Douglas J. PeckenpaughDoug's Domain RSS

Douglas J. Peckenpaugh is a managing editor of Food Product Design and the editor/associate publisher of CULINOLOGY magazine. He has worked in food and agricultural publishing as a writer and editor for books, magazines and websites. He also worked as a cook and kitchen manager while earning his B.A. from Purdue University in Professional and Creative Writing.

11/05/2009

What's in a Name?

Well, quite a bit, actually. Nevertheless, when it comes to an iconic product like Vegemite, a rose by any other name smells just as stinky.

When I ran across a piece on the recent hubbub down-under on Vegemite, I couldn’t help but think that the whole business reeked of creativity—after all, it certainly worked for Coke back in the 1980s.

Even though this Vegemite business didn’t involve a reformulation, it did strike me as a way to get their already-entrenched brand refreshed and back firmly in the front of Australian’s minds—change the product name to something undeniably goofy in line with Gen Z (iSnack 2.0), wait for the outcry, and then generate another new name (Cheesybite). I’m just waiting for the other shoe to fall as Vegemite Classic hits the shelves just in time for the holidays.

Comments

1

Eurail 11/08/2009 01:07

Doug, as an Aussie - you are 100% correct. This was well thought out well in advance. Kraft Australia knows very well how passionate Australians are about their icons and yes, believe it or not, that overly salty jar called Vegemite goes back a long way. They know *exactly* what they are doing!

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