How Vegemite blew it
I was going to write a long rant about the defeat-from-the-jaws-of victory PR disaster that Vegemite has pulled off with it’s name me competition.
(iSnack 2.0 – really?)
But Crikey’s Ruth Brown has put it much better.
For what’s worth, the best suggestion I heard was Cheeseymite.
What on earth were they thinking? The name is so rubbish that although I quite like the product I’ll actually be embarrassed to buy it.
(Hat-tip @clembastow for this:)
Tim Burrowes
Linkedin
Baker’s Delight might have had an issue with “Cheeseymite”
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i thought Cheeseymite too, but Baker’s Delight have that one cornered (a cheese and vegemite scroll)
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should of been called chesseymite its simple
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I agree – Cheeseymite is certainly what it is. Perhaps they felt it was too obvious? I just struggle thinking that when asked ‘What do you want on your toast?’, people will respond ‘Oh, some iSnack 2.0 please’. You put cheeseymite on your bread, not something that sounds like an edible MP3 player.
Marketing doesn’t really help itself when it puts out official releases to support the naming that go along the lines of “The name Vegemite iSnack2.0 was chosen based on its personal call to action, relevance to snacking and clear identification of a new and different Vegemite to the original. We believe these three components completely encapsulate the new brand.”
Come on Kraft – do you really think this is what Mrs Smith will be thinking when little Johhny is asking for something to have for brekkie?
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Surely The Gruen Transfer needs to do a special episode so that we can all understand why this isn’t the dumbest name ever.
Either that or just enjoy the panel sinking the slipper into this ridiculous name for an hour or two.
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Surely this is a badly timed April Fool or a PR stunt that is about to move to the next phase (“we were only joking etc etc, here is the real name…”)
Please tell me this isn’t for real.
Crisis team must be in full swing.
I’m so embarrased for them right now.
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I heard fridgemite was in the running – vegemite for the fridge.
The summary from the Vegemite Marketing Director included a comment that the name “has a personal call to action and is relevant to snacking” – oh, that makes it better..
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This has to be a stunt of some sort – it seems impossible that something this goddamn atrocious could not have been deliberate. No one eff’s it up this badly, do they?
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Hold your horses folks – maybe an undercurrent of PR genius is at work here?!
They are getting the brand talked about in a diverse range of communities …
At some point I reckon they’ll discontinue “iSnack 2.0” and introduce “Spread 3.0” and the process starts all over again.
C’mon guys – it’s better than “Dead Sea Paste”
Mr Marmite
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This will go down in history as one of the worst branding disasters of all time. I can’t imagine what they were thinking.
Tip for Kraft’s marketing team: next time you’re looking for a new product name, call FutureBrand rather than some punk web designer from WA. You’ll save yourself a lot of embarrassment.
The whole thing is so stupid I can’t help but wonder whether it is a PR stunt. If so then it has been very effective – although probably not achieving the objective they wanted.
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I suggested the one-step removed Vegemice, though I couldn’t enter officially, of course, and anyway, I figure the Kraft execs wouldn’t see the funny side of having rodents associated with their product, even though I reckon the punters would. Imagine the cute cartoon mascot, Ratatouille style!
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Baker’s Delight do indeed appear to have some sort of trademark/patent/legal doo-dah/clearly-I-don’t-under-stand-anything-about-legal-matters thing on Cheesymite: http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/.....search.pdf (PDF)
Still, given how much it probably cost to run the whole competition and marketing drive, they may have been able to come to some financial arrangement with them for the name.
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It’s such a stupid name. If Baker’s Delight could legally stop Kraft using Cheesymite why not something like Vegelite? Or Litemite? Or something that actually suggests “this is sort of like Vegemite but not as strong so if you don’t like the full-flavoured version you might like this”?
What’s the bet that before the end of the week a Kraft executive will say “Well our goal was to get people talking, and we certainly succeeded in that!!”?
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Oh, and let’s remember that the iPod didn’t stand alone as a name: remember the slogan “Ten Thousand Songs In Your Pocket”?
I’m keen to learn where the call to action and relevance to snacking is in the new name.
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David, it’s far from Vegemite Lite. As I wrote, iSnack 2.0 has more fat (17% vs <1%), more sugar and more sodium. The only things it's light on are taste and Vitamin B.
