GOBBLE MONKEY CHOCOLATE BAR WINNERS!

Last month I posed a question: What if you could design your very own Gobble Monkey chocolate bar?

What would it look like? What would it TASTE like? What would the slogan be?

Well, the entries came in their droves*, and below are the best**

(*12 **all 12)

BERRY BUNNY by Splashie
SLOGAN: Add a bounce to your day with a bunny shaped chocolate bar
FLAVOUR: Strawberry and white chocolate
Gobble Monkey says: This sounds quite nice but I am unnerved by the green rabbit on the wrapper. 4 out of 7

LIMITED EDITION NUTTY MONKEY'S BANJO by BringBackBanjo
SLOGAN: Go ape for the little bar with the big taste!
FLAVOUR: peanut and banana milk chocolate
Gobble Monkey says: Nuts, monkeys, banjos. What's not to like? Well, nuts for one. I do like banjos though. 4 out of 7

CHOCO-MEH by Jen
SLOGAN: It could be worse!
FLAVOUR: Unknown
Gobble Monkey says: I like the fact that the Unique Selling Point of Choco-Meh is that it's of a very very low quality, but not quite the worst chocolate you could buy.  There's something comforting about that. 5 out of 7

BANANA WHIP! by Olu
SLOGAN: Which came first, the monkey or the egg?
FLAVOUR: Banana Whip! Banana Frittata! Banana Scramble!
Gobble Monkey says: Good thinking outside the rectangle here Olu - this would be a perfect Egg Day treat. And as we all know, monkeys did come before eggs. 4 out of 7

TOXIC-TOTS by Tom
SLOGAN: Almost illegal
FLAVOUR: Toxic
Gobble Monkey says: I'll eat anything that is almost illegal. Plus I know Austrian's are a load of pansies. However, this is really just very early concept work by Tom, needs a lot of fleshing out before launching onto the crowded fruit singles market. 4 out of 7.

GOBBLE-PONY by Frances
SLOGAN: Find it in EVERYTHING!
FLAVOUR: Unknown
Gobble Monkey says: I'm confused. 4 out of 7

GOBBLE BAR, by Terri
SLOGAN: Prepare your inner monkey for a bite of this!
FLAVOUR: Banana and peanut butter
Gobble Monkey says: Banana JELLY? Sounds mental. However, Gobble Monkey is nut intolerant and therefore this can only get 4 out of 7

CRAZY BANOFFE BONANZA! by Veronique 
SLOGAN: It's bananas!
FLAVOUR: Banana and smooth toffee
Gobble Monkey says: Some nice abstract brushwork from Veronique on the wrapper here, reminiscent of an early Van Gogh. I don't think those two mascots would get along though. 5 out of 7

TWIXCEPTION by Jessica
SLOGAN: Twix within a Twix within a Twix... / Because one Twix is never enough...
FLAVOUR: Twix
Gobble Monkey says: This is the sort of chocolate bar I imagine Leonardo Di Caprio eating in a dream and then waking up to find he has eaten his pillow. I'm with him there - this is an incredibly strong concept only let down by 1) being impossible to manufacture and 2) poor draftsmanship.
5 out of 7

HERE'S THE TOP THREE:


THIRD: 

TWITKAT by Kirk
SLOGAN: Smooth caramel, shortbread and "wafer" all smothered in varying quality milk chocolate
FLAVOUR: Somewhere between a KitKat and a Twix
Gobble Monkey says: Well this is 50% the best ever chocolate bar and 50% the worst. Therefore it should score 3.5 out of 7, but I like the name and the effort gone into the construction of the actual bar gives it an extra two points: 5.5 out of 7.

SECOND:

BANANETTO by Tracy
SLOGAN: Only for adult monkeys
FLAVOUR: Banana, toffee and amaretto
Gobble Monkey says: Three of my all time favourite flavours combined in a sophisticated bar for mature audiences. What's not to like? Well, my moustache for one. 6 out of 7.

AND THE WINNER OF £5 CYBER-CANDY VOUCHER IS:

COCO-NUTS by Amber
SLOGAN: Crunchy coconut chunks with chewy caramel covered nuts in creamy chocolate
FLAVOUR: Coconut
Gobble Monkey says: Why do those coconuts have legs but no arms? They're freaking me out. This bar is too nutty for my liking - Coconuts AND chewy caramel covered nuts? You've gone too far. However, strong design work pushes this up to a 6.5 out of 7

Well done Amber. Thank you to everyone who took the time to enter x x x

Why don't you let me know your favourites in the comment section below?

Rowntree's Randoms Rip'ems

Oh fantastic a new Rowntree's Randoms product!

It's only been, like what, a week since Squidgy Speak were forced upon an unsuspecting nation? And now we've got these:

Rowntree's Randoms Rip'ems.

HEY GOBBLE MONKEY, WHAT'S SO RANDOM ABOUT ROWNTREE'S RANDOMS RIP'EMS?

Stop shouting. I don't know why you're even asking me that question, just look at them:

LOOK:

RANDOM ALERT.
Have you ever seen anything more random than that?

I mean,  Rowntree's Randoms had random shapes. Rowntree's Randoms Squidgy Speak had random words.

But Rowntree's Randoms Rip'ems are straight, coloured lines. The most random thing of all. 

You were expecting, maybe a hat, or a crow - or even a crow wearing a hat, BUT Rowntree's have subverted your expectations once again by giving you a line. THE THING YOU LEAST EXPECTED. You fool.

Don't panic though, our Graham, Nestle UK's trade communications manager, is back to explain all:

"Innovation is critical to driving fruit singles growth across all ages of consumers, but particularly with a younger audience. Rowntree's Randoms Rip'Ems is a highly innovative and unique product that is certain to capture shoppers' attention as well as their imaginations," Graham Walker, trade communications manager at Nestle UK, said.

Graham is right on the money this time, Rip'ems really have captured my imagination. Check this out:

INNOVATIVE.

Then I let my imagination run wild: 

UNIQUE.

Then I got bored.

DRIVING FRUIT SINGLES GROWTH.

They taste a bit like plastic - and if you play with them for a while, then plastic mixed with sweaty hands. That actually improves them slightly. 

Rowntree's Random Rip'ems, 50p 

Gobble Monkey says: 3 out of 7 (with sweat, 4 out of 7)