May 6th, 2009
Meredith Continues to Expand Social Networking Footprint With MixingBowl.com
Invites America to Join Growing Digital Community of Cooks
NEW YORK, May 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Meredith Corporation (NYSE: MDP), is continuing to expand its online presence with Mixing Bowl(TM), a social network built entirely around food.
Mixing Bowl (www.MixingBowl.com), which launched in January, is the ultimate online community for cooks of any level. With an emphasis on user-generated content, the site invites everyday chefs to come together and exchange recipes, plan gatherings or celebrations, share photos, participate in contests, post messages, and more. Mixing Bowl’s powerful social networking engine gives users unprecedented power to filter and control their experience.
The site is the latest addition to The Meredith Women’s Network, a growing portfolio of digital properties that engages 15 million unique visitors monthly, according to Omniture.
“Mixing Bowl is built around people,” says Jeff Myers, VP/GM, Meredith Corporation. “More and more cooks are going online to find recipes, plan meals, and to connect with others who share their passion for food. The site takes the online food experience to another level by creating communities that empower users to choose how they connect and engage with each other.”
The Mixing Bowl platform offers advertisers and marketers unique opportunities to target consumers by creating groups to test new branded recipes and products, sponsoring contests, and offering coupons.
“With Mixing Bowl, we’re breaking new ground with sponsors,” says Lauren Wiener, SVP, Meredith Interactive. “Marketers can become part of the site’s social fabric, which means immediate feedback and valuable insights into their customers. Plus, the powerful analytics tools allow marketers to measure the effectiveness of their site activities and the community as a whole.”
Meredith engaged Ripple6, a leading provider of white label social media services, to build, enable and maintain Mixing Bowl on its platform. “In addition to their tools for measurement and monetization, the Ripple6 group functionality provides us with a powerful platform for marketers and sponsors to come into Mixing Bowl, participate, and add value to the community,” said Myers.
The site is being promoted online, in-book, and via e-newsletter, through Meredith’s portfolio of media brands. Additional customized features will continue to roll out in 2009. As an extension of the website, a Mixing Bowl special interest publication will be introduced this summer.
“Mixing Bowl significantly enriches our strategic goal of deepening our conversation with women on all platforms, but particularly within the digital space,” says Jack Griffin, President, Meredith Publishing Group. “We believe it strongly positions Meredith for growth in this key strategic sector of our media business.”
Contact: Amanda Cortese / / 212.551.7087
Becky Wisdom / / 212.551.7189