Vegemite iSnack 2.0 …WTF DOES THAT MEAN!!! [fail]

My dad told me this story yesterday, and I found it to be way too ridiculous to actually be legit. But as it turns out, yes it is real, and there are idiots in the advertising agency business. Who knew?

From Australia, the country’s national snack, Vegemite is a disgusting spread made from the carcasses of diseased koalas… Kidding! It’s made from yeast extract. But I prefer Marmite!

iBlunder – The name came from a failed case of crowdsourcing on Kraft’s part:

Now, obviously this is a name that has nothing to do with the product and looks like a mere exploitation of cliches in digital product nomenclature.The lesson is equally obvious. Even when they’re being asked for input or sourced for ideas, consumers want brands to be able execute some level of judgment, filtering out awful ideas at minimum.

Rowan Dean, creative director of advertising agency Euro RSCG, summed it up to The Australian. “The idea of getting the public to create the new name of the product the way they did with the original Vegemite is fantastic. But iSnack 2.0 is totally irrelevant to the iPod, Web 2.0 generation, and if they don’t change the brand name it will disappear from the shelves in six months.” The original Vegemite name was chosen through a public competition in the 1920s.

I think it has since been pulled off the shelves.