Chew On This: Upscale Flavored Toothpicks From Daneson Include 200 Year Old Single Malt Scotch.

Lest you think only tacky folk and rednecks chew on toothpicks, let me correct you. Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Zac Efron, Robert Pattison, Ashton Kutcher, Jude Law (and son Rafferty), P. Diddy and Chace Crawford are all toothpick chompers.

Chocolate On A Chain. Edible Jewelry by Wendy Mahr

Jewelry designer Wendy Mahr has a small sampling of real edible jewelry amongst her other gemstone jewelry offerings. Real chocolate covered malted milk balls are decorated with real edible gold leaf and turned into a ring, a pair of earrings and three different necklaces. The yummy gems are paired with non-edible findings such as wire, cord and chain. And what's really neat is that once you've eaten the chocolate, if you want to reuse/recycle what's left after the chocolate’s gone, you can send it back and for prices from $25-$45 (depending upon the piece) +shipping and they'll replace the chocolate with pearls, or other available stones for you.

Golden Chocolate Ring:


Everything is edible except for the wire and if you hold out and keep it safely tucked away, you can be the hit of the party several times.
For an additional $25+shipping, Wendy Mahr can reuse/recycle the wire into a new ring.
Price: $55

Chocolate Earrings:


Malted milk balls with edible gold leaf on gold-filled earwires. Tested in the mid-day Miami heat, the edible earrings did not melt.
Price: $55

Pretty Chocolate Necklace:


A gold filled chain with one edible real chocolate ball with edible gold leaf. Each additional ball is $10.
Price: $55

Children's Chocolate Necklace on Golden Cord:


The children's version of their Pretty Chocolate necklace.
Order them in bunches for party favors, but don’t eat the cord - it’s the only non-edible part.
Price: $30

Center of Attention Chocolate Necklace:


Gold filled wire and clasp and edible gold leaf make for a great malted milk ball fashion accessory.
Is it real? Yes. Will it melt? No, at least not when they were tested in the sweltering Miami heat. They smell great, look really pretty, and you can wear it several times, or until you eat them. (Please don’t eat the wire).
If you want to reuse/recycle after the chocolate’s days are over, you can send it back and for $45+shipping, they’ll replace the chocolate with pearls, or other available stones.
Price: $150

Packaging:


Ready for gift-giving, their edible earrings, ring or single necklaces come in this clear gift box finished with shimmering gold ribbon. Cost of box is included in shipping charges. Available for all edible jewelry items, except the 9-ball necklace which comes in a white wendy mahr jewelry box (not shown).

Shop for Wendy Mahr's Edible Jewelry here

Belgian Chocolate Bumholes. That's Right... Edible Anus.

Founded in 2004, they're not new, but they've been making the rounds on the web, so I'll follow suit and jump on the butthole bandwagon.

Eyescream And Friends. A Uniquely Branded Creative Dessert Experience.

Eyescream and Friends launched in Barcelona last fall (September of 2012) and brings more than yummy tasting ice cream and sweets to its customers, it brings them a unique eating experience. From the same folks behind the clever Happy Pills Candy Boutique, Eyescream and Friends is a completely integrated creative project.

Everything from the initial strategy, graphic design and marketing materials to the store interior, industrial design, packaging and signage are all part of the self-serve dessert experience.



CHARACTERS
Cute little monster characters were developed to represent each of the flavors and appear on the business cards, exterior and interior signage:




THE PRODUCT
The 'eyescream', which is imported from Taiwan, is essentially gelato, frozen at -25º C in cylindrical cubes, which is then placed in a special machine which shaves it. The final result is a silky and smooth texture of eyescream.


Each eyescream order comes with 2 sugar candy "eyes" and two toppings:



FLAVORS:
• Cheesecake
• Vanilla
• Chocolate
• Yoghurt
• Wildberry Yoghurt
• Strawberry
• Mango

They also have Sorbets for those who are lactose-intollerant in Strawberry, Mango, and Watermelon flavors.

TOPPINGS:


You can choose 2 toppings to combine with your favorite eyescream. The toppings are a large variety of delicious syrups which combine nicely to enhance any of the eyescream flavors:
• Chocolate
• Condensed Milk
• Dulce de Leche
• Passion Fruit
• Strawberry
• Mango
• Kiwi
• Honeydew Melon

PACKAGING
Each serving is presented in smart eco-friendly packaging that functions as a plate to hold the eyescream and two toppings.





