I just finished the latest episode of Top Chef with special guest judge Charlize Theron on my DVR. As a big fan of this show. I think this was THE MOST creative challenge they’ve ever had. As a marketer, I love how it was creatively entwined into a clever promotion for the new movie “Snow White and the Huntsman” where Charlize plays the Evil Queen.
So many product placements feel contrived and intrusive but this one was perfectly blended into the main premise of Top Chef: a cooking competition. The movie is a much darker version of the Snow White fairy tale. The challenge was to “create a gothic feast fit for a queen. Each dish should be wickedly beautiful…just like the queen.” Charlize challenged the chefs to bring her real indulgence and risk taking and to think like an evil queen.
Well, these directions sent all of the chefs down some truly creative paths with their plates. One dipped his gloved hand into a red sauce and left a full ‘bloody’ hand-print on the plate. Loved that! Another created a poison apple dessert with faux maggots and a worm. My favorite was a dish that was supposed to look like a black chicken had been slaughtered on the plate with a quail egg on top symbolizing the baby that had been inside her when she was slaughtered! NUTS! (Isnt’ that picture morbidly delicious?! taken with my Blackberry of the TV)
The beauty of the marketing behind the movie is that it pushed the creativity of the chefs well beyond their culinary school and fancy restaurant training. It made the show better. The viewers were presented with one of the best shows ever and the judges commented that the entire meal was one of the best in all the seasons of the show.
The movie trailer premiered during the show and because of the challenge and Charlize’s candor and personality during the show, I was actually excited to watch the commercial. Gold Star Top Chef and to the agency promoting “Snow White and the Huntsman!”
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