Murray: When I was running a record company, primetime TV was dominated by music video shows; now all the primetime shows are around cooks, chefs and bakers. I think what really captured people with the Songbook was not only the great music, but that it was paired with these wonderful handwritten lyrics and photos from the artists and presented in this beautiful way. So it got us thinking, could we collaborate with people in another industry - in this case cooks, chefs and bakers - in a similar way, and elevate and showcase what they do? That's what we were interested in.
How did you develop the cookbook idea from there?
Murray: It wasn't an idea we just grabbed and ran with. I always say that any project of any significance will take roughly a year to complete, therefore you need to choose very wisely what you're going to commit to. We asked ourselves, 'is this going to be enjoyable, and are we going to create something of significance that we can be proud of?' Also, all of our projects have been about bringing different art forms and artists together.
Tim: The cookbook really took that concept and formula to a whole new level. There were four of us in the business that went on 80 on-location shoots in every corner of the country. And we collaborated with the cooks, chefs and bakers, but also photographers, editors, a publisher and there was a charitable element involved. It was the most incredible project to work on.
How has the business diversified since?
Murray: I've taken a lot of things I learnt in the music industry and adapted them to other areas of my business. For example, in the music business you release a single and some of the people who hear it will buy the album. Then you release another single and some more people buy the album and so on; in the music industry there's always a new reminder of another reason why you should buy the album.
The Great New Zealand Cookbook led on to The Great Australian Cookbook, and those two projects have been our focus for the past 18 months or so. The Great New Zealand Cookbook has sold 125,000 copies, but there are still lots of opportunities to explore. We're always asking 'what is new content we can release?' or 'what is another reason you should buy this?' For example, we've done limited edition art prints with Dick Frizzell and Reg Mombassa, who did the respective cover artwork for the New Zealand and Australian cookbooks.
A question I also ask is 'where is my market and who can take me there?' Another thing we did with the cookbook that I'm incredibly proud of, is we designed it so the first few pages can be replaced with bespoke content and that's allowed us to create some highly successful gifts for the corporate market. We have so many things in development that we're excited about, but being a small company we've got limited capacity.
What advice would you have for other small business owners contemplating diversification?
Murray: Thinking time is very important, but the problem is people are busy; they don't give themselves time to just be. Ultimately you have to ask 'where does inspiration come from?' If you challenged a group of people to come up with a great idea in the next 24 hours, how many would go to the office for inspiration? I bet no one would, because when you come to work everything is reactive, and it's seldom proactive.
In my opinion, inspiration generally comes in times of stillness, or from doing another enjoyable activity - for me it's being on the water. So my advice is, just take the opportunity to be still from time to time. Get enough time just to be.