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Hmm iSnack 2.0? Will it also require software updates? So will we soon be buying iSnack 2.0.1 – with all the bugs taken out of it? Lame.
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Stolen from a twitter feed :
“I said, “Do you speak-a my language?”
He just smiled and gave me a iSnack 2.0 sandwich”
. . doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.
A terrible, terrible name. Twitter is bubbling over with negative feedback but as someone said earlier, is this a PR stunt by Kraft ?
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Can i go out on a limb here and say this is potentially a great marketing move? Or bold at least. Reason being is i’m going to give them credit and say that it is all a big joke (surely, no marketing person in their right mind calls an FMCG product ‘isnack 2.0’, it is just too ludicrous to be true), in which case they are generating a lot of brand awareness for when they rename it to something more appropriate. I’m interested to see how they think this negative publicity will help though…
Tim how’s about doing the reporter thing and getting some comments from the ppl over at Kraft?
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Have we seen this product on shelves? I wondered if it was a get-people-talking stunt that would lead to people finding a regularly-named product on the shelves when they visited a store.
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I like vegemate. Sounded Aussie and friendly. Two things Kraft is not 🙂
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Totally agree with all said here – I saw the advert on TV last night and actually said “Oh my god” out loud… What fool agreed to this? It’s either a joke, as some have suggested and a very clever marketing strategy or it will be the subject of many classroom and boadroom sessions of how to totally stuff up your brand.
As if it’s not bad enough that Vegemite isn’t Australian any more, we get this rubbish. I’m sorry to see that the guy who came up with the name is a West Aussie.
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Great finally Lloyd has brought it back to marketing!
I think the original brief was looking for a brand shift so forget your cheesymite and imagine associations with spreadable cheese aren’t popular with the kids. So we are getting passionate about a name when we don’t fall within the target market.
They are looking for something new & different and whilst I don’t like the name I am not the main household grocery buyer. So the online world feels they have hijacked their space whilst mothers with children 3-10 are trying to deal with the changing tastes of children who have so much choice in the [Snack] category.
I don’t agree with the viral points in the below blog but at least some discussion is happening around the brand and marketing FMCG.
http://joidesign.com/BlogRetri.....stID=45539
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The reason iSnack 2.0 is wrong (and it’s not just the name)
The idea this is a deliberate name choice to create PR interest makes me think the marketing team (I’ll use the team advisedly) at Kraft don’t realise there is such a thing as bad publicity- you are your reputation in the world of internet ratings.
However, this product has been so wrong from the start; I believe they are just incompetent (or accountants). Their list of crimes includes:
1) Mixing two products together (Philly and Vegemite) that nobody in their right minds would do if they didn’t work for Kraft (who own both products)
2) Use a “Name-It” strategy which is lazy and unoriginal (does anybody think the “Backyard Burger” that won the McDonald’s Name it competition last year will ever be heard of again?)
3) Crowd sourcing names like this is pretending to connect to the community. If Kraft listened to their consumers they might know how much Australians hate it when (American) businesses mess with their icons.
4) The people who you are going to annoy most are your loyalists, the same ones who guarantee your future by inducting their kids into eating something that is a hugely acquired taste
5) Does not address Vegemite’s perennial problem: 100% household distribution, declining usage. What was wrong with continuing the “how do you eat it?” campaign celebrating Vegemite’s uniqueness from earlier in the year?
6) Finally do not make a TVC about the marketing process- just because you are in marketing and advertising does not mean Australian’s care about what you do- anyone who has done an NPD process knows they aren’t fun, glamorous or necessarily worth marking an ad about (unless you are so disconnected from your users that you think they care- whoops, that right, see point 3)
The name- even if it is a stunt- is the culmination of a marketing train wreck
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we can just rename it … VEGESHITE …
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cheesymite was my thought too – I wonder how many entries they had with cheesy mite ;p
what drugs were they on when they chose iSnack 2.0
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If i saw that on the shelves I’d be thinking vegemightnot..
However I’m not gen y or /Z.. and the PR Can’t halm…
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PR Stunt? Consumers don’t care about PR, it’s just everyone above whose in the media that will keep this going round and round – the MGB in their local IGA won’t care if this is a PR Stunt or an ill-advised mistake signed off by the Head of Marketing on a bad day…consumers don’t care…if home-brand is 50c cheaper they’ll pick that up instead !!
