Comments on: Vegemite’s new name unites the internet in contempt

By: neslot

neslot — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 09:08:42 +0000

LOL can’t belive this, they are being flogged on not only ebay but even ecommerce sites are emerging!

see for yourself,
http://isnack2.com.au/

By: higgphoto

higgphoto — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 02:08:13 +0000

In the tradition of software bug fix updates (stuff-ups), my entry for the renaming of iSnack 2.0 is……. iSnack 2.1.0

By: Venise Alstergren

Venise Alstergren — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:05:49 +0000

DAVID: Or as one of my earlier comments: !Vom.it.us!

By: David Sanderson

David Sanderson — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 06:40:55 +0000

iPuke.

By: Chris Johnson

Chris Johnson — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 05:35:54 +0000

The hoax is over - Kraft have reneged on calling philly and vegemite iSnack 2.0.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/kraft-backflips-on-vegemite-name-isnack20/story-e6freuy9-1225781188006

By: Stephen Stebbing

Stephen Stebbing — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:30:51 +0000

Yes can’t say I go much on the name, I would have called it Angie Dickinson my ex wife whos birrthday is today — shes looking after me today===really trendy.

By: Ben Aveling

Ben Aveling — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:26:24 +0000

Yes but no but no. Good marketing will kill a bad product. With bad product and bad marketing you can live off people who haven’t yet tried your product while you get it right. With good marketing and a bad product, you don’t have enough time to repair and recover.

By: Stuart Hamilton

Stuart Hamilton — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:49:15 +0000

Whatever their original intention they will certainly be now rewriting history and claiming it as a brilliant piece of marketing. And we just help to make it so…..

By: pwnerous

pwnerous — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 08:41:14 +0000

Ps Epic WIN for publicity - because I’m hungry and now want some Vegemite toast. Damn marketeers.

By: pwnerous

pwnerous — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 08:39:24 +0000

I love the idea that this was deliberate. If so, this is AWESOME - because ‘iSnack 2.0’ is so sh-t … and so funny.

I can just imagine the boardroom when the time came to create an offensively bad name that would get under everyone’s skin. Now THAT would be a fun meeting to go to. Could I see the short-list?

All we need now is the “I’m a little vegemite” commercials, done as silhouettes with citrus backgrounds and a monochrome (yellow) product to stick out. F-cking hilarious!

By: Richard Wilson

Richard Wilson — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:52:09 +0000

Vegemite was an Australian product taken over by an American company Kraft which in more recent times morphed into an arm of the tobacco industry. Meiguo has no idea what it’s for or what it does…least of all to Australians. It’s an aphrodisiac, eliminates boils and all forms of skin disease, turns little boys into supermen and works as a non toxic tanning agent. My kids from 4-28 still demand it on toast and grown men have been known to break down and cry when not on a breakfast menu in Beijing. This latest insidious assault on the Aussie psyche is just too much for any koala to bear!
Come on fellas don’t let these septics come the raw prawn! Boycott Starbucks (although it’s probably Chinese owned by now!) and tell Kraft what they might do with their cheesy comestibles.
No one pushes us Aussies around and gets away with it!

By: kate

kate — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:51:55 +0000

I’d never heard of the stuff until all this blew up, so I guess that is the definition of a marketing success. Mind you I won’t be buying it, whether they call it i-thingy 2.whatever - it sounds disgusting.

By: Venise Alstergren

Venise Alstergren — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:16:29 +0000

Chris, you left out the sweet chili, the pesto, olives and the anchovies.

By: Venise Alstergren

Venise Alstergren — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:56:22 +0000

Agree about the marketing being smart-sort of, but did the person who thought of the name win a prize for his/her efforts for an apparently spurious competition? That is bad friendly family imagery. People can out-smart themselves. We will see, no doubt.

By: mark hipgrave

mark hipgrave — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:41:03 +0000

I sent all this to my son who is an art director at an advertising agency. His take is as follows:

“This is either incredibly stupid or incredibly clever.

Any publicity is good publicity, and they have the ENTIRE country talking about their new product. When they decide to rename it to something more sensible they will A) look like they listen to their customers and B) will have had their new product top of mind for a few weeks.

I highly doubt the Phillip Morris / Altria / Kraft owned brand would enter into something so ridiculous without weighing up the pros and cons pretty heavily.

My guess is this whole exercise is very clever marketing. “

By: Chris Johnson

Chris Johnson — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:54:23 +0000

Yes Stuart. Nuts is in - peanut butter is out. And so are considerations for Aussie taste buds as the US Kraft range gets trotted out to down-under supermarket shelves. Bet honey, nut and cream cheese will be launched soon along with Pimento spread. If you think the one size fits all global economy stops with financial markets your wrong.

http://qbrand.blogspot.com/2009/06/is-kraft-putting-its-nuts-on-line.html

By: Stuart Hamilton

Stuart Hamilton — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:25:57 +0000

More evidence of the naff output of the Kraft marketing geniuses - I noticed in spreading it on this morning’s toast that they’ve relabelled peanut butter ‘Nuts’. I couldn’t have described them better myself.

By: Bob Tamock

Bob Tamock — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:05:00 +0000

Exactly what is the relationship between iSnack 2.0, Kyle Sandilands, Telstra and Microsoft?

PS: The only stuff worth adding to iSnack 2.0 on toast is fresh tomato.

By: afoxrussell

afoxrussell — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 02:01:07 +0000

meh. Its just a name. What makes the name Vegemite so spec-bloody-tactular?

By: Smithee

Smithee — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:04:22 +0000

Did no one in the entire corporate chain dare to remark that in reality the Emporer had no clothes on ?

By: Bullmore's Ghost

Bullmore's Ghost — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:17:36 +0000

I will sum up my feeling about this new name in just one word: “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

By: Richard Wilson

Richard Wilson — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:52:03 +0000

Why didn’t they call it Justmite ..then they could at least live in hope!

By: Ben Aveling

Ben Aveling — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:28:10 +0000

@Most Peculiar Mama - I think you are on the money. Run the dud name, score the free publicity, change the name, score more free publicity. It isn’t even bad publicity because no one will really think worse of the product because of the name.

The proof of your theory will be in how fast they get the new brand onto shelves.

It’s probably good marketing. Of course, the fastest way to kill a bad product is with good marketing.

By: Ruth Brown

Ruth Brown — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:51:30 +0000

Actually, the new Vegemite “name me” campaign was run by Melbourne ad agency JWT: http://www.bandt.com.au/news/7a/0c06257a.asp

By: Venise Alstergren

Venise Alstergren — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:47:21 +0000

Or how much total ignorance the Americans have about We Aussies.

I’ll never forget once I was stuck in a city called Barranquilla in Colombia-I’d managed to get sun stroke-An American with one of those hideous pork pie hats was trying to chat me up and was speaking very slowly. Finally the reason became apparent. He asked me. “What language do you speak in Australia?”