As part of the PR surrounding the launch of Uncle Ben's new “Ben's Beginners” campaign, which is encouraging kids to get involved in the kitchen, Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO has launched a new two-minute online film called “Where's the Kitchen?” featuring an estate agent leading families around a home that doesn't appear to have one. The spot serves as an introduction to the main bulk of the media campaign, however, as the remaining videos will take the form of a weekly series of cooking shows starring Christian Stevenson, otherwise known as 'DJ BBQ', who is most famous for his work on Jamie Oliver's FoodTube channel and in FHM magazine. The videos will be streamed through the brand's very own “Ben's Beginners” channel.
Uncle Ben's – “Where's The Kitchen?”
DJ BBQ will be showing children how to cook tasty, simple meals (with parental supervision, of course) using Uncle Ben's ingredients, in a series of educational, but entertaining short, which reflect the fact that one in four British parents never cook with their children. In fact, in the survey recently carried out by Uncle Ben's, it was found that most parents watch cookery shows (72%) or look at recipes in magazines (62%) or online (68%) and almost half do all three (47%). But more than one-quarter of them (28%) spend more time thinking about cooking than actually doing it.
Competition Time!
Lisa Faulkner, the celebrity chef, Masterchef-winner and actress said “I know how lucky and thankful I am that my mum cooked together with me and passed on her love and knowledge about food.” For her, “Cooking's as important a skill as reading and writing." Kristen Kinkella, a spokeswoman for the brand said their evidence revealed that “Kids are more likely to eat a meal when they help prepare it and that when families eat together, they are more likely to eat healthier foods," and the campaign aims to take advantage of that fact.
Welcome to Ben's Beginners
DJ BBQ's shows will be complimented by videos featuring Faulkner, the celebrity chef, Masterchef-winner and actress, who will be teaching key skills that children will need to utilise in order to follow the DJ's recipes. Faulkner is also the face of a cooking competition Uncle Ben's are running in partnership with The Children's Food Trust, the country's largest network of after-school cooking clubs, which will give kids the chance to win £10,000 worth of cooking equipment for their school's kitchen. Families must submit a three-minute video using an Uncle Ben’s rice product in the dish and upload it to the website by October the 10th. Once all videos have been submitted, voting will take place online between October the 15th and the 29th.
Bangin' Steak Burritos – Ben's Beginners
The work was written by Liam Donnelly, with art direction from Phil Holbrook and Steve Stretton. Chris Faith directed the social film through Fat Lemon (Jamie Oliver’s production company), while Jayne Hibbert Smith directed the content through Pulse Films. MediaCom was the media agency on the campaign.
Official Ben's Beginners YouTube Channel
Official Ben's Beginners Website
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and musician from the UK who has been cooking up a bowl of Uncle ben's Chilli Con Carne at least once a week for at least the past decade.
