Omaha Steaks is into its meat-in-the-beat-and-idle space, or maybe it's giving birth to a meat-cute—sure, showing up as a meat-cute product simply never before in this 107-year-old company.
The food label has established its direct-to-consumer first novel, Certified Tender, to launch on April 1 in hardcover and ebook formats. It was converted from an April Fool's joke saying that Omaha Steaks is getting into publishing into a rather hot carne-themed literary offering.
"I am a huge geek in terms of story structure, Michael Williams, author of Certified Tender, states. Anytime that I'd be able to flex different creative muscles is great." After the PR group brainstormed the annual April Fool's prank—a fictitious press release would announce that Omaha Steaks had launched a publishing imprint—the creative team came together to actually pull the whole thing off: There was actually going to be a book.
Last winter, Williams happily put in the time after hours to write the novel, creating outlines and entire chapters at night because he couldn't completely tap into his creativity in a corporate office.
A project like this gives an opportunity to share with an audience that is not always thought of as being captured in really unique and possibly subverting or challenging ways, Williams says. "It is a good change to spice things up while continuing to do something within our brand voice that is focused on delivering exceptional experiences that bring people together—it's a logical extension of our mission.
In creating Certified Tender, a love story and one of the original April Fool's jokes, Omaha Steaks is sealing into its marketing initiatives within the lines of the Meat Cute Collection. Written by Omaha Steaks's creative team, food with romance and brand references further substantiates the focus of the company on storytelling and experience.
What better way to put you in the mood for those medium-rare steaks than with certified smut hotter than ribeyes fresh off the grill? Certified Tender is less risqué than many current bestsellers but definitely sits in the romance genre—a current crutch for the ailing publishing industry.
There are no plans for future titles at Omaha Steaks just yet, but much reader interest would change that. At least, according to Rempe, "If our customers love it, we're going to do whatever we're going to do to make our customers happy." He considers his wife a bigger romance reader in their house, but for him, this was an escape.
With brands being almost overtly called out on clothing and accessories drops, and with the publishing industry far from its peak, could in-house book publishing begin to operate as an avenue for food companies? With AI threatening the writers, is it about conglomerates set to become the major sponsor of brand fiction?