Brian PrenticeAustralian’s take pride in several things – it’s flora and fauna, it’s successful actors and the fact it’s the only place on Earth where they enjoy eating Vegemite. Originally brought to the world’s attention in the 80′s Men At Work hit “Land Down Under,” it is best described as a foul-smelling dark brown paste which is salty than salt. It’s a brewer’s yeast extract – which polite way of saying it’s the part of beer that doesn’t make into the bottle.
This quintessential Aussie icon is now owned by American food conglomerate Kraft Foods (the same company famous for inventing the first laboratory-based cheese). Recently, in an effort to launch a new flavor (and I use that term in its broadest sense) of Vegemite, Kraft decided to ask Australians to come up with a new name.
After 48,000 suggestions were submitted Kraft made their selection. And this weekend, during the Aussie Rules Grand Final the name was unveiled…
iSnack 2.0
Sometimes decisions are just so intrinsically stupid that no further comment is required. iSnack 2.0 is one of those.
Well, it’s Wednesday, three days after the big reveal, and news has just broken that iSnack 2.0 has been axed. iSnack 2.0 has officially become Australia’s New Coke.
To put this process into perspective the original name Vegemite was decided in a national poll conducted in 1923. So how marvelously symmetrical to conduct another national poll 86 years later to come up with the new product’s name. You can just see the ad agency pitching this to Kraft Foods executives.
But as Kraft now painfully understands, the collective operates differently in this millennium. Had their marketing team been switched on they would have tapped the power of the collective to select the name rather than just have it make suggestions. So, in twist of Web 2.0 irony It turned out the collective did just that. Through blogs and Twitter feeds like #vegefail, Kraft Foods learnt in Internet time what a lame name they’d selected.
That was an expensive and embarrassing way to learn the lesson!
Just a note to all you food & beverage industry readers out there. Whatever you do don’t use IT naming conventions for stuff we eat. We in the IT industry are not proud of the way we name products. So don’t emulate us. In fact, we’re busy trying to name IT products after food (i.e. Apple, Mint.com, cookies, SproutCore, SugarCRM, Java, etc.). Personally, I refuse to put anything with a version number in my mouth.
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5 responses so far ↓
1 rose September 30, 2009 at 2:03 pm
there’s a great article on the new product over at the naming & branding blog ‘on the button.’ worth a look: http://onthebutton.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/vegemite-isnack2-0/
2 Nick September 30, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Vegemite just got a whole lot of free publicity! Nice work Kraft. Maybe they will now import it into the US in great quantities (I am an Aussie living in the US)
3 Anthony Bradley October 1, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Great post Brian. Very entertaining and also an important lesson. I’m not all that familiar with this particular contest so I’m assuming that they solicited name ideas but did not enable the collective to vote on their favorite name with the best name ideas then rising to the top.
Reminds me of when a business leader told me that social media doesn’t work because of the information overload. When I inquired about the implementation it turned out that he asked for improvement ideas by putting an e-mail address on the web site. Probably coming as no surprise to anyone, he couldn’t keep up with the resposes. Delegating the processing of information to the collective is just as important as soliciting information.
BTW, I have tried vegemite but, unfortunately, I applied it liberally as I would peanut butter. It was not a good experience.
4 Dougal October 18, 2009 at 1:45 pm
“it’s the only place on Earth where they enjoy eating Vegemite”
While obviously an attempt at humour, to me this reflects a profound ignorance (I presume you’re a Yank).
I haven’t checked this, but I think the “mite” part of the name is a reference to Marmite — the popular British yeast extract (also manufactured in South Africa). Brits will swear by their Marmite like Aussies with Vegemite.
While in NZ, I saw Vegemite, along with Promite (another Aussie variant), Marmite and also the local MegaMite.
So it seems like it’s something all AngloSaxons have a great fondness for — only the halfwit cousins from across the Atlantic replaced it with (sweetened!) peanut butter (and turned cricket into crap! The horror).
5 Brian Prentice October 18, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Dougal – yes, I’m a halfwit Yank (have lived here in Australia for the last17 years). I’m gathering you might be a whinging pom?
Thank you for the insightful lesson on the history of yeast-based extracts. I didn’t realize that a failure on my part to elaborate on the world of “…mites” represented a “profound ignorance” on my part. In fact, I’m well aware of Marmite. I can also assure you that no self-respecting Aussie would touch the stuff. Here it is considered little more than a prototype.
And if an entire nation can be defined by its willingness to eat the leftovers of the brewing process than all I can say is God Bless America and pass me the peanut butter!
P.S. – it’s actually possible to enjoy both baseball and cricket!