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@Ollie
Agree… Remember ‘Whooper Discontinued’. It was HUGE!
See: http://illuminea.com/marketing.....deo-stunt/
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I quite like “shitemite”, it really rolls off the tongue.
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Pathetic attempt by such a behemoth like Kraft with all their marketing, advertising & PR muscle …
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Kraft could have at least allowed consumers to vote for the final name rather than choose it themselves. Their customers would have surely voted for something much better than iSnack 2.0. What were they thinking???
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New Coke made more sense.
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iBoycott….
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I was only going to try in once the name was revealed. Now I couldn’t give a toss. iSnack 2.0. Shit – my four year old nephew could do better than that. Plan B, Kraft.
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Is this going to be another fake campaign like Witchery Man etc? Could you possibly harass the Australian psyche more? Certainly is getting some social chat, might be brilliant, would surely hope so #vegefail. Also fits quite well with the TVCs leading up to this. Anyway and if it true at least they can say it was a joke and do it properly.
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Obviously it’s a PR stunt – unless Kraft are so out of touch that they actually thought the “kids” would be “down” with such a 2.0 name. But having people “talk about your brand” in this manner clearly isn’t a win for Kraft or the agency who sold in the idea. This kind of talk won’t prompt the action (sales) Kraft are no doubt after. World’s longest scroll down on the vegimite site to read the runner up names is rather clunky to boot – not a very 2.0 experience in itself!
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I liked ‘2rightmite’. Very Aussie and a bit clever. But the stuff’s disgusting! and a cynical attempt to reduce the shelflife from ‘infinity’ (even cockraches dont touch the stuff, it will still be around long after the apocalypse), to 6 weeks, so you have to chuck it out after you havnt eaten it. And its yet more clutter for the fridge.
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The most bizarre name for a food I have ever heard … and that includes “I hate peas”.
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Vegemite is an iconic brand with loads of Aussie heritage and cred. Just about every Aussie loves it and loves the fact that people from other places just don’t seem to get it. People really do give a shit about their Vegemite,but when consumers feel ownership and connection to a brand it’s important to tread carefully.
So it’s not surprising that a hate site has already emerged, “Names that are better than “iSnack 2.0″, complete with a widget which has a live twitter feed, confidently named “see everyone hates isnack 2.0”. It’s a bit of a laugh. Mind you I doubt the folks at Kraft find it all that amusing.
So what’s the lesson here? I reckon the idea of crowd sourcing a name is great. But if you’re going to get the crowd to help name it then get the crowd to help judge the names too. There are stacks of case studies about brands that engage in co-creation (Dell Ideastorm and My Starbucks Idea come immediately to mind as two terrific examples of brands that do a great job). The difference is both of these examples entrust the wisdom of the crowd to not just come up with ideas but to also rank and rate their worth.
I dunno perhaps if you’re a middle aged marketer, isnack 2.0 sounds really cool and very GenY. But if you’re a cool GenYer (or Xer for that matter) it seems it rates as lame and try-hard.
I’ve got to wonder if the pressure keeps up, how long before Kraft crafts a response to explain that isnack 2.0 is the beta version and a name upgrade is due for release soon.
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@Tony Richardson “I can’t believe it’s not Butter”?
How about “Not Vegemite”.. or “Vegemite NOOOOT” and get Borat to front the ads.
Everyone’s a winner… 😉
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I’m not sure, you can’t imagine that they’d possibly choose such a terrible name.
You can see they haven’t responded on Twitter in 3 days…
Last Tweet
“The name will be announced at tomorrow’s AFL GF. Watch “Before the Game” tonight on Channel 10 for more information” 12:00 AM Sep 25th
http://twitter.com/vegemite_kraft
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Not all publicity is good publicity, and this example of the negative PR from the choice of name is NOT going to help Kraft.
In fact, if the recent figures that one in four people stop buying a product from negative comments via social media, then isnack 2.0 will not going to fly off the shelves!
What I’m interested in is the lack of response from Kraft. PR 101… never not comment…
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Ooh – so much tweeting followed by an eerie silence post announcement. Good point. Likely that they are in lockdown working out what to do(or say) next!
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How many in the ‘general public’ would even get the isnack 2.0 reference? It’s only ‘outraged blogosphere’ that care…
Mum’s (and Dads) doing the weekly shop wont even get it.
