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In April 2022, Shashank Mehta, CEO, and founder of The Whole Truth Foods, in an interview with Storyboard18 said that when he creates and features in content for his brand, he thinks “consumers can feel the honesty.” Cut to July 2022. Mehta took to social media to announce that the brand will be taking a break from Instagram. It made waves and several marketers lauded the brand's decision. In a freewheeling chat with Storyboard18 at the time, Mehta said, they weren’t thrilled with the content they were putting out on the Meta-owned platform. Dancing to trending music and pointing to corners of the screen with cluttered text boxes didn’t seem right. “Everyone could feel the shift in the energy,” said Mehta candidly.

The brand has a large Instagram community of nearly 200,000 followers. The Whole Truth's posts were well researched, easily digestible content on food, fitness, and nutrition. After a hiatus, Mehta and team are back on Instagram and have also launched a weekly digital magazine ‘Truth Be Told’ that will feature long-form content written by fitness experts and professionals. 

In a chat with Storyboard18, Mehta opens up about the brand’s Instagram break, the risks involved with the new content strategy and more.

Read on.

[caption id="attachment_97" align="alignnone" width="1280"]<img src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/2022/07/Untitled-design-8.png" alt="Shashank Mehta, founder, The Whole Truth Foods" width="1280" height="720" class="size-full wp-image-97" /> Shashank Mehta, founder, The Whole Truth Foods[/caption]

How was the social hiatus for brand The Whole Truth, your team and you? Could you share the tangible impact of this exercise?

The break was great. It’s amazing how clearly you can think when you’re not trying to post every day. We took a pause. Reconnected with ourselves, and we worked extremely hard too. We put together a whole publication in two months. You can only do that if you’re focussed. 

At a time when brands are chasing 15-second videos, your next move is into getting long-form content. What are the key insights that led to the launch of Truth Be Told?

The insight was about ourselves. Long-form is what we do best. We can only be the best at something that’s our strength. 

Not to mention, deep, expert storytelling is what food and fitness needs. Not clickbait and churnalism. With Truth Be Told we are just trying to do the right thing. We’ll see how it pays off. But there’s nothing else that would give us joy. 

Can you share the plans that you have for Truth be Told? 

The plan is to bring together the best, most expert writers. Also, to let them write the way they wish to, without any performance pressure or expectations of clicks. And to make sure we put out the best, most trustworthy writing on food and fitness, once every week. Simple. 

Do you think there is a risk in going with a singular content strategy?

The content strategy is singular in its focus. Not in all the avatars it will take. Truth Be Told is our flagship property. But we weren’t just doing this when we took a break; we have a lot in the pipeline.

The Whole Truth bets on long-form content after Instagram hiatus

Former Unilever marketing executive Shashank Mehta founded The Whole Truth in 2019 to offer healthier alternatives to packaged foods. Mehta has been changing the way food products are marketed and advertised too. Keeping content at the core of The Whole Truth’s marketing strategy, Mehta appears in all of the brand's commercials. He tells Storyboard18 that no one else can speak about his brand mission with more conviction than him.

Recently, The Whole Truth roped in comedian Rohan Joshi to create a series of videos. In the “educational mini-series”, Joshi plays the role of ‘Healthy Food’ and Mehta plays ‘The Whole Truth’, and they go on to have a conversation that highlights the “hidden chemicals” in packaged foods. In another episode, we see the many ways food is made to look irresistible in ads. For instance, the milk in the cereal bowl is actually glue and the golden honey drizzled on pancakes in ads and in product photos is engine oil.

In a previous interview Mehta had told Storyboard18 that when he creates and features in content for his brand, he thinks “consumers can feel the honesty.” They see through paid endorsements like influencer or celebrity-laden ads, which are often forced, Mehta believes.

Keeping with the brand's philosophy of always speaking the truth and nothing but the truth, Mehta took to social media this week to announce that the brand will be taking a break from Instagram.

Mehta and his team weren’t thrilled with the content they were putting out. Dancing to trending music and pointing to corners of the screen with cluttered text boxes didn’t seem right. “Everyone could feel the shift in the energy,” says Mehta candidly.

In a freewheeling chat with Storyboard18, Mehta opens about why his brand decided to go on an Instagram break; the risks involved in this move, lessons from Unilever; featuring in his own brand's commercials and more.

Edited excerpts. 

At a time when every brand wants to be on the top of their Instagram game, The Whole Truth decided to log off and take a break. What led to this decision?

