A nouvelle vague of creators is applying high-quality production to even the simplest social media concepts. From the stylish, to the slapstick, we ask emerging drinks video creators the secret sauce to creating great TV about hospitality.
Instagram account Sketchy Bartender is exactly what its name suggests. A social media sketch show started by four friends in hospitality to poke fun at peculiar and endearing aspects of drinks and bar life.
The team post skits about incidents and moments familiar to anyone working a bar with delightful comic effect.
In one scenario they imagine an app where bartenders can leave their customers an honest review. The video has over 13k views with luminaries from the drinks industry adding their two cents in the comments. “Dear @google please launch this genius app asap!” comments Erik Lorincz from Kwant in Mayfair.
Their secret to great video is to master the technical aspects.
“Lighting is super important. Every type of video/ content you shoot has an ideal lighting setup to tell a story, set a tone or show off a product. Given the choice, we would much rather have a low quality camera and great lighting than the other way around. Audio is even more important than lighting.”
If you’re looking to upskill your content creation, or understand the difference between amateur and professional operators, Jordan Hughes @cocktailcamera has hundreds of tips, and thousands of fans.
As he explains in one post, “Is food and drink photography still a viable career”, he explains that professionals understand what brands really want, and position themselves as “a solution to a problem rather than just a nice thing to have.”
In the Nordics, Grogg Magazine are building a cult following with off-the-wall takes. One video, captioned “Macho Juice🍊🍑💪🏽”, sees protagonist Aron create a signature cocktail in his own signature way. Topless, he bites into a raw jalapeno pepper, then crushes a clementine between his bicep. Why?
Because the biggest mistake people make when filming drinks content is being too serious. “Usually we have quite a bit of fun.”
Grogg’s hot tip to make a video go viral? Do a collaboration with someone who has much more followers. And if you’re nervous while filming, relax. “Have an off-camera beer and you loosen up, you know?”
Sarah Mars started a cocktail bar with her husband in New Zealand. In an all-too-familiar story, despite queues out the door, they could never quite make the financials add up
“Most people become bar owners for their love of hospitality, not their love of admin and numbers.” She launched Overprooffff to share the ABCs of running a bar business. If learning lessons was hard, sharing videos about them is easy.
In a video “Nobody wants your fingers in their mouth”, she lists 5 gross-outs hospitality workers must stop right now, starting with wearing your apron to the bathroom.
Now based in Jakarta, Sarah’s advice to budding drinks content creators is to be generous when crediting others’ work.
“When you do that, you're going to grow your network. They are most likely going to engage with you and drive your engagement higher, and it's going to get you so much further in the future than if you took that person's drink and you pass it off as your own.”
