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The National Flavour Guide Natalia Sivackova Major Project Phase 1 MA Web Design and Content Planning This report has been produced from the research and feedback of my Phase 1 presentation. It is the first part of a series of reports making up the written component of my major project. Contents I. Concept.3-4 a. Twitter Description3 b. Elevator Pitch3 c. Problem3 d. Value Proposition3 e. Unique Selling Proposition4 f. Manifesto4 II. Cultural Context.5-8 a. Wider Context5 b. The Power of Tourism and Globalisation5-6 c. Variety and The Search for Authenticity6-7 d. Food Culture7-8 III. Business Context.9-10 a. User Need9 b. Niche and Value9 c. SWOT Analysis10 IV. Web Landscape.11-18 a. Cognate Websites11-13 b. Non-Cognate Websites13-15 c. Analogue Services16 d. Competitor Analysis16-18 V. References.19-20 2 I. C oncept Twitter Description A national food guide for food lovers and travellers (44 characters) Elevator Pitch Travelling somewhere new, being curious

about a different country’s traditional food or wanting to impress someone from a different culture with a nice meal requires time and effort. The National Flavour Guide solves this problem by logically and beautifully presenting information about: 1. National dishes, by country; 2. Historical influences of common ingredients; 3. Recipes, filtered by difficulty or time; 4. User-recommended restaurants to try the national dishes Problem Researching national dishes by country takes time. Existing information comes from a variety of sources that may be unreliable or insufficient. This makes what seems to be a simple process tiresome and confusing. There is no one-stop website for national dishes from around the world. Value Proposition The National Flavour Guide will be a one-stop website for national dishes from around the world (note: for the purpose of this major project, the website will provide content about European national dishes. This is phase 1 of the project. Later phases

will expand to other continents) This will solve the problem of spending too much time on national dish research. It will also solve the problems of tiresome and confusing searching by providing accurate and well-researched content with great user experience. Finally, The National Flavour Guide will provide sufficient information for food lovers and travellers (see “Elevator Pitch”). 3 Unique Selling Proposition The National Flavour Guide provides an accurate and sufficient compilation of information about national dishes from around the world. However, what makes The National Flavour Guide more than just a glossary is the interaction with users. This user interaction was added to the project following feedback from presentation 1. The National Flavour Guide will allow users to tick “I’ve tried it” or “I want to try it” for each national dish. Users can view and download a coloured map of the countries whose national food they have tried or want to try. Badges will

be awarded to users that have tried 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 dishes. Badges can be added to the users profile and make the user a more credible source when adding restaurant recommendations. Manifesto The National Flavour Guide will: 1. Provide great user experience by having: a. Clear hierarchy; b. Simple presentation; c. User interaction (ticking system, maps and badges); d. Accessibility; e. Functionality 2. Provide accurately researched content; 3. Incorporate user-generated content; 4. Have beautiful design, in the form of: a. Graphics (illustrations and/or photographs); b. Typography; c. Colour scheme 5. Be produced by the deadlines (given and personal); 6. Solve the problems (see “Problem”) 4 II. C ultural C ontext Wider Context Why make a website like The National Flavour Guide? Tourism has been growing for decades and is continuously on the rise (UNWTO, 2016). This is creating a globalised world, which leads to people trying a variety of foods (FAO, 2010). With more

variety, there is more interest in authentic international foods. Furthermore, food culture has become extremely trendy recently. This rise in tourism, variety and food culture makes The National Flavour Guide a relevant website for today’s trends and people’s interests. The Power of Tourism and Globalisation Tourism is one of the fastest growing industries (BBC, 2014). Currently, the business volume of tourism surpasses oil exports and automobiles (UNWTO, 2016). In 2015, tourism generated USD 15 trillion in export earnings (ITB, 2015). This is estimated to increase by 35% to 45% in international tourist arrivals in 2016 (UNWTO, 2016). Furthermore, by 2030, international tourist arrivals are estimated to be 1.8 billion people (UNWTO, 2016) Figure 1: Upward trend of tourism arrivals and receipts (UNWTO, 2016) 5 Millions of people are experiencing different cultures and have an interest in visiting other countries. These trends are on the rise and are estimated to increase