The purpose of our content, across platforms, is deeply focused on educating consumers about food and fitness. Both these topics are complex. Honestly, listicles or one-liners don’t work for a brand like ours. We bring in nuances in the content we write by adding expert opinions and research-led information. We almost look at packaging our copies like journalistic pieces that will answer questions that consumers are constantly looking for. This approach worked for us and we want to continue to do so.

Two and half years ago, when we got on to Instagram it worked for us well. Contrary to popular belief the long captions we wrote that sometimes also continued into the comment section got a lot of traction. It reached users, they liked interacting, and it helped us grow our follower base too.

Soon Instagram started changing its algorithm. It indicated that it’s time to move on from photos and get on to Stories. When that was catching up IGTV was pushed heavily, when brands like ours were exploring, Reels were launched, and now it’s all about it.

So what's the issue?

This was leading to two problems. One with algorithms changing every few months, it was becoming different for my team, which is a lean one, to do justice to the purpose of our content. It was taking us away from why we do what we do.

Two, 

<blockquote>the secular trends in the algorithm shift are that content is moving from long-form to short-form; from deep to shallow; and from attracting higher attention span to lower attention span.</blockquote>

 This is not well suited to what we aim to do. It was difficult to introspect this when we were in the middle of the game.

There was an unsaid pressure of producing a Reel and post every day. We realised if we have to get this right we need to step back, take a break, and disconnect for a bit. We were starting to get confused that the medium is the primary thing rather than the message. I think if we continue to craft the content we have been doing, we will find the right medium for it soon.

Have you factored in the risk involved with this move?

I agree that there is a risk. However, when we sat down to reevaluate things for us, we realised consumers love our explainer format content pieces. They see value in it. If we would have tried fitting our content in shorter formats even further, our users would have noticed, and that would have affected our growth on Instagram. These changes are visible slowly.

I think we will have enough time to explore formats like blogs, newsletters and even create a content hub on our website, where people will find us. Once you chase follower count and engagement you may end up being a brand that’s completely different. That traction will lead to the discovery of a brand that may be not the real you.

Now that Instagram is out of your media mix, how are you re-defining your marketing strategy?

We don’t have an answer to this yet. It’s an introspective journey for us at the moment. The one thing we are clear about is that we are done with changing what we do to find favour with any platform. We will continue to do in-depth content pieces and alongside look for mediums that fit well for us.

From a product point of view, what’s the focus area for The Whole Truth?

Food brands have been selling half-truths for ages. We are here to change that up. We plan to take one food category after the other and apply three filters to it. Think of it like a venn diagram. One, are the current incumbents selling half-truths and bad products to the consumers? That’s how we shortlist a category. Two, can we create a product that’s in line with our brand philosophy? From getting texture, to binding to ingredients, everything is critical to get right for us. Theoretically, we could create a product on paper but practically it’s a different game altogether. Three, is the taste. The moment these factors intersect, we hit launch. Honestly, all food categories in the world are a playground for us. Every six to seven months you are seeing us come up with something new. However, the R&amp;D on these launches take us close to a year, that’s we work on multiple categories. From cookies, savoury items, protein powders to kids’ food, there are several options in front of us.

As someone who has worked with an FMCG giant like Unilever in the past, what are the lessons from that experience you are using to build your own brand?

Unilever is known as a leadership factory. There are good reasons for that. Now, as an entrepreneur, I am putting to use many things that I picked from there. The biggest is - businesses are all about people. Everything takes care of itself if you get the right people and build the right culture. I can say with confidence that my teams don’t look at this as a job, they take ownership of what they do.

We have seen you act in the brand’s commercial. You also acted in RazorpayX’s recent campaign. Ultrahuman also featured you. What do you enjoy the most while being on-screen? Also, are any new acting offers in the pipeline?

(Laughs) I am not getting any offers. The RazorpayX ad was more like a dramatic version of a testimonial. We have been using the product and genuinely like it too. Ultrahuman is also a product that I use, so it was easy to do a testimonial. Coming to me being a part of The Whole Truth’s commercials, to be honest, it always makes me nervous and it takes a lot of effort. I am not a flamboyant CEO who loves being on camera.

Having said that, I think one else can speak about my brand mission with more conviction than I can. 

