Kraft Heinz signs on as first sponsor for Time's new all-social food brand

Dive Brief:

Time Inc. announced Kraft Heinz's Cracker Barrel Macaroni & Cheese as the first advertiser for its new all-social brand dedicated to food, Well Done, according to a press release.
Well Done spotlights food trends, news, how-tos and recipes via social media and has already driven over 200 million views in two months across Time's Facebook food portfolio, which includes Cooking Light, Food & Wine, MyRecipes, Real Simple, Health, People Food, Southern Living and Extra Crispy.
"In addition to providing viewers hacks, snacks, dinner and food giggles, Well Done offers advertisers new native opportunities, including custom videos and social programs," Stacey Rivera, digital content director at Time Inc. food, said in a statement.

Dive Insight:

Well Done is an interesting initiative, as it echoes an older strategy of creating a vertical brand based entirely around a particular topic — food in this case — but instead of building a standalone web experience, Time Inc. is tapping its extensive branded Facebook presence and the knowledge that users are already sharing and watching existing video content. Centralizing all of that activity along with new offerings into one hub under Well Done could get Kraft Heinz in front of a large, relevant audience, and provide a big awareness lift.

For Time Inc., bringing on a launch partner like Kraft Heinz doubles as a vote of confidence that Well Done could see some serious traction.

Part of the sponsorship will involve native integrations of Cracker Barrel Macaroni & Cheese into Well Done videos and a social marketing component. Time has been particularly bullish on native ads, and for good reason: the publisher doubled its native advertising revenue in 2016, with more than 400 advertisers participating across some 600 programs.

Well Done presents a fresh opportunity for Kraft Heinz to be a part of that growth and is largely built on mobile video, which is especially hot with consumers right now. Well Done is just one of three all-social brands Time is rolling out as part of a much bigger push into "linchpin" digital video.