further (UNWTO, 2016). Not only is tourism playing a powerful role in people’s interest in different cultures, migration also creates a large interest (Daly, 2004). Figure 2: Tourism by countries in 2015 (UNWTO, 2016) The movement of goods, capital and labour drives globalisation across borders (Daly, 2004). This migration of people and goods changes the “availability and access to food” (FAO, 2010). Particularly, the food trade environment and overall food culture has changed due to advancements in food production, procurement and distribution systems (FAO, 2010). Food culture and the food trade environment have made these changes because of the drive towards globalisation (Daly, 2004). Variety and The Search for Authenticity The diversity of food culture and food trade environment has created a large variety in food that the world has not seen before (FAO, 2010). Not only is there a variety of food in the shops of the developed world, street food and restaurants have also

embraced variety. This is reflected in trends such as 6 fusion dishes; for example Korean BBQ tacos, taking ingredients common in Korean BBQ and Mexican tacos and making one dish. Culturally diverse food trends are expected to continue with trends such as embracing tropical Asian and ancestral (ancient Aztec grains) dishes (McCormick & Company, cited in Global Food Forums, 2015). It is important to note that cultural food variety is more common in the developed world where more international migration is present. Large metropolitan areas such as London and New York are especially likely to participate in food variety. With food culture embracing diversity and variety in the developed world, people are interested in authentic dishes. Food delivery services such as Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats make trying a variety of foods even quicker than popular restaurants or street food. However, authenticity is something people crave when it comes to trying dishes from around the

world. People want to try authentic dishes from other cultures as a sign of status, as it may show worldliness and sophistication (Choi, 2014). Often people will travel to a country, experience the food and try to recreate or find a place where they can eat similar food upon their arrival back home (Choi, 2014). Food Culture As mentioned before, food trends such as fusion foods and culturally diverse trends are booming. Writing, sharing and talking about food has become a large part of food culture. This is trendy especially among millennials Why is food so trendy? Some speculate that due to the rise in technology, we are sensory deprived and crave community (Pinsker, 2016). Food has always been a way to gather people and create a community (Pinsker, 2016). It engages the senses and brings people to a physical space (Pinsker, 2016). This may have triggered what makes food so trendy among millennials in this day and age. 7 Figure 3: Food Google searches from 2004 to 2016, upward

trend (Google Trends, 2016) Social media plays the largest role in the currently trendy food sharing culture. Visual social media such as Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat are popular places to share food. Food boards are the most popular type of board on Pinterest. It is easier than ever to find the foods you are interested in by using hashtags. Not only do hashtags categorise food trends, they have also become a way to educate others. For example, #vegan and veganism is very trendy at the moment in food culture and this has been party due to people sharing information about the various environmental impacts of the food industry. This can have a positive impact on society overall, as millenials are quite environmentally aware and sharing particular food trends creates an awareness that otherwise may not be there. Other trendy food topics on the rise are street food and food truck (Google Trends, 2016). Thus, again showing how trendy culturally diverse foods are. Figure 4: Trending

food topics 2016 (Google Trends, 2016) 8 III. Business C ontext User Need Audience: • Everyone interested in international food • Mainly millenials, due to research on food culture and trends There is a demand for the National Flavour Guide due to its cultural context (travel increase, globalisation, variety of foods, authenticity, trends and food culture). It also solves the problems that I have had when researching national foods that others may have also experienced (see “Problem”). Niche and Value The National Flavour Guide fills a niche. There is no direct competitor as there is no other website that is focused specifically on national dishes from around the world. Indirect competitors include restaurant review services, websites or books on national dishes from a specific country, online encyclopaedias, social media, food blogs and some newspapers and magazines (see “Web Landscape”). These indirect competitors do not provide the same information, as The

