BakeSpace Expands Unique Recipe for Social Media Advertising

Food Social Network's Grassroots Marketing Platform Helps Brands Engage With Cooking and Baking Enthusiasts

LOS ANGELES, CA--(MARKET WIRE)--Jan 14, 2009 -- BakeSpace.com -- launched in August 2006 as the Web's first food-themed social network and recipe swap -- is expanding its unique advertising platform that enables brands to engage with consumers on a peer-to-peer level and add value to the social networking experience.

From day-one, the grassroots site has helped brands transcend banner advertising by joining the conversation with members. Each new ad campaign or promotion on BakeSpace is designed to preserve the site's grassroots sensibility and help members connect with one another, as well as with brands, in new and exciting ways.

Building on Past Success

Over the past two years, BakeSpace has hosted a series of uniquely engaging promotions for food-related brands such as KitchenAid, Reynolds Parchment Paper, Sara Lee and McCormick, as well as consumer product and entertainment brands such as Kodak, ABC, Universal Pictures and FOX Searchlight.

The site also worked in 2007 on a holiday promotion with Country Home Magazine, which is published by Meredith Corporation. Meredith is the publisher and self-described consumer marketing database company behind the soon-to-be-launched mixingbowl.com food social network.

An ongoing example of BakeSpace's unique social media advertising platform is a campaign with ABC's "Desperate Housewives" that invites BakeSpace members to swap recipes and cooking tips inspired by Bree, Edie, Susan and the show's other lead characters. After each new "Desperate Housewives" episode, recipes are added to each character's profile based on the current storyline. Katherine's Famous Lemon Meringue Pie is a tasty example.

A Genuine Grassroots Community

Created by and for food enthusiasts, BakeSpace is fundamentally different from food sites built by large publishers and marketing database companies attempting to enter the realm of social networking.

"We view and treat members as fellow foodies, not faceless demographics," said BakeSpace Founder (and avid baker) Babette Pepaj. "Our members know when they're being targeted with a marketing message. What makes BakeSpace different is that we invite brands to join our community and participate as active, responsible members."

This organic and transparent approach to brand integration allows brands to invite members to join their network of friends so they can share recipes, tips and other worthwhile content. This in-turn helps them build one-on-one relationships with members, rather than simply targeting them with a marketing message.

Pepaj added, "Social networks developed solely as marketing vehicles may find it difficult to offer the genuine grassroots connection of a community like BakeSpace because there's simply nothing grassroots about them. Nonetheless, their efforts to recreate a genuine community environment reassure the team at BakeSpace that we're on the right track."

Expanded features to BakeSpace's advertising platform make it even easier for brands to become active, valued members of its community. Recent enhancements include:

-- Greater Customization of Brand Profiles

Profiles on BakeSpace can be fully customized so brands can integrate their own widgets, video, chat and other multimedia elements. While such capabilities are available on some large general interest social networks, they are not common on niche sites such as BakeSpace. Customized profiles also let brands more effectively interact with members, who can ask questions, participate in contests/giveaways and swap recipes directly with brands. A recent example is a campaign for Reynolds Parchment Paper.

-- Expanded Recipe Feed

BakeSpace's proprietary "Recipe Feed" feature automatically feeds each member's latest recipes to the members in his or her network of online friends. Brands can use this feature to disseminate useful, relevant content (in the form of branded recipes and cooking tips) to members on an ongoing basis. The Recipe Feed also allows members to customize their day-to-day BakeSpace experience by choosing to receive only recipes tagged to specific foods and dietary needs. This unique capability further helps brands connect with consumers well suited to their product or service.

-- First-of-its-Kind Food Mentor Program

Introduced in August 2008, the BakeSpace Mentor Program makes it easy for brands (as well as individual members) to share knowledge and participate in the conversation. Mentors provide advice on a peer-to-peer level to those seeking help with specific types of recipes and cooking techniques.

-- Social Market Research/Conversational Marketing

On BakeSpace, brands can transform market research into an opportunity for word-of-mouth marketing by giving members access to products they can test at home. Members document and discuss their experience online in the form of multimedia reviews shared with their friends who have also tried the product.

-- Branded Recipe Channels

Food-related brands can sponsor their own channel in BakeSpace's database of member-submitted recipes. This unique feature allows them to create new recipe categories that serve as a destination for their branded content. Channels can be enhanced with video, widgets, chat, etc. Recent examples include channels for Reynolds Parchment Paper and Overture Film's "Nothing Like the Holidays."

-- Interactive Recipe Pages

BakeSpace allows members and brands to upload dynamic content to their recipe pages including videos, photos and links. This is unique among online food communities. Recipes can be saved to a member's recipe box, as well as shared across the social Web on sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and StumbleUpon.

-- Scalable Promotions and Giveaways

BakeSpace offers brands a range of additional advertising, sponsorship and promotion opportunities, from contests and giveaways to branded newsletter content. The site's first large-scale promotion was its month-long "Appliance-a-Day Giveaway" sponsored by KitchenAid in July 2007. More recent promotions include Reynolds Parchment Paper's "That Takes the Cake" Giveaway and the Share Your Favorite Family Recipe with the Cast of "Nothing Like the Holidays" promotion.

Members on BakeSpace range from teenagers just starting to explore the culinary lifestyle to great-grandparents who want to share and catalogue their treasured family recipes. The common thread is a passion for food and a desire to connect and learn from one another.

"The goal is to create an environment where people come for the food, but stay for the conversation," added Pepaj.

In describing BakeSpace, CNET's Chow.com declared, "Move over MySpace -- now there's something tastier! The newest social networking website to hit the scene is geared toward the food obsessed, and it's called BakeSpace." Scripps Howard reported, "The site is easy to use, and full of dishes that everyday cooks might actually want to make. The space may be virtual, but the food is real." Bon Appetit described the site as, "Charming in its simplicity, country kitchen aesthetic and ease of use, BakeSpace is an open invitation not only to bakers, but to cooks of all kinds."

About BakeSpace.com

Launched in August 2006, BakeSpace is a grassroots online community where members can post, search and swap recipes, create their own "online kitchen," become mentors, get cooking tips, raid the "virtual pantry" (forums), upload cooking videos and interact with other food enthusiasts from around the world. Membership on the site is free. More information is available at www.BakeSpace.com

     CONTACT:
      
     Erik Deutsch
     For BakeSpace.com
     (323) 851-2455
     erikd[at]excelpr[dot]com