nosh nook #145 - friday, october 2, 2009

web-emites take snack attack to new level (link)
10.01.09 - the age - by julian lee

wow. as far as snacking goes, australia's had a lot going on lately. just last month, four'n twenty, an australian meat pies company, announced that they were releasing snack-sized meat pies. i haven't had a chance to poll any australians, but i'm assuming the resulting effects on australian society have been nothing short of ace. now, after the introduction of another new snack product, australians, through their outrage, have banded together to enact democratic change.

back in june, kraft released an updated version of vegemite, one of australia's native foods. the update mixed vegemite with cream cheese to produce a milder flavor. when they released it, they announced a contest to name the product & according to melbourne's the age, when they announced the name of the new vegemite five days ago, people went batty. the new name--"isnack 2.0." as a result, kraft is all like, "oh, you don't like it? why don't you come up with a better one then?"

basically, you go to their website & take a survey where a series of questions asks you to pick what the new name should be by ranking "vegemite creamymate," "vegemite vegemild," "vegemite vegemate," "vegemite snackmate," "vegemite cheesybite," "vegemite smooth" & "i wouldn’t choose any of these names." i hope that last one wins. that'd look awesomely meta on a label. julian lee turned to james griffin, a director from SR7 (online risk & reputation consultants) to find out why the events around kraft's new snack product are so historic. griffin said "regardless of whether or not this is a marketing ploy by kraft, this is an example of social media determining the outcome of a marketing campaign." you hear that kraft marketing team? we know you've got aussies doing your job because you dropped the ball the first time. power to the people!