Crowdsourcing Done Wrong: the Vegemite iSnack Naming Disaster

What's with all the negative articles on crowdsourcing. First Forbes and now this...you decide. This article is all about how Kraft got it wrong asking the people to come up with a name for their product. Well with the competition actually on the label of the jar they sold 3,000,000 jars and now with all the backlash and press they get to sell another 3,000,000. Like Madonna they need people to talk about it, in this case the crowdsourced name, so I am and they will sell more jars. If the objective is to create publicity they achieved the goal. The more ranting and raving there is the more product they will sell. Mission accomplished. Read the article and see if you agree or disagree?

Here's one for the marketing textbooks. A marketer on the verge of launching a new product turns to the unwashed masses to come up with a name. Only in this case rather than spark a bunch of consumer interest, the brand stewards managed to spark a global backlash. That's what's happened to Kraft Foods as its rolled out a more spreadable version of the Australian favorite Vegemite. More than 48,000 people responded to a call to come up with moniker for the new combination of cream cheese and Vegemite, a popular spread made from yeast extract. The winner, as coined by a Australian web developer who, by his own admission, has his tongue planted firmly in his cheek: iSnack 2.0.
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