A successful marketing fiasco. Sounds like an oxymoron, but that seems to be the case for Kraft Foods Australia. Kraft introduced a new Vegemite product (the traditional gooey yeast paste mixed with cream cheese), and in the spirit of social media, let consumers submit product name ideas. Initially, Kraft selected the winning name: Vegemite iSnack2.0. Unfortunately, the marketer's innate fear of letting consumers have the final say came back to bite them in the butt. Australians made it loud and clear across the Internet--via Facebook, Twitter, and even dedicated websites--they intensely hated the name.
So Kraft did what it should have done in the first place, putting control in consumers' hands. They selected six of the submitted names and put them out to a vote. Vegemite Cheesybite emerged victorious.
What's funny to me, is that due to the extraordinary sales of the new product, some folks are theorizing that this was all a big stunt, planned from the beginning. I'd like to say that marketers are that insightful, able to map out in advance this kind of action and reaction. But it seems pretty clear, it was just a fear of letting go.
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