Crowdsourced branding, a disaster for Kraft?

idsgn, October 15, 2009 — When Kraft launched a spin-off of their uniquely Australian Vegemite spread, they turned to consumers for a name… and it was dropped four days later. Last week another name was announced, can Kraft make it right this time?

A Jar of Vegemite, a Window on Kraft†

Wall Street Journal, September 30, 2009 — The recipe for Vegemite, a salty brown yeast spread famous in Australia, remained unchanged for more than 80 years. Then Irene Rosenfeld became chief executive of Kraft Foods Inc.

This summer, a milder version of Vegemite appeared on store shelves across Australia. Ms. Rosenfeld had almost nothing to do with the reformulated taste, its new packaging or its rollout — which says a lot about how she has tried to transform Kraft since taking over as the food giant's CEO in 2006.