Well, sorta.
A while ago, Emily, a super nice PR peep, contacted me to find out if I’d like to review Chef Alex Guarnaschelli’s new online app, provided through a service called Upfront.
She offered me an all access pass to the app, as well as a little cake for posting my thoughts on the experience in this review. (Thanks so much!)
The media and advertising geek in me is always game to try out any kind of new service. Especially if it crosses over into the food world.
What is Upfront?
So, Upfront is a premium social network.
Translation: It’s an app that gives you exclusive insider access to some of your favorite participating celebs—including Chef Alex Guarnaschelli. And because it’s a subscription service, it’s free of ads and other promotional, spammy garbage.
What do you get with Upfront?
When you become a member, you’ll get premium personal videos, audio snippets, quotes, emails, status updates, polls, photos, and more that you can’t get anywhere else.
You’ll also get text messages and voicemails from Chef Guarnaschelli—and access to live-streaming events hosted from the Chef’s phone anywhere in the world. See the end of this post for details on different subscription levels.
Basically, it gives participating celebs a direct vehicle to provide exclusive personal content to their fans.
Watch Chef Guarnaschelli describe the app in her own words:
And here’s what her app looks like on my desktop:
For fans of Chef Guarnaschelli , I think it’s an outrageously interesting idea.
Samples of Alex Guarnaschelli’s Upfront content
Chef Guarnaschelli’s Upfront has a ton of content focused on food—plus a fair amount focused on her personal life. And you can’t get it anywhere else.
Check out a few sample videos below. For someone who’s super visual like me, a good video is worth a thousand words. I love the fact that they’re super unscripted.
(And of course, I had to include the video of Chef wearing her mouse ears. 😉 )
I also received a handful of text messages and voicemails.
App + subscription details
Want to check out Upfront for yourself? Hit iTunes, Google Play, or BeUpfront.com to get the app.
Upfront offers 3 levels of subscription:
- Club ($0.99 per month per celeb): You’ll get instant access anytime a Creator ask questions, shares thoughts, or posts photos.
- Premium ($3.99 per month per celeb): You’ll get access to all of the above, plus exclusive new audio and video content that isn’t available anywhere else.
- All Access ($5.99 per month per celeb): Don’t miss out on anything! You’ll get unparalleled access to everything a Creator shares, plus regular live webcasts and in-person events just for you.
My bottom line?
This is definitely one to watch.
Social networking is all about access, especially when it comes to celebs. And with Upfront, you definitely get that in spades.
What do you think?
Leave a comment, let us know! Would you subscribe? Which celebrity chef would you like exclusive access to?
