Krispy Kreme forced to eat half-baked marketing scheme

Last week, the kreme hit the fan when

An Australian biscuit company has threatened legal action against US chain Krispy Kreme if does not stop selling its Iced Dough-Vo doughnut. Arnott believes the product is almost identical to its own Iced Vo-Vo biscuit, and breaches trademarks registered in 1906.

Krispy claimed the confection was meant as a tribute to the beloved Vo Vo.

This resulted in some of the best headlines I have ever read:

• Oh no, not the VoVo! Holy row breaks out over biscuit ambush
• Arnott’s warns Krispy Kreme Iced Dough-Vo is an Iced No-No
• Arnotts’ anger at Iced Vo Vo vandalism
• No-go woe for doughnut co after Vo-Vo blow
• Arnott’s icy ultimatum in Vo-Vo wars
• Krispy Kreme concedes Dough-Vo no-go
• Dough-Vo bows to Vo-Vo: Krispy Kreme backs down
• Dough-Vo to go-go
• Dough-Vo a no-no: Krispy Kreme concedes

What about: Krisp Kreme donut turns to humble pie

 

As you can tell the Aussies take their Iced Vo Vo’s very seriously: In his November 2007 victory speech, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd jokingly urging his campaign team to have a strong cup of tea with an Iced Vo Vo before getting to work.This reportedly led to skyrocketing Iced VoVo sales, prompting Arnott’s to send a shipping pallet of the biscuits to the Prime Minister’s office in Canberra’s New Parliament House.

Advertisement

Brand synergy: Homer Simpson donut maker & Hello Kitty scale

Two new gadgets provide the perfect mashup for the upcoming uber-brand, Hello Homer:

1. The Simpson’s Doughnut Maker. The Doughnut maker prepares six sumptuous donuts in minutes in its non-stick coated interiors. Hence the donuts don’t have a chance to stick to the maker and allows easy clean up. The Donut maker is small enough so it doesn’t even take much space to pack up inside the cupboard and its ease of usage makes it a great delicacy-maker for kids. $18. BUT WAIT! I hear you cry. WHAT ABOUT THE OBESITY EPIDEMIC IN KIDS? Fear not, little one, for we also have the
2. Hello Kitty Multi Functional Scale. For a mere $130, the scale tells you your water level (?? I haven’t been able to find out what the hell that means??), calorie and whether you are overweight or underweight. You can set your gender, age first and this Multi-functional Health Scale will show you how healthy you are and you can improve from there on. And this being an HK product one of the other multi functions is, of course, cute. The combined donut maker and scale would tell you how many donuts you can have and whether you’re cute enough.

All hail our new brand overlord! Or is it our brand new overlord?