This is a story about Christmas and marketing magic. It’s a tale about how Harry Hamlin, who told Broadcasting+Cable he’s never even seen a cooking show, is starring in In the Kitchen With Harry — for the holidays.
It is also about how that cooking show is at the center of a remarkable season for AMC Networks’ Content Room branded content unit, which integrated a record 15 sponsors into AMC’s annual “Best Christmas Ever” programming stunt.
The sponsors include The Home Depot, 365 by Whole Foods Market, Ring, Instacart, Baileys, Aldi and Sam’s Club.
Though he’s never seen a cooking show, Hamlin, who grows organic vegetables and likes his ingredients unprocessed, said he’s very familiar with 356 by Whole Foods Market, which is sponsoring the In the Kitchen With Harry holiday special, premiering December 13 on the IFC Channel and AMC Plus streaming service. Five more episodes are set to appear next year, with no sponsor attached yet.
“AMC asked me to do the cooking show and I was kind of dumbfounded that they would ask me to do a cooking show,” Hamlin told Broadcasting+Cable.
“I have never seen a cooking show and that is, you know, I've no interest in cooking shows,“ said Hamlin, who stars in AMC drama Mayfair Witches. “So I've never turned one on so I am a virgin when it comes to cooking shows.”
Promoting the Show on ‘Live’
Hamlin will be promoting In the Kitchen by cooking up something on the syndicated Live With Kelly and Mark on Monday morning (December 11). Hamlin will also be talking about how L.A. Law, the series he starred in during the ‘80s, is enjoying a revival on Hulu.
Viewers — and AMC executives — knew about Hamlin’s cooking from appearances with wife Lisa Rinna on Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Those appearances made Hamlin’s Bolognese sauce famous.
“I’ve always cooked, but I never considered myself a cook with a capital C,” Hamlin said.
“I did say to them that if I was going to do a cooking show that I had one condition and that was that my wing person be my niece, Renee Guilbault,“ he said. “She's a Cordon Bleu-trained chef.”
Hamlin said 356 by Whole Foods Market was a “perfect fit” as the sponsor. “I’ve been shopping at Whole Foods since it was called Mrs. Gooch’s here in L.A.,” he said.
Whole Foods acquired Gooch’s Natural Food Markets in 1993. Whole Foods was acquired by Amazon in 2017.
“I got all my stuff from Whole Foods and I’m using an organic meat I never used before the holiday show and really, it is superb,” Hamlin said.
Feeding Media Buyers
Hamlin said he helped drum up sponsors for AMC by cooking homemade pasta for advertisers in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.
“I was able to schmooze a lot of the potential advertisers, which was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it,” he said.
“Harry was instrumental in the pitch process,” said Mike DiGiacomo, head of integrated marketing at AMC’s Content Room.
The Content Room aims to capitalize on the talent on AMC’s shows to create branded content for advertisers. Colman Domingo from Fear the Walking Dead has been in three seasons of Bottomless Brunch, making cocktails with Diageo products. Rhea Seehorn of Better Call Saul hangs out at Cooper’s Bar with Bacardi.
Best Christmas Ever has helped make December AMC’s most-watched month. And following up on its most successful “FearFest” Halloween stunt, this Best Christmas Ever has 40% more integrated clients than last year.
Content Room’s branded content is becoming more popular as advertisers look beyond simply airing 30-second spots, DiGiacomo said. “It’s about being innovative and how and where we target our audience’s ever-growing distribution footprint that now includes not only linear, but digital streaming and a strong presence on CTV with our FAST Channels.”
Other AMC digital and streaming services are part of Best Christmas Ever. Shudder, the streaming service specializing in horror films, has a naughty list and a nice list. Pick the naughty list and you get movies like Silent Night, Deadly Night. On the nice list, you can watch Love Actually or Christmas with the Campbells.
Advent Calendar
Content Room put together a campaign for Home Depot leading up to the Best Christmas Ever, which started November 26 and runs through December 26. The promos featured a special advent calendar filled with items from Home Depot. Each spot featured scenes from memorable holiday film and a QR code that took viewers to a special Home Depot Christmas decor page where they can shop.
Another Best Christmas Ever sponsor is Instacart, a first-time AMC advertiser.
“AMC is known for their Christmas classics and holiday fan favorites, which is why we decided to activate in their ‘Best Christmas Ever’ for our new holiday campaign,” said Jasmine Taylor, senior director of Marketing at Instacart. “We created a custom spot with AMC leveraging clips from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Elf and Christmas With the Kranks where their holidays go hysterically awry. It’s an authentic way for us to remind families: don’t panic, just Instacart — we can rescue them from all of their holiday shopping needs.”
Instacart liked the spots so much it also ran them in the commercial time it bought, DiGiacomo said.
Diageo, which has a long connection with the Content Room and Bottomless Brunch, is a returning Best Christmas Ever sponsor with its Baileys Irish Cream brand.
AMC also worked with Krispy Kreme to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Elf by free, special Elf-themed donuts to some clients offices. “We have a couple more scheduled for next week,” DiGiacomo said. “Who doesn’t love free donuts?”
But producing In the Kitchen is the biggest deal yet for Content Room.
“This series with Harry was incredible. We got to shooting in his kitchen with all these incredible stars,” DiGiacomo said. “He invited us into his home to make all this happen. He’s been incredibly gracious this entire time so we owe a lot to Harry and his family.”
Hamlin said he felt comfortable filming at his home. ”It was easy because it was in my own kitchen and I know where everything is, So from a utensil standpoint, it was like the wheels were already greased,” he said.
He also knows how the stove works. Hamlin has had a professional Wolf range in his kitchen for 36 years. I don’t think you can buy them anymore,” he said.
Channeling Julia Child
Hamlin said the holiday episode is a homage to Julia Child. He’s making beef bourguignon with her recipe.
“I've been making her beef bourguignon for my family for the last 10 or 12 years for Christmas Eve,” he said. “It's a little bit challenging, but it's good.”
Hamlin wanted to have his whole family at home for the Christmas meal, but wife Lisa Rinna and daughter Amelia Gray were in Paris where Amelia was modeling for Chanel Couture.
The two contributed to the meal, and the special, via Zoom.
One of Hamlin’s special guests is musician Kenny G. Hamlin and Kenny G were best man at each other’s wedding. “Neither of those marriages worked out, but we have been friends since the 80s,” Hamlin said. “I love his Christmas album. I always play it at Christmas time. So we're that's what’s playing in the background."
On the show, Hamlin and his niece have an Abbott-and-Costello relationship, he said. “Renee knows exactly what she's doing and I'm just sort of getting my feet wet,” he said.
But Hamlin’s enjoying doing the show enough to consider doing more episodes if there's an audience.
“We’ll see how this season goes,“ he said. ”If it does catch fire a little bit, yeah, there will be a Season 2.”
He especially liked spending time with his niece, who also isn’t keen on cooking shows.
“I said, ‘Hey, you know Renee, you could become a celebrity chef,’ ” Hamlin said. “She said, ‘Nah.’ ”
Hamlin said Guilbalt should take advantage of this opportunity. “She's really good and she's really charming and lovely and, in my opinion, she ought to get her own show,” he said.
