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
Facebook Recommendations
Read all about it
Punch live
Up to the minute Twitter chatter
Ukraine song pinches chord progression from The Verve's Bittersweet Symphony. Fo real #sbseurovision
RT @GerardDaffy: @antsharwood all the talk over there is the grannies will win.they entered to get a church built,feelgood story
Recent posts
The latest and greatest
We don’t deserve this huge, exciting scientific project
I’d like to be able to say that sharing the world’s largest radio telescope with South Africa…
Mining money talks the loudest in Australian politics
When North Queensland Liberal MP George Christensen got the idea of launching a new political organisation…
Please enter your password
Help! I’ve succumbed to a crippling modern illness that can strike at any moment. Symptoms include:…
Gentle jabs to the ribs
They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments
A private school girl’s family is sueing her elite, extremely expensive private school for not… Read more
Most commented