Doing a hobby on the sidelines of hustle time is an entertainment that can treat the feelings of someone who is stuck at his saturation point. You could say channeling some of your energy into hobbies is an attempt to stay sane.
Especially in a pandemic like this. It has been almost three years, there has been no significant change in Indonesia regarding all the restrictions imposed due to the pandemic. For example, there are still office workers who continue to carry out their obligations from home.
WFH or Work From Home has become a routine for some people, where instead of being able to focus on work, sometimes they even multitask erratically. As a result, sometimes the works are neglected.
This usually happens because a person’s saturation point has climaxed. Therefore, one solution that can be taken is to carry out a hobby. Get a moment of entertainment that hopes to refresh the mind.
One of the interesting hobbies to get the spotlight is cooking. Cooking in the kitchen today is not only for women, but men. More interestingly, this hobby is not just to entertain yourself, but it can also bring money.
However, is it the pandemic that forces them to indulge in cooking in order to earn extra income?
To answer this question, StratX KG Media conducted an online survey and got 1,428 KG Media audiences. From the surveys that have been conducted, various interesting insights were found to be studied deeply.
These various interesting insights can certainly be a separate note for the brand before determining what kind of strategic steps in their efforts to get closer to the target audience.
What They Can Describe from Cooking?
The majority of the audience who took this online survey answered that cooking is a hobby to fulfill family needs. However, what is interesting is that 16,8% of the entire audience stated that cooking is a hobby or activity that can be a source of additional income.
Knowing this hobby can be a source of additional income, the majority of KG Media’s audience also stated that their intensity for cooking could be every day. Because of the high intensity, they also often seek references before cooking.
The source of cooking reference that the majority of KG Media’s audience can rely on is the internet. They visited various platforms, especially video platforms like Youtube. Following after Youtube are Facebook or Meta and Instagram. The two social media platforms turned out to be one of the sources for audience in looking for cooking references.
The interesting thing about their efforts to find references is that 37,2% of KG Media’s audience looks for cooking references by visiting cooking communities. This point can be interpreted that direct interaction with those who are more experienced in the community is still one of the way for the audience to find cooking references.
What About the Context of the Pandemic?
Pandemic as we all knew; this brings so many changes. Various new things such as restrictions and implementation of health protocols in all sectors were carried out.
But, it seems that the pandemic did not dampen the enthusiasm of the KG Media’s audience to pursue the hobby of cooking. Despite the restrictions, the intensity of cooking increased significantly. This is because many new audiences are just starting this hobby.
Another interesting finding in the context of this pandemic is that the majority of KG Media’s audience likes to cook simple and healthy food. This is certainly strong related to the pandemic where health is the most important thing.
The majority of KG Media’s audience, 80,9% stated and agreed that cooking has the potential to be a source of additional income. Then, what kind of food menu they can sell?
KG Media’s audience mentioned that there are at least 4 foods menu that are potentially easy to sell and make a profit. Like cakes, traditional foods, pastries, and breads are 4 foods menu that have the potential to be profitable.
However, they also have some challenges in living this hobby of cooking as an effort to earn additional income. 83,6% of KG Media’s audience stated that capital is the first challenge that must be overcome.
Then, 54,9% of them stated that the lack of cooking utensils was also an obstacle. Moreover, 47,1% stated that they also lacked of knowledge in cooking so this was a concrete challenge that needed to be faced.
Insights for Brands
There are several things that brand needs to mark. This series of insights can be facilitated by the brand, or it can be one of the pillars of communication that can be conveyed by the target audience.
- The majority of KG Media’s audience agrees that cooking can be an additional source of income.
- In looking for cooking references, besides internet – they also like to interact in the community.
- Money, cooking utensils, and cooking knowledge are the biggest challenges for them to live this hobby.
So, What Can Brands Do?
After knowing the various interesting insights above, brands can do many things in an effort to get closer to their target audience.
The first thing a brand can do is checking how the communication pillars have been implemented so far. These corrections are useful for discovering which things can continue to be done and which ones cannot.
The second things is to determine the role that the brand can play in an effort to approach the target audience. Seeing the various challenges that have been mentioned by the audience, being a mentor for them is something that brands can try.
As a mentor, brands can provide educative communication. Starting from telling how cooking skills can be obtained, to using existing utensils for cooking.
The third thing a brand can do is to burn the spirit of the target audience by holding a competition. Online competitions are still recommended. Prizes from the competition can be communicated as an encouragement to the audience who want to make cooking as an additional source of income.
Massive media coverage and news can be an additional step so that what brands do, in this case is the competition, can be known more widely. This is also related to providing exposure to the target audience of brands that participate in the competition. Win-win solutions.
Apart from several things that brands can do, one of the fundamental things is to reflect a passion for helping others. The pandemic has made humans fully aware that as social beings, they need help from another one. This reflection can be echoed by the brand as one of the foundations in the next strategy.
