Was the doomed trade name iSnack 2.0 really the choice of an open competition or was Kraft up to something craftier?
The trade name for the Vegemite-based spread, which was abandoned today amid a hail of ridicule, was registered in Hong Kong two weeks before the competition closed, The Punch can reveal.
Kraft registered iSnack2.0 along two other trade names, Snackerific and Crackertime, on July 30. The competition closed on August 14.
Comment is being sought from Kraft.
The three brand names were also registered in Australia this week.
Under international conventions the date of the trademark application in Hong Kong can be considered the filing date for Australia.
So what does it mean? Whatever the cost of the iSnack 2.0 name getting spectacularly canned today, money couldn’t buy the kind of exposure that it has received since being unveiled last weekend.
The conspiracy theory is that Kraft deliberately chose an utterly rubbish name to provoke outrage and great exposure for the new spread.
Company spokesman Simon Talbot said earlier today the company wouldn’t dare to take such a risk with the Vegemite brand.
“You have my word on that,” he said.
However it does seem from the trademark paper trail that iSnack 2.0 had the company excited weeks before the end of the competition, which asked Australians for their suggestions and drew almost 40,000 responses.
It would have made sense for the company to register any brands it thought were particularly good, to stop them from being gazumped.
Pity they chose iSnack 2.0. Snackerific would probably have gone down OK.
To follow the iSnack paper trail yourself:
Go to Australian Trade Mark On-line Search System website.
Click “Enter as a Guest”
In the TM Number search field, enter the following numbers:
1322762 for iSnack 2.0
1322819 for Snackerific
1322920 for Crackertime
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