Vegemite fails on purpose with iSnack 2.0

28 September 2009 | by Willem Reyners Tay

On the face of it it is yet another poor decision from a multinational company as the web smacks down horrendous marketing decisions. After a online competition, Kraft decided to go with iSnack 2.0 for its new, easily spreadable Vegemite.

However, not even the poorest product manager, or most dim-witted executive could have possibly thought that "iSnack 2.0" was actually a good name for a product. In fact, it is quite possibly the worst name they could have picked.

I think they did it on purpose.

The old adage is "all publicity is good publicity" and online naming competitions are a dime a dozen these days, even if they don't get hacked by 4Chan they still chose the biggest corker of the bunch. According to Crikey's Ruth Brown, it has united the internet in contempt.

The #vegefail hashtag has been running hot on Twitter with since the the winner was announced, with a few Facebook groups already springing up in protest over and above the groundswell of indignant status updates.

iSnack 2.0 causes outrage on Twitter and Facebook - But is it all a stunt?

Let us all hold our collective breath as Kraft 'listens to overwhelming voice of the people' and changes the name to something more palatable (like Cheesymite) as soon as the wave of free publicity dies down.

Tags: craft | twitter | Vegemite

Twitter testing new business focused features (15/12/2009)

Agency poll: most think iSnack 2.0 was a stunt (02/10/2009)

Kraft bins iSnack 2.0 (30/09/2009)

Clicks counts are crap: Tracking Twitter using Google Analytics (21/07/2009)

Confirmed: Twitter increases API limit to 150 per hour (03/07/2009)

Add a comment5 Comments

at 04:01 PM on 30 September 2009, Annie wrote:
i like it :D New slogan can be: Vegemite, I snack too! Bon appétit!
at 03:14 PM on 30 September 2009, Andy Wright wrote:
Not sure they even captured the nation's interest. Looking at their stats 41% of entries came from Victoria (coincidentally, where they're based) but only managed 200 followers and Facebook friends. Strange given that this was all for the digital 'i' generation? That said they've achieved a great amount of publicity and if a different version ends up on shelves then we'll be calling it the best marketing stunt of all time.
at 12:48 AM on 29 September 2009, paper wrote:
i kinda like it
at 04:39 PM on 28 September 2009, Andy Miller wrote:
Maybe. I suppose we'll see. Agree with first comment though.
at 01:53 PM on 28 September 2009, Mark wrote:
Stunt or not this name is so shit that it makes me cringe and almost not want to buy Vegemite for the lack of respect given to what essentially is a national icon. Send this mktg mgr back to school.