National Flavour Guide will combine the content and services from most of them. Phase 1 of The National Flavour Guide will not be monetised. Phase 1 includes content about national dishes from Europe and will be completed for the major project. However, expanding this project to the national dishes of the rest of the world will be time consuming and therefore future phases may have to be monetised in the form of ads and possibly a subscription service. 9 SWOT Analysis Strengths • Fills a niche, novelty Weaknesses • Content comes from many website sources which may be • Solves a problem inaccurate • Provides useful content • Provides user interaction restaurants may be and user generated content unreliable (trying to address Main content will be static, this with the badge system, once the content is up the see “Unique Selling website will be running with Proposition”) • minimal intervention • • User-recommended Too large of a project

to finish in it’s entirety for this Major Project, has to be done in phases by continents Opportunities • Expand content to rest of Threats • the world after Phase 1 • Building a national food community Risk of food culture not being trendy anymore • Used as a glossary or guidebook, risk of not having returning users 10 IV. Web Landscape Cognate Websites Websites in the same subject area/genre as The National Flavour Guide provide information in the form of blog posts and articles. They provide content on national dishes however the content is generally unreliable and insufficient. Blogs Low to moderately successful (depending on blog), blogging popularity down from initial craze. Good Travel Young Strengths • Listed by country • Large photographs showing the food • Content describes dish and a short history of the dish • Content is not too lengthy Limitations • Countries are not clearly organised, not alphabetical or visually organised •

Only provides information about the ingredients and history of the dish • It is unknown if the information is accurate • Only a few countries’ dishes are written about, the ones deemed “most delicious around the world”, incomplete guide Reach to Teach Strengths • Listed by country • Large photographs • Description of dish is personalised, journal style description 11 Limitations • No clear organisation of dishes • Lengthy content, not clearly describing the dishes • Accuracy of information is unknown, especially due to the journal style descriptions of dishes • Incomplete guide, just a list of randomly chosen national dishes with some personalised descriptions Other Blogs The Gutsy Gourmet, The Culture Trip, Odyb, Regevelya Articles Low to moderate success, depending on article. Low to moderate popularity Metro Strengths • Organised by Euro 2016 countries, alphabetically • Use of Instagram photos, adds to viewership and a nice

personal element • Links to recipes for the dishes Limitations • No real description of the dishes • Accuracy of information is unknown • No additional information except for name of dish, Instagram image and a recipe link C NN Strengths • Created a hashtag to get content for the article, good idea 12 • Content includes descriptions of dishes and social media mentions of the contributors who posted about the dish on their social media with the hashtag Limitations • Content accuracy is unknown, especially due to many different social media contributors • Not necessarily national dishes, contributors posted about the dish that best represents their country with the hashtag • No clear organisation of content • Only includes a small description of the dish, no other information Other Articles Huffington Post, Metro, Travel and Leisure, Listverse, Traveller Other C ognate Website Non-Cognate Websites Websites that provide similar services to

The National Flavour Guide include online encyclopaedias, restaurant recommendation websites and social media. They are not specific to national food around the world, although some information about national food can be found on these websites. Online Encyclopaedias Extremely successful and popular, usually the first point of information when learning about a new topic for most people. Wikipedia Strengths • Slightly more detailed information about the history • Clickable links to pages about the national dish 13 • Extensive list of countries Limitations • No other content except history and links to the national dish pages • Unreliable source because anyone can contribute content • Few images of national dishes • Content is not beautifully presented Restaurant Recommendation Websites Successful, recently decreasing popularity Yelp Strengths • Wide range of search options • Restaurant recommendations • Map, images, opening hours, business

