There’s probably no food more American than hot dogs. And “In Search of Real Food,” Unilever’s 12-week series of webisodes that began playing at Yahoo! Food June 28, started with a film from Park Slope, Brooklyn, where Willie’s Dawgs, a homegrown business prepares delicious dogs with all the fixings.
“The point of the show is to travel across America to see what real Americans are eating and cooking,” said Kim Martin, senior VP of Embassy Row, the production company that joined forces with Bobby Flay, the celebrity chef, to launch Rock Shrimp Productions, which produced the series with Ogilvy & Mather.
Each weekly show will include four webisodes, including a user-generated segment, which in the first program featured the Vendley brothers, who cook Western style tacos. “We loved them because they are originally from California and moved to New York and they were missing the food they grew up with, so they decided to open a taco stand in downtown Manhattan,” Martin said.
Production teams will travel to Moab, UT, and the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Gilroy, Calif., for future episodes.
The goal is to promote Hellmann’s mayonnaise, which is as real as the foods shown in the webisodes because it’s made with real ingredients, including eggs and oil and vinegar. “The creative team was developing new positioning for Hellmann’s focused on real food,” said Doug Scott, executive director of branded content and entertainment at Ogilvy & Mather. “We were tasked with going beyond the advertising into other forms of marketing so we developed the idea to search for real food and look at real people.”
The videos star Dave Lieberman, a Food Network chef, who talks with consumers about their real food and prepares recipes, which in the first show was potato salad with Hellmann’s. “We’re establishing a link between product positioning and the idea of real food,” Scott said.
“Consumer research was done and people had a misconception of what was in mayonnaise,” he said. “They didn’t think it was real, so based on those insights we found a sweet spot in the marketing about what to communicate. It reinforces the idea of real food and allows the consumer to engage in a dialogue.”
Consumers can submit their own real food videos at the site, which could be included in future episodes.
The webisodes were shot with MiniDVs, with editing done on Avid with a small documentary crew, Martin said.
Embassy Row is a production company that specializes in culinary programming, including Boy Meets Grill, a Food Network show starring Bobby Flay that began in 2002. Rock Shrimp Productions unites Flay with Martin and Michael Davies, the president/CEO of Embassy Row. Flay and Martin are executive producers. It’s the first Rock Shrimp endeavor.
A Yahoo spokesperson said Yahoo! Food receives 4.3 million visitors per month, and has played video content for other advertisers, including Kraft and Pillsbury. The Hellman’s webisodes will play for 12 weeks, then remain on Yahoo! Food until the end of the year.
India’s Official Oscar Entry, Which Failed To Make The Cut, Tops Bollywood Awards Show With 10 Wins
The film that was submitted as India's official Oscar entry but failed to make the final list of nominees has swept the International Indian Film Academy Awards, which recognize outstanding work in the country's film industry.
Director Kiran Rao's critically acclaimed "Laapataa Ladies" — renamed "Lost Ladies" for its Oscar campaign — emerged as the biggest winner at the 2025 IIFA Awards, bagging 10 wins, including best picture and best direction.
The 2023 comedy is about two veiled brides who are accidentally swapped during a train ride, and tackles issues of patriarchy and gender roles, a shift from decades of male-centered mainstream Indian movies.
"It's a rare privilege to win an award for a film like 'Laapataa Ladies.' It's been a wonderful night. It's a rare privilege to make a film like this," Rao said in her acceptance speech.
Rao's film — a rare departure from most Bollywood films, which typically feature song-and-dance routines, violence and melodrama — also won in categories for best story, best screenplay and best actress in a leading role.
The annual ceremony of IIFA began in the western city of Jaipur on Saturday and concluded Sunday.
Indian cinema's most recognizable names took part in the glitzy event and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and actor Shahid Kapoor were among those who performed at the ceremony. The event was hosted by veteran director and producer Karan Johar and actor Kartik Aaryan.
The awards show also presents an opportunity for Indian celebrities to showcase their fashion, and this year was no exception. Notable figures such as Madhuri Dixit, Katrina Kaif and Kareena Kapoor Khan displayed their fashion choices on the green carpet.
Read More