Wednesday, September 30, 2009

New vegemite goes sour with customers

The iconic Australian brand Vegemite recently launched an online contest to name the "new vegemite." Vegemite created a campaign using You Tube, Twitter, Facebook and traditional advertising to launch the product and the Name Me contest.





After receiving over 35,000 suggestions the name "iSnack 2.0" was announced as the winner. Immediately negative feedback began to appear on blogs, Facebook groups and Twitter posts with customers expressing their extreme dislike of the name of one of their favourite brands.


In response to the backlash, Vegemite has decided to lose the name and will establish a second contest where customers will be able to help choose the new name.


This case demonstrates the importance of pre-testing a new brand image. Vegemite has built brand equity and consumers have a strong identification with the product.


Vegemite had the right idea in asking customers to come up with a name but they weren't involved in the final decision process. The company's decision to act so quickly to respond to the issue demonstrates Vegemite's willingness to adapt and listen to their customers as well.

1 comment:

  1. Vegemite is not only a product, it is an Aussie feeling. Similar to Bavarian beer it is a symbol of nationality. If a brewery back home chose a wrong name for peoples´ favourite beer everyone would get angry and boycott it. But nevertheless, the taste is what matters. So I guess, people would start drinking it again after a short time.

    In the Vegemite case it was a good decision to react to negative public voices. "iSnack 2.0" was simply not the right message for the target groups. Vegemite responded quickly and sensitively to their wishes and did a good job in deciding to revote the name. With being asked about their opinion I´m sure consumers will not avoid the new product afterwards. Moreover, Vegemite´s new cream cheese now enjoys great media awareness. People are talking about it, blogging and creating facebook comments and that is probably cheaper and more effective than any advertising strategy.

    ReplyDelete