Quick Q&A with office cooking guru Ms Yeah

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Chinese internet star “Ms Yeah” has been releasing videos weekly of her cooking elaborate dishes with everyday office supplies since February 2017.

Her videos, which are filmed at her office in Chengdu, China, show how Ms Yeah grills steak using an iron, cooks ramen over a Bunsen burner, and roasts a chicken in a heated flower pot.

Her determination to find innovative ways to cook complex dishes in the office has made her a very popular influencer in not only Asia Pacific, but also in Europe and the US.

How did you start out as an internet influencer? I spotted my male colleague ironing his shirt, and wished I could iron some beef slides as lunch, so I did it. We filmed the process and I posted it on the internet. I am working in a creative company and we occasionally do weird things like that.

After around three or four episodes, the company decided to have four to five people as a team, and turn the office joke into a proper weekly project.

What role does your boss play in the project? Unlike other traditional companies, our boss is at the bottom of the food chain. Sometimes we’ll ask him to leave his room so we can shoot footage there. Our boss usually lets us explore the things we want to do content-wise.

What has made your videos so successful? Be aware of the language - It was not an intended strategy, but I never speak in the videos. Since there’s no language barrier, it make it easier for us to get into other markets. Our videos are now very popular in Vietnam and Singapore, and we are seeing an increasing number of viewers from the US.

Evoke a sense of resonance - Eating and working in the office are two very relevant experiences across age groups, so the combination has attracted both young and more senior viewers.

Be creative yet simple - You really need some very explosive ideas to stand out from a very crowded marketplace of options in the internet influencer market. What my team and I do every week, is we would think less about strategies and brainstorm ideas in a casual way. When there’s one idea that make us say, “Oh! That could work!”, that’s it. We’ll do it.

This story was first reported by Marketing-Interactive.com.

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