My bet is this is a stunt to get more attention for that other brand… ‘Vegemite’… Expect something soon with messaging along the lines of ‘why mess with something that works… Trusty vegemite’ etc…
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From today’s AdNews email:
“Kraft Foods head of corporate affairs Simon Talbot … added that the new blend had already sold 2.8 million units since its launch, with minimal cannibalisation of the original Vegemite product, and confirmed that iSnack2.0 will be a permanent addition to the Vegemite brand”.
Hmmm … nobody here seems to be giving much thought to good old-fashioned fmcg sales results. It’s a bit like mocking those Brand Power ads without being aware of the powerful Millward Brown results highlighting their impact.
What I’d like to know is which consumer segments the new version has appealed to most so far i.e. the people behind those 2.8m unit sales.
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What’s wrong with: “Brewing waste product plus artery-hardening sodium… now with added dairy fat!”
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Will there be a Mac version?
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Adam, the 2.8m sales units appealed to the consumer segment that hadn’t been exposed to the ‘iSnack2.0’ name!
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Agree that Cheesymite is the most correct description for it..I was thinking “Blandymite” (a more boring version of Vegemite) but not sure my suggestion would have made it to the shortlist…although judging by the negative response from everywhere, maybe it could have been up there!
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obese-u-mite – 17% fat! They should be ashamed of themselves.
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17% Fat, more sugar, more salt, less vitamin B…Yankmite? Americanmite? Soonthekidswhoaren’tfatyetsoonwillbemite? Although I really do like Shitemite also.
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It was a simple vegemite / cream cheese spread… good ol’ fashioned “spreadgemite” would’ve done the trick.
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It’s almost bringing back the ancient art of Google-bombing for this.
I read that in France recently, Googling “trou du cul du web” (The Asshole of the Internet) returned the official website of President Sarkozy.
I wonder what phrase could direct Googlers to Kraft’s iSnack 2.0 page?
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@Paul Dovas – LOL! That’s just silly, but I like it.
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Sounds like trial of the unnamed product has been strong. Would be interested to know what repeat purchase is like and whether the sales momentum continues now we have a (IMHO crapola) brand name.
Having said that….about 1 million years BC I worked on “Project Ralph” i.e. the launch of a new men’s magazine with the idea being that the name of the new mag would only be known once it was on the stands. When we realised that we had known the name of the mag all along, we were all pretty horrified. Someone way smarter than me obviously knew what they were doing then. I can only hope so now!
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The jingle “We are happy little iSnack2.0’s, as bright as bright can be, we all enjoy our iSnack2.0’s for breakfast, lunch and tea….” doesnt quite work.
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wilhaus – you got it right… are the yanks trying to make it more palatable for themselves since they bought the brand and probably are trying to sell it in to their market… and shitemite sounds great!
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What about: “CheeseyMATE’ …. brings a little bit of the Aussie back into the product and it is a MATE for its brother Vegemite. Oops too late KRAFT. Will ‘I’ go the distance???
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Crazy PR stunt or not, it’s scary to think how little respect the local Kraft management have for their target audience let alone their own product.
Surely this isn’t what they had in mind? http://twitter.com/isnack20
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If the name was chosen by a ordinary punter out there who was it and what else did they win? Will we get to throw rotten tomatos at them in stocks in Martin Place or Fed Square for coming up the the dumbest, lamest product name ever?
And lastly who were the judges – baby boomers who thought they were being groovy and were down with it? What were the other popular names (Cheesymite aside)?
Any investigative journalists out there with some time on their hands – there are your first few questions.
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I always thought Vagina-Mite cute.
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p.s. Brand borrowing for the youth market is okay so long as the brand you’re borrowing from doesn’t get into any nasty PR event that brings it and you into disrepute hence independence is sooo much safer.
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definitely a stunt and MARMITE is actually far better than vegemite anyway
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Didn’t they try blending Vegemite with Kraft cheese singles over a decade ago and it bombed? I remember a supermarket manager giving us packets and packets of stock that they simply couldn’t sell.
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everyone seems to be hating the name it seems but noboy is keeping silence. isnack 2.0 has become the talk of the town. Intense publicity for sure.
When will it be believed that any publicity is no good publicity. You need to have strong strategy supporting your every move.
