food and the competition. A bit of a blokes bloke for some of the audience and a nice contrast to the other contestants.
I can’t see Chris leading a restaurant revolution, but I could see a “Beer Blokes Cook Book” sometime soon.
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