THE STORE



They built wooden low cost boxes for self-service, concentrating all the consumer experience. A fragmented facade, constructed from a large sign with "legs" has the ability to break down into a number of signs, when open to the public. One for external identity and another, when opened, works as informative product menu.








The bottled water served in the store, Tears of Joy, was also designed by Estudio m:




Eyescream and Friends
Paseo de Joan de Borbó, 30
08003 Barcelona, Spain

Branding and Design:
Agency: Estudio m Barcelona
Graphic Design: Marion Dönneweg
Interior Design: Merche Alcalá
Client: Joad López, Federico Mendoza
Naming: Jorge Virgós
Production: Sandra Coll
Photographer: Daniel Loewe

Gum In Grenades And Burberry Plaid. A Great Idea In Need of Better Branding - Paul Stiven Luxury Chewing Gum.

I love the idea of a luxury chewing gum brand. And there is one. Italian designer and entrepreneur Paul Stiven is the creator and brand name of a Luxury Chewing Gum being touted as an innovative new product in the field of fashion, food, fashion and life-style.

The gum is not about a particular flavor, but about the unusual packaging, which comes wrapped in famous luxury brand and trendy imagery (A Fashion Collection) and packed into hand grenades, bullets and brass knuckles (An Army Collection).




Initially, the Paul Stiven Luxury Chewing Gum gum was packaged in well known luxury branded packaging such as CHANEL, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Alexander McQueen and Dolce and Gabbana, as shown below:



However, he must have been violating copyright laws because now the gum is packaged in fashion iconography, patterns and colors reminiscent of and alluding to the famous brand labels.

Paul Stiven Luxury Chewing Gum Fashion Collection

Colored and printed tin boxes with interior mirrors:

above: Padlock (a reference to Hermes)

above: Eye See You (this features a Krink-like dripping Double C Chanel logo)


above: Blanc Neve (or Snow White) is supposed to hint at cocaine

Printed boxes emulating Fendi and Burberry checks and plaids respectively:

above: Plot of Chess

above: Tartan

Printed Flip-top containers:

above: Skulls (originally branded as Alexander McQueen)

above: Camouflage

above: Newspaper

Packaged Sets:



above: Five different packages in Luxury Gift Box - LUBA (feminine version)

above: Five different packages in Luxury Gift Box - LUBO (masculine version)

As part of the Fashion Collection, Stiven also offers miniature "Jane" handbags (a knockoff of a Birkin) filled with gum, made of leather in various colors that comes in an orange box - like its real namesake from Hermes:



And now, what seems like it should be an entirely separate concept/website/brand...

Paul Stiven Luxury Chewing Gum Army Collection


In addition to the Fashion Collection, Stiven has an "Army" collection (Paul has served in the Army). This consists of the MK2 hand grenades of various colors filled with gum, AK 47 bullets and Brass Knuckles, both filled with gum. The hook here, apparently, is that the metal used in casting the grenades and bullets is actually taken from the Military.

MK2 Grenades filled with gum in various colors:


AK 47 Bullets Filled With Gum (expected this year):

Body To Body (brass knuckles packaging expected this year):


Stiven's site, which is like three sites in one, also offers milk and dark chocolate versions of the Birkin handbag on a stick, the Lolliciok, and says he'll soon be offering actual leather handbags, but I'm not even going to address those because they are not relevant to the gum.

The chewing gum comes in one flavor (mint-licorice), but it's the unique packaging that will appeal to fashionable chewers.

Not at all a bad idea, but with their oddly disparate items, a poorly designed e-commerce web site (he also needs to replace all the CGI with actual photos), lousy print ads, and terrible product videos, the product's potential is being hurt by the branding.

Their newest ad campaign (just launched this month in various Italian publications) is attempting to be sexy, but is simply confusing and inconsistent and looks like weird ads for slutty lingerie or sex toys. That may be purposeful, but perhaps premature. It might behoove them to first make it clear what the product is if they wish to introduce it internationally.

Some of the inconsistent and confusing ads for the gum:



And although the gum is sold in their online store (smart), you have to register just to browse (dumb). A few of Paul Stiven's Luxury Chewing Gums are offered online and in New York's Maison 24

If only they'd narrow it down to either the Fashion Collection or the Army Collection and hire a good Creative Director and Brand Strategist, they could be a huge success internationally.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, I love the idea of a luxury gum. But with this one, the branding is hurting the product. If there's ever been a client whose communications I'd like to overhaul, this is it.

www.paulstiven.it