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Apparently Kraft was almost going to go with “I Can’t Believe it’s not Better”
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Tasted it and made me retch…I am sure after the “buzz” of the shite name dies down..people will go back to their normal ‘mite
Issac, you are right – they made Kraft Cheese Singles blended with vegemite…EPIC FAIL!
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Vegenot
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I think Dick Smith should combine Dick Mite with Dick Cheese….
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Wow! Kraft’s boasting 2.8m sales already! That’s huge! And also begs the question – why (then) name it at all? Seems ‘no name’ was working wonders. Be interesting to see what happens next … I reckon there’ll be loads of shoppers fronting at Officeworks or Dick Smith trying to buy the stuff the kids have added to the shopping list. 😉
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I wonder how true those sales figures really are…has there been lots of giveaways/samples of the product?
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Just received Trevor Choy’s ‘Protecting Brands’ newsletter that indicates Kraft are more clueless than we first thought :
“I’m not sure that’s a great idea, because Breville already own isnack as a trade mark for snack makers and sandwich toasters (although they’re not currently using it). It doesn’t necessarily stop Kraft from registering isnack 2.0, but it could get a little confusing – for the consumer, is isnack a toaster or a spread?”
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iMdone 3.0 ……….
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How about a bit of RESPECT please for the company and in particular for the man who would have been stoked at winning the competition, bet he doesn’t feel like that now!!!!! In fact he has probably gone into hiding after being rubbished so publicly, so you don’t like it well try forwarding your suggestions in a positive manner to the company.
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Say it with me people… CHEDDAMITE!!!!!
or
Vegedda, Cheesy V, poo in a fkn jar. Anything would have been better than bloody iSnack2.0. Sheesh.
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What about chunkymite? You might get chunky if you eat too much!
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Unhappy little Vegemites vent their fury over iSnack 2.0
http://www.smh.com.au/business.....-g997.html
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I think the real issue is that Vegemite was reasonably healthy for kids – but shitemite is 17% fat – maybe obesemite or fattymite or lardarsemite are also more appropriate options….
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Who gives a shit anyway? I eat Promite and love it.
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we are not meant to take consumers ideas literally but use feedback and insight to do something creative. Listen to consumers but don’t follow. A name that will be obsolete and irrelevant any minute.
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Wow… If we didn’t already know that Vegemite had a new product out, we all do now!
The awareness this name has created has been huge – i just hope people don’t boycott the product in despite of the name…. that would be mean!
I like the name. It’s a snack, my snack and its Vegemite’s second product… isnack 2.0.
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I would hate to think what iSnack 1.0 and iSnack beta would have been like 😉
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Seems the majority of ppl aren’t a fan of the product/taste either >>> whilst walking along the MCG concourse 2 hours after the Pies v Cats Preliminary Final, i noticed the ground was littered with free samples that had barely been touched.
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Always avoid v1.0 of any product. Everyone knows that wait till 1.3 at least.
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Don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Laugh at the thought that this name didn’t get tested or cry that its another half assed pr stunt to get ‘people talking’. Either way its a sad state of affairs for marketing in Australia.
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Oh yeah, people will talk alright.
Once the chatter fades though, all they’ll be left with is shit sandwich.
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there’s another great take on the new product by the kraft brand over at the naming & branding blog “on the button.” worth a look: http://translate.google.com/tr.....rro.com%2F
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iDaft.2.0.P/L
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Jules, interesting that you say about the samples at the footy…I think they did something like that again for the Grand Final…also they had Lehmo (Wil & Lehmo that used to be on MMM) announcing the name during the Grand Final TV broadcast…
Free samples like that remind me of when they release “Mother”…boy did that suck big time…awful stuff
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Surprise, surprise. Kraft ready to consider renaming the new product :
http://www.smh.com.au/business.....-gbwt.html
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Two months supply ready with the iSnack name will become collectables before the new name is launched.
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For all those hating on iSnack 2.0 – check out our site: http://epicfailstore.com
We’ve dedicate an EPIC FAIL t-shirt to the new brand : )
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iLols2.0 – secret Vegemite market research video…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlyX3PL82xM
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A very cynical attempt at “targeting young”! Hope someone gets fired for that…
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Hi Tim and others,
Vegemite: The Movie (the background to the iSnack launch.) http://bit.ly/w6uyO
Hope you like it.
bret
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