information • Many users, popular Limitations • Does not provide information about national dishes and historical influences • Not a glossary, mostly a search tool for restaurants Other Restaurant Recommendation Websites Timeout, TripAdvisor Social Media Extremely successful, rising popularity Pinterest Strengths • A lot of content from blogs/websites 14 • Visually driven • Function of saving content for later (boards) Limitations • Not specifically for national dishes • Searching for national dishes can be a lengthy process, digging through blogs • Unreliable sources • Inadequate information, spend time searching for information on blogs that may not even be there Instagram Strengths • Sharing and searching: hashtags, tagging • Visually driven • Commenting Limitations • Unreliable sources • Hashtags can associate an image with whatever the user wants, for example the user could #swissnationaldish without posting an

image of the accurate national dish • Does not provide information about national dishes, historical influences, recipes or restaurant recommendations Other Social Media Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube 15 Analogue Services • Good Food Guide – guide for restaurants in the UK • National food books by country – example: Polska by Laura Edwards • Newspaper/magazine restaurant reviews • Travel food books – example: Spice Trip by Stevie Parle and Emma Gazette Competitor Analysis The National Flavour Guide fills a niche that no other website currently fills. There are no direct competitors for The National Flavour Guide. However, this section will analyse the indirect competitors that are identified above as cognate and non-cognate websites. I have addressed the success and popularity of each of the competitor websites above; please see “Cognate Websites” and “Non-Cognate Websites”. What sets The National Flavour Guide apart from these websites is that it

is a collection of content from a range of its indirect competitors. It incorporates user generated content and user interaction with beautiful design and accurately researched content. This is something that no other indirect competitor does in relation to national foods. I will now address my indirect competitor’s business models and issues/problems they face. Blogs The business model that most food blogs adopt is very simple. Some blogs may not monetize their website at all, as it is more of a hobby for the blogger. Some blogs may monetize; if they do, it is usually in the form of advertisements or sponsored reviews. Blogs are generally intended for a narrow group of readers, depending on the blog’s popularity. Generally, food 16 blogs provide personalised and informal content for their readers and that is what sets them apart from other blogs and websites. Problems that arise with this business model are with readership. Low readership is not a huge problem if the blog is

a hobby, as bloggers will still create content because the content entertains them. However, a monetized blog may need to rethink their advertising pricing models, as they might not be generating a lot of money through clicks and may have to use CPM (cost per thousand mentions) or tenancy pricing models for advertising to make money. Additionally, they may need to find a stable pricing model for sponsored reviews if this is their main source of monetisation. Articles Monetisation of online articles is usually in the form of paid subscriptions or advertising. Online articles are intended to reach a larger audience than blogs, however specific articles may be targeted towards different, perhaps more narrow audiences. Food articles intend to provide non-biased information about newsworthy topics. Subscription-based articles often only gain revenue if they have a large base of “huge appetite” readers (McCoy, 2016). For food articles, this is most likely not a realistic source of

monetisation. A more realistic form of monetisation is advertising. CPC (cost per click), CPM or tenancy pricing models are fitting for food articles. Online Encyclopaedias Online encyclopaedias are monetised through fundraising and/or advertising. They have an enormous readership and may include volunteer contributors. Pages about national foods in online encyclopaedias are intended to provide detailed information from a non-biased third-party perspective. Online encyclopaedias such as Wikipedia are extremely successful with their fundraising (Loeb, 2015). Issues they have recently faced are when people 17 ask questions about where their donated money goes. Wikipedia makes more than what they need to stay running each year through fundraisers and people are sceptical about where the extra money goes, as the money is donated to Wikimedia, an organisation that controls the budget and spending (Loeb, 2015). Advertising is also popular and successful for online encyclopaedias in the