<blockquote>As a founder of the brand, if I am putting myself out there, it’s an indication that I am responsible for what I am promising. No celebrity can do that for the brand. We are a decently funded startup and can easily go and get a celebrity face like many others, but in my opinion, no one can do it authentically than me.</blockquote>

Shashank Mehta on why The Whole Truth is on an Instagram break

Former HUL marketing executive Shashank Mehta founded The Whole Truth in 2019 to offer healthier alternatives in packaged foods. As a consumer, Mehta, who has been through multiple weight-loss cycles in life, realised the big food brands often tell “convenient half-truths”. To solve that problem he not only launched a company that could fill that need gap but also decided to feature in the brand’s advertising.

Recently, The Whole Truth roped in comedian Rohan Joshi to create a series of videos. In the “educational mini-series”, Joshi plays the role of ‘Healthy Food’ and Mehta plays ‘The Whole Truth’, and they go on to have a conversation that highlights the “hidden chemicals” in packaged foods. In another episode, we see the many ways food is made to look irresistible in ads. For instance, the milk in the cereal bowl is actually glue and the golden honey drizzled on pancakes in ads and in product photos is engine oil.

Mehta tells Storyboard18, when he creates and features in content for his brand, he thinks “consumers can feel the honesty.” They see through paid endorsements like influencer or celebrity-laden ads, which are often forced, Mehta believes.

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<blockquote>Shashank Mehta says, "If a brand is born out of a personal struggle or passion, then the founder can make a powerful difference in the brand’s marketing strategy.” </blockquote>

Community builders

Entrepreneurs Sujata and Taniya Biswas quit their corporate jobs to sell sarees. Growing up, the duo loved looking at their grandmother’s and mother’s saree collections. It took them to “a happy place”. The Biswas sisters started the fashion brand Suta with a mission to make a new generation of women fall in love with sarees and wear sarees every day and not just for special occasions.

Initially, Taniya modeled the sarees, taking her photos in natural light with no editing, because they had a tight marketing budget. The photos were cropped in a way that one could only see the model’s body draped in a saree. On Instagram, these headless photos caught people’s attention. Since then the duo has been featuring in the brand’s reels, stills and all other brand communication. They say with this strategy, they have been able to create a community that not just wants to know more about the brand but also about the founders.

The Biswas sisters tell Storyboard18, as creators, their strategy is to keep “content fluid”. They are also often seen promoting other founders and their brands through live sessions, giveaways and fundraisers.

“Consumers often ask how we are okay promoting competitions’ brands. Honestly, especially in the category we operate in, we are like one close knit community. 

Trust infusers

Vaibhav Sisinty calls himself “a growth hacker by profession and an entrepreneur from heart.” For two years he had been building his startup Growth School in stealth mode. Earlier this year, Sisinty raised a seed round from Sequoia Capital, Owl Ventures and angel investors. He started when he was 18, and took on several jobs, including working as a marketing manager at Uber.

Through Growth School, Sisinty wants to help learners meet professionals and influencers who have become leaders in their particular industry and help them upskill. From courses on UI, UX, social media marketing, freelance businesses, NFTs, crypto investments, D2C businesses and more, Growth School is going beyond textbook tutoring. Sisinty himself creates content to bring learners together for his masterclasses and mini courses on LinkedIn and Instagram.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Btw this is how we unveiled the big news to the team :P PS: All the actors in the video are GrowthSchool employees. <a href="https://t.co/1zDwrZgeQS">pic.twitter.com/1zDwrZgeQS</a>&mdash; Vaibhav Sisinty (@VaibhavSisinty) <a href="https://twitter.com/VaibhavSisinty/status/1486669841809297412?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 27, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

He says, “As a founder, it’s natural for me to think about content because people believe in people.”

Though being the brand face of your company is always a good idea, Sisinty, thinks “the brand shouldn’t revolve around the founder.” But, in the beginning, it helps in bringing the right talent on board and building trust which is every brand’s ultimate goal.

For new and small brands, especially in the crowded D2C space, using founders in advertising and marketing communications is a great way to build credibility and trust. It’s also cheaper, of course. For brands that have tight or no ad budgets to speak of, deploying founders as the face and voice of the brand is a sound and economical move.

But sometimes it’s not about creativity, frugality, budgets or brand life-stage.

In December last year, Mahashay Dharampal Gulati passed away at the age of 97. He built a Rs 2,500-crore brand, an empire of spice. Most of India, however, knew him as “MDH uncle”. Because for years the smiling face of Gulati, who always sported a white sherwani, red turban and pearl necklace, appeared in practically every ad for the spice brand. He was the one and only 'Masala King'.

THE WHOLE TRUTH