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.
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Saturday, September 12, 2009

Would you TapIt?


I recently read about a new social initiative called TapIt in New York City - its a water bottle refilling network that gives people free access to clean water on the go. By going on the TapIt website, or downloading the iphone application, New Yorkers can find a local TapIt cafe partner location to fill their re-usable water bottle.


TapIt is meant to provide an alternative to buying expensive environmentally-unfriendly bottled water and promoting sustainable and green public behaviour.

The TapIt site also has a blog, as well as a Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts where you can read about other environmental programs and how you can make a difference.

What I like about this program is that a problem was identified and they invented a solution that people could easily get involved in. This is much more effective than just telling people not to drink bottled water or just banning it outright as some other cities have done.

The program seems to be catching on and the idea is spreading across the USA and to other countries.

What do you think of TapIt? Is this something you would do if it was available near you? Do you think their campaign is effective?
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Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Social media as a social cause support tool

I recently came across this photo posted on the celebrity gossip site, Perez Hilton. It sparked my interest because of all the negative press we hear about rugby players here in Australia. The national rugby team, the Wallabies, has teamed up with the Sydney Convicts, a gay rugby club, to promote an anti-homophobia campaign.


The photo initially appeared on the This is Oz, an anti-discrimination photo gallery site, and has since been posted on gay and lesbian sites as well as sports sites around the world. This campaign definetely breaks the stereotype of the typical macho rugby player who you wouldn't picture supporting gay rights.

While this campaign sets a positive example for rugby fans, what might happen if a player who didn't share these views made a homophobic slur? Certainly, this has happened before in sport. Would it ruin the campaign? Or do you think this would have made enough of an impact to outweigh the controversy?

Hopefully, these players will continue to use their celebrity and role model status to promote good causes and make headlines for positive reasons.
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