form of CPC, CPM or tenancy pricing models. Restaurant Review Websites & Social Media I have chosen to combine these indirect competitors as their revenue sources are similar. Both restaurant review websites and social media generate most of their revenue through advertising. Social media dominates in amount of users. Restaurant review websites have a moderate amount of users, as they are decreasing in popularity. Social media provides users with the ability to share, comment and like information about food with others in their network, while restaurant review websites provide users with the ability to rate, comment and upload photos of restaurants. Advertising is extremely successful on social media. Instagram can generate as much as USD 3.9 billion in a quarter (Simon, 2016) It is a natural platform for branded advertising due to it being a visual social media. Similarly, restaurant review websites also generate enough money through advertising to cover costs and generate

revenue (Cocotas, 2012). A possible issue with this form of monetisation is that some users may find constant advertising unappealing and might stop using the service. However, this has not affected the business strategies of either restaurant review websites or social media. 18 V. References BBC (2014) ‘Tourism Trends’, Available at: http://www.bbccouk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/tourism/tourism trends rev1.shtml (Accessed: 19122016) Choi, A. (2014) ‘What Americans can Learn From Other Food Cultures’, Available at: http://ideas.tedcom/what-americans-can-learn-from-other-foodcultures/ (Accessed: 30122016) Cocotas, A. (2012) ‘How Yelp’s Business Works’, Business Insider, 1 March, Available at: http://www.businessinsidercom/yelp-analysis-2012-3 (Accessed: 30.122016) Daly, H. (2004) ‘Population, Migration and Globalisation’ September/October World Watch Magazine, p. 41-44, Available at: http://www.worldwatchorg/system/files/EP175Ipdf (Accessed: 30122016) FAO

(2010) ‘Nutrition and Consumer Protection’, Available at: http://www.faoorg/ag/agn/nutrition/urban globalization enstm (Accessed: 22.122016) Global Food Forums (2015) ‘2016 Food Trends’, Available at: http://www.globalfoodforumscom/food-news-bites/2016-food-trends/ (Accessed: 30.122016) Google Trends (2016) ‘Food’, Available at: https://www.googlecom/trends/explore?date=all&q=food (Accessed 30.122016) ITB (2015) ‘ITB World Travel Trends Report’ Available at: http://www.itbberlinde/media/itbk/itbk dl all/itbk dl all itbkongress/itbk dl all itbkongress itbkongress365/itbk dl all itbkongress itbkongress365 itblibrary/itbk dl all 19 itbkongress itbkongress365 itblibrary studien/ITB World Travel Trends R eport 2015 2016.pdf (Accessed: 19122016) Loeb, S. (2015) ‘How Does Wikipedia Make Money?’, Vator, 13 November, Available at: http://vator.tv/news/2015-11-13-how-does-wikipedia-makemoney (Accessed: 30122016) McCoy, N. (2016) ‘Modern Journalism: In Search of a

Business Model’, Journalist’s Resource, 22 February, Available at: https://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/news-media/business-modeljournalism-social-media-nicco-mele (Accessed: 30122016) Pinsker, J. (2016) ‘Why Are Millennials So Obsessed With Food?’, The Atlantic, 14 August, Available at: http://www.theatlanticcom/business/archive/2015/08/millennialfoodies/401105/ (Accessed: 30122016) Simon, E. (2016) ‘How Instagram Makes Money (FB)’, Investopedia, 28 November, Available at: http://www.investopediacom/articles/personalfinance/030915/how-instagram-makes-moneyasp (Accessed: 30122016) UNWTO (2016) ‘Tourism Highlights’, Available at: http://www.eunwtoorg/doi/pdf/1018111/9789284418145 (Accessed: 19122016) C over Images • https://www.donnahaycomau/recipes/dinner/thyme-roasted-lamb-withsweet-potato-and-oregano-salsa-verde • http://www.halfbakedharvestcom/skillet-grilled-seafood-and-chorizopaella/ •

http://drizzleanddip.com/2015/09/02/roast-chicken-in-white-wine-herbsand-garlic • https://www.donnahaycomau/recipes/dinners/char-grilled-seafoodplatter-with-romesco-and-aioli?crltpid=campB6vMObtRUame 20