Looking for a nerdy IP team bonding event? Well, IP Whiteboard is here to help. Having created our scorecard to assess Look Alike packaging (see previous post here), we have now put it to the test. Sensing an opportunity to multi-task, our team recently brought to life the Aldi marketing promise “Like brands. Only cheaper”. This involved consuming the products the subject of our look alike exercise in a blind tasting, to see whether we could pick “the brand” or not.
It was an unlikely assortment of goods assessed by our panel on a Friday afternoon:
- Baked beans
- Two minute noodles
- Crisps
- A savoury biscuit snack food
- Chocolate coated biscuits
- Beer (multiple brands)
The array was a blend of the appetizing and the repulsive.
Whilst not exactly Masterchef, our panel attended to the task at hand with a mixture of dedication and bravado. All aspects of the products in question were examined: texture, oral impression and taste.
A few intriguing insights:
- The outcome of the baked beans taste test was split along gender lines. The result? Guys know baked beans best.
- One of our editors displayed excessive confidence levels in his taste testing ability. You know who you are. Tripped up by Two Minute Noodles, it was an embarrassing fall from grace.
- The wavy grain products polarised our panel. Either you do want to eat them before, during and after a big night out. Or you don’t want to eat them. At all.
- Beers were a popular discussion topic. What a surprise.
Following our consumption of the above products, we then applied our scorecard to some of the packaging. For fear of biasing our readers, we don’t plan to share the results. Let’s just say that the emoticon “We debated this one long and hard”, received quite a workout!
