IS YOUR POLISHED CONTENT KILLING YOUR ENGAGEMENT?
The best-performing content right now? It’s scrappy and shot on a phone.
Restaurants are still shelling out for glossy, cinematic content but it’s not landing like it used to. You could have the lighting of The Great British Bake Off tent and a drone shot of your sourdough… but the clip that’ll actually go viral? Sharon from front of house filming the gravy pour and muttering “bit of a naughty one” under her breath.
That’s not a fluke. That’s how people consume content now. Weird I know.
Your phone content feels true
We’re wired to pay attention to things that feel human. Phone-shot content isn’t just easier to make — it’s more believable. It looks like something your mate would send you. That’s what makes it work.
A slick, studio lit ad might look impressive, but it screams “sales pitch.” A quick vertical video of your chef plating pasta? Feels like an insider moment. People love that.
It’s the same reason brands are ditching mega influencers
Big names with perfect posts used to drive results. Now it’s all about micro creators who speak in their own voice and shoot on their phones.
Why? Because they come across as genuine. And in a sea of curated content, that’s rare. Your brand should follow the same logic, less gloss, more guts.
Our brains literally prefer chaos
Faces. Handheld movement. Snippets of conversation. These are all things our brains are primed to notice. It’s why a low-fi video of a team taste-testing garlic bread will stop the scroll faster than a perfectly-lit product shot.
So what should you do instead?
Get your team involved Front-of-house, kitchen, whoever’s got personality.
Make vertical, native content Pleeeeease, no more resizing horizontal brand videos.
Use your phone daily Make catching snippets of content a habit. Consistency beats perfection.
Keep your brand voice — but lose the stiffness Casual doesn’t mean careless.
People don’t want to watch your brand. They want to feel like they’re in on it.
