New Zealand Takeaway Championship

I mentioned this in an earlier post but I've found something I want to learn more about in the last couple weeks I'll be in NZ.

"Takeaways" or as they're better known back in the States, ice cream treats.... strawberry shortcake, ice cream sandwiches, drumsticks, drumsticks with almonds, drumsticks filled with caramel, push-pops, eskimo pies, skinny cows, fudgesicles, moon pies, you name it, we all know them and remember them fondly.

Why?

1. I like ice cream as much or more than anyone I know. In my prime (yes, I had an ice cream prime) I had to restrain myself from finishing a half gallon in less than 3 bowls (at one bowl per night). I never got tired of it. I never felt full/sick. Never. Even in high-school when I put down 3/4 of a gallon as part of challenge. I could have had more. Some of you might say, "I know what you're saying. You're preaching to the choir. The only way I can contain myself is to not buy it." That's not an option for me. I merely accept that ice cream and I will never part ways.
2. Takeaways, odd name right? Even stranger when I tell you that I worked on a lot of takeaways at my old job. Different takeaways though. Working at the advertising agency, WDCW, on the T-Mobile account, it was one my curses privileges to work on takeaways, or as you might call them, brochures. coverage, rate plans, prepaid, data, mobile broadband, if there was a takeaway, I worked on it. So was it merely coincidence that when I got to NZ, I realized that my favorite food was the name of something I used to work on so much? I didn't think so either.
3. I'm not sure of the actual statistical place takeaways hold in NZ's commerce (i.e. how much revenue they generate) but I think it's huge. Every town, regardless of size, has at least one takeaway store and they're covered in advertising.When I used to work at that agency, one of my responsibilities as an account exec was to brief our creative team on projects. I was terrible at this it but one of the most important parts was that the messaging hierarchy. A messaging hierarchy tells you what points the advertiser wants to get across and in what order of priority. With this in mind, every gas station, every grocery store, even coffee shops seem to really want to push these takeaways because they are, at the lowest, the #2 thing I see. At a gas station, you see the brand (colors/logo) and then you see ice cream advertising. It's insane. Keep in mind, I might have slight tunnel vision sometimes.
4. The branding of takeaways is much different than any ice cream advertising I've seen before. As you'll see from our first group, it's targeted much more to adults. It's sexy, mysterious and strong. They're like commercials for high priced alcohol in the States. It's weird.

Goal?

To figure out what the best takeaway in NZ is.

How?

There are many different types/forms and brands of takeaways, just like in the States. Cones, on sticks, sandwiches, you get the picture. I've decided to approach it like a dog show. Group A, B, C. take the winner of each and reevaluate for the "best in show" award. I'm breaking them up by brand. each takeaway will be eaten and scored (1-5, 5 being the highest) based on 4 categories (creativity, presentation, flavor and overall taste). Top score wins. in the case of a tie, the tie-breaker is overall taste.

Side-notes:

1. I feel a little bad about doing this given the places I'm going next and the value or food and calories for people around the world. It's terrible that I'm about to gorge myself like this. I feel truly gluttonous for the first time in my life and I'm a embarrassed and ashamed just thinking about. There are up to 400 calories in one of these takeaways.
2. I feel bad about spending the amount of money I will on this project. An average takeaway cost $3.
3. In order to sample all available takeaways and report by June 3, most days I will need to consume at least two takeaways.

Without further adieu...

MAGNUM

Easily the most regal takeaway brand in the competition (just wait until you see the names...). To my knowledge, they're not available in the US but they are seen throughout Europe and other countries.

GOLD?!

Why the question mark and the exclamation point? it seems dumb but it worked, I'm intrigued and excited.

Hopefully you can see this but we're looking at a double-dipped takeaway here. Gold on the outside (no discernible taste) and chocolate on the inside. Right out of the gates, it really knocked me off my feet. I'm rather experienced with the art of consuming a treat that has been covered in chocolate so normally there aren't many casualties but the double layer surprised me and I lost a big chunk of gold. The actual ice cream itself was vanilla with a very well rounded caramel flavor. Not overpowering but very smooth and distinguishable.

creativity: 4

presentation: 4

flavor: 4

overall taste: 5

total: 17

PEPPERMINT

Your standard peppermint affair here. Peppermint flavored ice cream dipped in chocolate. The peppermint flavor was a little too fake/strong and there wasn't anything else to it. Apparently peppermint ice cream is unheard of in NZ. nonetheless, I was not impressed.

creativity: 1

presentation: 2

flavor: 2

overall taste: 2

total: 7

SANDWICH with almonds

I expected sandwich and got half sandwich, half dipped. Brilliant. They even took it up a notch from there and added almonds to the dipped part. the pairing of of dipped cone with almonds to sandwich cookie was very well done. The cookie wasn't too crisp or crumbly either. Good execution.

creativity: 5

presentation: 4

flavor: 4

overall taste: 4

total: 17

Ego caramel

Gutsy name for an ice cream treat and it tasted like they came up the with name first and the flavors second. They tried a little too hard here.

Chocolate layer, rich/thick caramel layer, chocolate layer, vanilla ice cream. The caramel was too powerful and too rich here. That's all there was too it. Great concept though.

creativity: 5

presentation: 4

flavor: 3

overall taste: 2

total: 14

ALMOND

It is what it says it is and there's something to be said for that. Almonds add a richer, smoother, more subtle flavor than the american peanut does to ice cream treats. Its classic with a spin. I dig it.

creativity: 4

presentation: 3

flavor: 4

overall taste: 5

total: 16

CLASSIC

Classic, we all know it. Vanilla ice cream dipped in chocolate.

creativity: 1

presentation: 3

flavor: 3

overall taste: 4

total: 11

BIG CHOC BIKKIE with crunchy biscuit pieces

I think they should come up with some better words than "bikkie" and "biscuit", maybe it's a cultural thing I don't understand but I think you could find better words.

Finally, a chocolate interior! I was beginning to wonder if it existed. I don't know if it was the change of pace (with chocolate) or the overall flavor but this was good.

creativity: 4

presentation: 3

flavor: 4

overall taste: 5

total: 16

WHITE

White chocolate exterior with vanilla interior. It was good white chocolate though. Really good.

creativity: 4

presentation: 3

flavor: 4

overall taste: 4

total: 14

That's it. That's all of them. The winner...GOLD?! It was a tie though with Sandwich but GOLD?! won on overall taste points.

Nicely done MAGNUM. Feel free to step into the U.S. market anytime you get a chance but you might rethink some of the names (specifically, Ego).