Last night I wrote a hotly debated impassioned plea to Australian’s to support our great Aussie icon Vegemite with their new product iSnack 2.0. But it appears it was too little too late, as Kraft have announced today they will be changing the name due to all of the negative feedback from the Australian public.
Before we delve into why this occurred and how powerful this is for us as individuals I think I owe you an apology. As I said earlier yesterday I attacked people for slamming the new name, but it appears that these actions have had a positive reaction. So if you were one of these people I do apologise.
Now onto the bigger news story here, “The Power Of Social Media”. Before the day’s of web 2.0, blogs, facebook and twitter if we wanted to voice or dissatisfaction with something we would could only do so in writing or through emails. This has now changed as a significant portion of our population now has a voice and in some cases multiple voices. Let me ask you a question:
Do You Think Kraft Would Have Changed The Name Without All Of The Social Media Out Cry?
Let’s analyse some of the stats:
- There are 69100 different web pages indexed on google that include the words “iSnack 2.0”, this is an amazing feat considering the name was only launched 4 days ago
- Kraft has been a trending topic on twitter since the announcement of it’s name change
- iSnack was a trending topic on twitter when it announced it’s new name
- There are 58 different groups on Facebook related to the iSnack
And those are just some of the easy to find stats, the viral nature of this anti-iSnack campaign has been massive.
So with that said I personally do not believe that Kraft would have changed the name without all of this social media presence, and that is an empowering thought for all out their who are passionate and campaigning for their beliefs.
The next step for Kraft to really leverage off this publicity is start to start up a social media campaign to vote for the next name. Have you got any ideas?
Shaun Stenning has been an internet marketer for over 7 years. He has experience in a broad range of online and offline marketing fields and specialises in Search Engine Optimisation, Conversion, Traffic Generation and Monetisation.
Matt Stenning is a Social Media specialist who is passionate about unearthing new strategies and ideas online. He also has a broad range of internet marketing experience.
Stephanie Stenning specialises in online product marketing and copywriting.
Grant
- 30th Sep, 09 04:09pm
Big publicity stunt by Kraft – choose an obviously unacceptable name, then after a bit of uproar in the social media, change it. The popularity of the words Kraft and Vegemite in the media proves how they planned this.
Shaun Stenning (author comment)
- 30th Sep, 09 04:09pm
Hey Grant,
That’s a perspective I have been thinking personally but wondered if that was a little too conspiracy theory style for me?
If this was planned the marketing manager deserves a good bonus.
Warm Regards
Shaun
Jenni
- 30th Sep, 09 05:09pm
I personally prefer to mix my own cheese spread and vegemite on my toast … so i get just the right mix. It also means i buy 2 products instead of the one. i wont be buying the new product whatever it is called. I like my iProducts to be of the Mac variety
Why Australian’s Suck and iSnack 2.0 Rocks
- 30th Sep, 09 05:09pm
[...] UPDATE: Kraft crumbles from social media pressure [...]
Tania Shipman
- 30th Sep, 09 07:09pm
I’ve never liked cheese and vegemite together. I also like to just eat vegemite off a spoon without the need for bread or biscuits. If it is true they are changing the name because of social media, I’m impressed but I can’t see them throwing away all that money. I tend to agree with the conspiracy theory
Ray
- 30th Sep, 09 09:09pm
I tried this product and didn’t like it at all. It doesn’t taste like vegemite or cheese. It doesn’t even taste like vegemite mixed with cheese. So whatever they called it I wasn;t going to buy it. But as a publicity stunt yes it was a great event and I agree with what Shaun has written about social media. I am just amazed that SM picked this one up.
Generating Traffic From Twitter Trends Part 2
- 4th Nov, 09 10:11am
[...] example I talked about in last week’s post was the iSnack 2.0 controversy that raced around Australia when Kraft announced the name. During this controversy I [...]