BRANDING THROUGH FOOD STYLING, WITH KFC

In an age of social media, we are increasingly saturated with fast images that often don’t depict meals at their most flattering. Food photography is an art form – backgrounds, props, lighting and food styling are all essential considerations when crafting the appeal of a dish. Creating the most captivating and appetizing food imagery requires a team of skilled food stylists, prop stylists and a food photographer. With the right creative direction, a cookbook, food product or eatery can be presented in a way that accurately reflects the brand, while offering countless marketing opportunities as well.

Be Daring

Art director, Olga Bastian worked with photographer Mikkel Jul Hvilshøj to create an unusual series of gravity-defying, minimalistic, food still-lifes that depict ingredients falling into their cooking vessels. The results are eye-catching, humorous and reminiscent of Irving Penn’s perfectly-positioned produce portraits. The images offer many options for incorporating text and being applied to a multitude of outputs – posters, brochures, menus, online marketing. The execution of such a creative campaign can only be achieved with the right expert team.

Styling Your Food Brand

A food photograph should reflect the personality of your brand. It should entice the viewer and make their mouth water. Food is easy to sell, but with so many options available on the market, distinguishing one product from another can be challenging for consumers. Which restaurant to pick? Which cereal to buy? Consumers often make these quick decisions after viewing a single image. This makes effective branding more important than ever.

KFC in Myanmar

When KFC launched their tailor-made Mala Chicken for the Myanmar market, we were tasked with how to present it. It was critical to convey that this unique flavor was designed to appeal to local taste-buds with a unique spicy flavor. Every element in the images was considered – the scattering of the flecks of salt, the placement of fresh ingredients, and of course the highlight – the crunchiness of the chicken’s crust. From art direction, food and prop styling, to capturing the beauty shots, MVA has raised the bar for international-level food photography production in Myanmar.