“Food is not just relevant but can be associated with every single human emotion.”

Jeremy Pang, Creative Director and CEO at Curious Crab, is describing the emotional connection and cultural impact that fuel his passion for the food, drink and lifestyle. All of which are industries in which his agency Curious Crab operates.

“If we eat certain things they can make us feel a certain way,” says Pang. He shares the example of eating a meal alone as an act that has the power to instill a feeling of loneliness or  of pure bliss and relaxation. As a parent, he knows all too well the ever-elusive power of peace and quiet.

“Those industries really lend themselves to every possible feeling and emotion that you can have as a human being,” he says. It is a passion which extends across the business, as he explains: “My core team are all very specifically interested in the emotion and the journey that food, drink and travel provide.”

After studying Biochemical Engineering with Spanish at university, Pang landed his first role in marketing at Ladbrokes. While he undertook some training in being a chef, as well as a Le Cordon Bleu course, it wasn’t until 2009 when his father passed away and he lost his job that he decided to pursue his passion for food to teach cooking. Soon he began to teach people how to cook Chinese food in their own homes. In 2012 he opened School of Wok with his business partner Nev Leaning.

After growing the School of Wok YouTube channel to 550,000 subscribers and 50 million views, he began to get more involved in digital content production, above-the-line campaigns, TV ads and building his personal profile. Curious Crab, the video and content production agency, was born with a focus on food, drink and travel. The agency is fueled by Pang's passion and his intricate knowledge and care for food. An agency whose journey underlines the power of authenticity.

“Food is one of the main parts of culture, it cannot be forgotten. We have to eat,” adds Pang.

Entertainment is the key ingredient

“With School of Wok the thing was always how could we as a tiny company create impact,” says Pang. “Ultimately it was a cooking school but what we always sold was entertainment and experience. Our classes are insightful and informative but always fun”.

Creating a social atmosphere, memorable moments and an enjoyable experience for guests made the hours of cooking more than just cooking. Creating moments and sparking joy is something that Pang strives for in all his work.

Yet, Pang stresses that entertainment doesn’t always mean humour or being the funniest person in the room. Instead, it is about embracing a consistent level of care. “No one in any of our teams has ever been a comedian, but we are light-hearted, hard-working people,” says Pang, adding: “Jokes come from that attitude and from people genuinely enjoying one another's time.”

At School of Wok, the team spent time creating puns like ‘Woks the story Morning Glory’ and ‘Shitake happens’. Pang shares that there is an accessible kind of humour in that ‘light-hearted silliness’ that audiences can relate to, similar to when families play board games. Entertainment need not be humour from stand-up comedians but can be found in the effort to make things special. Creating moments of connection that excite people's imaginations.

“I genuinely believe that entertainment is anything that captures our imagination, and advertising no matter what industry requires creativity,” he says.

Serving the right audience

For Pang, “relevance is incredibly important”. He praises his team for having a level of ‘added expertise’ that helps them to create the most relevant content for the right audiences.

“We come in first and foremost with the expertise of our niche industries plus the expertise of the structure that is required to build excellent quality content,” he says, adding: “When you piece the two together it can be incredibly powerful.” Creating content for traditional media channels such as linear TV as well as video on demand, Pang helps clients reach the relevant audiences who are already excited by food, drink and travel.

Having built his own profile largely on linear TV, Pang champions both traditional and new media. Rather than pitting one against the other he places the onus instead on creating content that works best for the audience rather than the platform.

“I think there's something quite significant that we can't turn a blind eye to [in TV], around audiences who are genuinely interested in learning about food, culture, travel or want to be entertained,” he says. “If I have 500,000 viewers who watch a TV show for 30 minutes plus one show, that's still much bigger than 10% of my audience on YouTube watching something for 5.5 minutes.”

He continues: “Engagement is key in my opinion, not going viral. No matter what size of business or brand you own.”

Structured creativity

Creating content that resonates requires creativity, yet to prevent his teams from getting lost in an endless creative loop, Pang champions ‘structured creativity’.

“I believe that creativity is endless but in the advertising and marketing world you need to find ways of structuring your creativity so you can find that end point,” he explains, adding: “Otherwise the endless creativity can go around in circles and prevent creation.”

He points to the structure of traditional production houses and acknowledges the importance of the chronology within shoot, pre and post-production.

“Process can lend itself to an end point,” says Pang. He champions creative freedom early on in the process, starting with a wide funnel that gradually narrows as the process moves toward a final product.  

The dream brief is when clients are open to discussion and generating ideas together early on in the process. Pointing to his work with Olly's Snacks, Pang shares that collaboration is key. Olly’s Snacks worked with Curious Crab closely on creating the ‘out with the old in with the bold’ messaging. A strapline which was born in its videos, but could also be used for B2B trade show outreach. An example which shows the power of understanding, strong client relationships and what can be achieved when the brief is right.

Shared values, a passion for creativity and lending that creativity to others are Pang’s ingredients for driving forward a fulfilling career. Be it working on building his personal profile, creating strong relationships with clients or thinking up puns for School of Wok, passion is the red thread that runs through Pang's work.