Alpine Opinion

iSnack 2.0

Posted in Uncategorized by Ray Dixon on 29 September, 2009

Update: Kraft has dumped the new name after just 4 days following public ridicule. The company says it will now run a public ‘vote’ to decide on a replacement brand. Apparently Kraft registered iSnack2.0 along with two other trade names, Snackerific and Crackertime, on July 30. I don’t think the other names are any good either. There are suggestions that the ridiculous iSnack2.0 name was a publicity stunt designed to draw attention to the product. Hmm ….

Kraft’s ‘New Vegemite’ brand is not even original

Beaten to it. Kraft's much criticised choice for its 'New Vegemeite' is actuall plagiarised from a South African energy bar.

The much criticised name for 'New Vegemite' is actually plagiarised from a South African energy bar.

Earlier this year Kraft Foods released its new Vegemite, not as a replacement for the old one but as a variation. The new product is a sickly mixture of Vegemite and cream cheese and, while it spreads more easily and is less salty, it literally looks like shit. Kraft ran a huge competition to give the product a name and, for some reason, chose to announce the winner (a 27-year-old nerdy web designer from Perth) and the new name – iSnack 2.0 - while Saturday’s AFL Grand Final was in full flight. Perhaps Kraft were hoping it would slip by unnoticed, which seems to suggest they knew it would not be well received.

You gotta wonder though if they really thought this through. Apparently the ‘expert’ panel chose iSnack 2.0 to appeal to a younger market already buying iPods, iPhones and just about anything with an “i” in front of it. However, the name is not even original. According to Wikipedia:

 iSnack is the name of an energy bar manufactured by South African company PVM Products and is also the trademark name used by Ideal Snacks (iSnack), an American Corn Chip manufacturer. Breville, an Australian appliance maker, also trademarked the term iSnack with IP Australia in 2001 for a “cooking apparatus including snack makers and sandwich toasters …..

I reckon this will go the way of Kraft’s Vegemite Singles and other Americanised flops they’ve tried to flog to the more critical Australian market, like the God-awful Cheez Whiz, a sort-of saucy cream cheese ’squeezable’ spread that Americans put on their hot dogs and burgers. Give me a break, this product is bad enough but the name they’ve given it absolutely sucks. There’s an idea, let’s call it:

iSuck 2.0

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  1. Dave from Albury said, on 29 September, 2009 at 12:00 pm

    Yes, but what has that got to do with the Geelong Football Club?

  2. Ray Dixon said, on 29 September, 2009 at 12:04 pm

    Read the tag, Dave.

  3. Ray Dixon said, on 29 September, 2009 at 12:39 pm

    I’ve just got to republish Wah’s latest tweet from his sidebar.

    Think Men at Work’s ‘Land Down Under’:

    I said “do you speaka my language?”

    He just smiled and gave me an iSnack2.0 sandwich

  4. Orville said, on 29 September, 2009 at 3:52 pm

    dumb

  5. Monty said, on 29 September, 2009 at 7:00 pm

    Typical Americans. Buy our icons and then stuff ‘em up!

  6. Ray Dixon said, on 29 September, 2009 at 7:32 pm

    Well actually Monty, the Americans have owned our iconic brand Vegemite and Kraft Foods for a very long time.

    I worked for Kraft in my 20s as a sort-of junior executive and I know all about the company’s history. The Americans continually try to influence their products based on what works in America and they’ve never ‘got’ Vegemite. That’s why they’ve tried (unsuccessfully) to change it.

  7. Rox said, on 30 September, 2009 at 8:08 am

    I’ve tasted it. “You could live on it but it tastes like shit.” And I refuse to buy a product that reminds me of work.

    Yeah Ray, they have never got Vegemite. Perhaps they’re trying to crack the US market by making it blander.

  8. Ray Dixon said, on 30 September, 2009 at 10:29 am

    I’m looking forward to Kraft remaking its Vegemite ads with the kids singing:

    “We’re happy little iSnack 2.0s ….”.

  9. Orville said, on 30 September, 2009 at 3:55 pm

  10. Ray Dixon said, on 30 September, 2009 at 5:31 pm

    Very funny, Orville. Someone’s also done a “Hitler hears that St Kilda lost the GF” video. Same footage, I believe.

  11. Orville_B_Croft said, on 30 September, 2009 at 7:19 pm

    There are tons of those hitler video’s. Very clever.

  12. Ray Dixon said, on 30 September, 2009 at 7:32 pm

    Maybe I should do a few:

    Hitler hears that Alpine council has adopted ‘Great Alpine Valleys’ as their marketing brand.

    Hitler hears that the Woolworths supermarket walls are going up in Bright (Hitler = ‘Wal Willow’ in this case).

    And, Hitler hears that the Mt Hotham ski company has refused to extend the ski season despite the massive snow dumps.

    All very relevant around here.

  13. Orville_B_Croft said, on 30 September, 2009 at 9:53 pm

    go for it.

  14. Ray Dixon said, on 1 October, 2009 at 12:10 am

    Update:

    Kraft has dumped the new name after just 4 days following public ridicule. The company says it will now run a public ‘vote’ to decide on a replacement brand.

    Apparently Kraft registered iSnack2.0 along with two other trade names, Snackerific and Crackertime, on July 30. I don’t think the other names are any good either.

    There are suggestions that the ridiculous iSnack2.0 name was a publicity stunt designed to draw attention to the product. Hmm ….

  15. Orville_B_Croft said, on 1 October, 2009 at 6:11 am

    how about ‘cheese and vegemite’?

  16. Baldrick said, on 1 October, 2009 at 7:16 am

    How about “if it smells like dog shit and tastes like dog shit, it doesn’t have to be dog shit”

  17. Baldrick said, on 1 October, 2009 at 8:15 am

    And imagine how bad Isnack 1.0 was


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