Mention Oreos at the PNE and it doesn't take long to round up some volunteers, even in the rain. We wondered how testers would react to a new Oreo, dubbed Oreo Cakesters
Cakesters are not the first new Oreo product. There have been Oreo Vanilla, Mint and Chocolate flavours introduced as well.
Marketing professor Charles Weinberg, at the UBC Sauder School of Business, says the reason there are so many Oreos is to secure more shelf space.
"So if you get more shelf space, when someone's shopping they're more likely to see at least one of your varieties or brands and there's less space for the competitors," he explained
But Weinberg warns a company can go too far.
"If they all have sort of too many different varieties, people say, 'Well then I've really lost track of what Oreo is," he added.
CTV put the cookies through some rigorous testing.
People love pulling classic Oreos apart. The soft Cakesters just crumbled or broke.
When we asked if the Cakesters would be good dipped in milk, our testers thought they'd get soggy and fall apart.
But when it came to taste, our volunteers thought the Cakesters were good. Some said they tasted like brownies or an ice cream sandwich.
While Oreos and Oreo Cakesters aren't really competitors, we wondered whether a new cake on the block could beat the cookie?
"A" was Oreo Cakesters and "B" the iconic Oreo cookie.
When the votes were counted: 52 per cent thought the Cakesters were best and 48 voted for the original Oreos.
When we asked people if they'd like Oreo Cakesters to stick around, 73 per cent said yes.
So you can say they are a hit. One tester even suggested Cakesters with a chocolate caramel centre would be a good addition to the Oreo line. I wonder if Mr. Christie is listening?
In any given year, up to 20,000 new products hit the supermarket shelves.
Some are brand new, some new and improved and most of them fail.
The reason often is -- as we touched on in the story -- shelf space is limited. Your product has to sell or it's gone.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Chris Olsen