The collaboration between Twisties and Donut King gave Australians the sweet, cinnamon-dusted corn puffs they never asked for, but couldn’t stop talking about.

It was the result of a successful brand alliance − an increasingly popular marketing strategy bringing together well-known brands to push head-scratching products, like Bundaberg Rum ginger beer Kettle Chips, Green’s Vegemite brownie mix and Chupa Chups strawberries and cream Pauls custard, onto supermarket shelves.

The strategy dominated the Easter season, with the introduction of Arnott’s and Coles’ limited edition Pizza Shapes and Iced Vovo hot cross buns; Woolworths’ ongoing hot cross buns released with Cadbury chocolate; and confectionery collaborations like Coco Pops and Darrell Lea mini eggs.

“Look, they’re right out of control,” says Peter Dunn, who spent his career within the supermarket industry before leaving to manage The Grocery Geek, Australia’s leading online consumer portal for novelty grocery products.

“For around three years manufacturers have been playing around with this idea, but in the last 12 months it’s just gone crazy … and our readers all get swept up in it.”

Products, like the limited edition cinnamon Twisties, spark social media hype as consumers share product releases over Instagram, revel in filming their (mostly unimpressed) TikTok reaction videos, and take to Reddit forums to question, “How far have we fallen as a nation?”.

Vandita Pandey, the chief marketing officer of the Australia and New Zealand division of snacks and beverages at PepsiCo (the parent company of Smith’s), says a successful collaboration is about far more than just the snack product itself.

“The primary focus is about engaging with consumers and offering them memorable experiences and diversity of offering by pushing the boundaries of our innovation process and creating unusual, surprising and unexpected collaborations,” she says.

Pandey says a memorable experience could arise from enjoying a great product, or it could result from the market disruption caused by an unexpected brand partnership or flavour.

Margaret Matanda is an associate professor of marketing strategy at University of Sydney. She explains companies such as Vegemite use brand alliances to encourage consumers to try their products in new ways.

“Vegemite is an iconic brand, so many Australians will buy anything labelled with Vegemite and try it,” she says. That can lead to new fans of each brand, as those who wouldn’t typically try Vegemite as a spread purchase the Arnott’s Shapes flavour and enjoy it; or vice versa.

A good partnership can lead to a 28 per cent return on investment − far higher than the average 18 per cent from paid marketing alone. But it can be a fine balancing act, Matanda says.

“A poorly considered partnership can erode or dilute the brands’ image, and it can lead to a loss of the company’s value,” she says, pointing to the Beyond Meat collaboration with Kim Kardashian, who was accused of “fake chewing” on an Instagram ad in 2022. In August, the company reported a 30 per cent sales drop, due to falling demand.

Asembl managing director Justin Watson has worked with global brand owners to come up with new products like Green’s Golden Gaytime pancake mix, and the Cheezels clothing range at Lowes.

He says the key to a successful collaboration is finding two brands that make sense together, like Sanitarium and Unilever. Watson facilitated the development of their popular, limited-edition breakfast cereal, Weis-bix, which combined the flavour of Weis’ mango ice-cream bar with Weet-bix.

“Both brands really leaned into nostalgia and each of their credentials − Weet-bix being famous for a breakfast occasion product, and Weis for their … Kensington Pride mangoes, and it was a great tasting product,” Watson says.

Collaboration taste test

Do any of these fast-moving collaboration products actually taste good? We gathered as many as we could to find out.

Twisties x Donut King

We’ve sent rockets to the moon. We’ve cured polio. Someone invented the spork. Then Smith’s goes and releases a doughnut-flavoured Twistie, and civilisation is set back five decades. These don’t taste that bad, per se – think stale Froot Loops doused in old cinnamon – but most people under five will struggle to eat more than three.

Ben & Jerry’s x Tony’s Chocolonely

The US ice-cream giant has partnered with Amsterdam-based Tony’s Chocolonely to create two bars of wildly different quality. The “dark milk chocolate with brownie” number is rich and bitter and slightly fruity; the “white chocolate strawberry cheesecake” tastes like those yoghurt-covered sultanas found at the bottom of school backpacks.

Tony’s Chocolonely x Ben & Jerry’s

A rare case of corporate collaboration going both ways. Ben & Jerry’s special edition Tony’s tub features chocolate ice-cream laced with caramel sauce and sea-salty chocolate chips. Certainly worth a few good scoops with a side of bad television.

Arnott’s Tim Tam x Murray River Salt

The Good Food team has never been huge on Tim Tams. Bog-standard chocolate. Gritty texture. Team Monte all the way. But this new-ish caramel Tim Tam uses Murray River salt to temper the sweetness, and … it’s not bad? It’s also nice to see American-owned Arnott’s supporting local sodium.

Arnott’s Shapes x Vegemite

Green’s Vegemite Choc Chunk Brownie Mix took out first place in our Vegemite collaborations taste test last year, but it now seems to be discontinued. At least our runner-up, Vegemite and Cheese Shapes, are still on supermarket shelves. Vegemite is paired with the addictive ping of processed cheese, and the resulting Shape (in this case, a map of Australia) tastes like a more savoury cousin of the Twistie (the good kind, not the doughnut one).

Abe’s Bagels x Vegemite

Abe’s recently launched a four-pack of Vegemite enhanced bagels and they’re probably the only semi-nutritious thing on this list. There’s a chewy not-that-fresh texture (as you might expect from a bagel imported from New Zealand) but they’re still a top afternoon snack and the Vegemite tang loves a bit of avocado and cream cheese. Toasting essential.

Carman’s x Violet Crumble

Did anyone ask for a Violet Crumble protein bar? No? Well Carman’s went and created one anyway. There’s a generous number of peanuts – three times the amount of honeycomb and compound chocolate – and the muesli bar-style log is reasonably inoffensive. There are worse things you could inhale for a 3pm protein hit, but about 100,000 better things, too.

Darrell Lea x The Cheesecake Shop

A parallel dimension exists where Old Bay Seasoning has partnered with Kewpie mayonnaise, and where Ruffles are flavoured with Tabasco. Take us there. Our universe, meanwhile, is stuck with Darrell Lea’s new chocolate bar laced with gnarly bits of dried cheesecake and fudge. The Cheesecake Shop’s involvement is actually the better half of this collaboration, which mainly exists to remind us of why Darrell Lea’s one-dimensional chocolate is the AC Cola to Cadbury’s Coke and Nestle’s Pepsi.

Pauls x Chupa Chups

“Best served cold” recommends the label of this custard “inspired by” Chupa Chups Strawberry Cream lollipops. Well, yeah. As opposed to what? Lukewarm out of a Clarks desert boot? Anyway, this was tastier than expected, and not dissimilar to the pink junket that used to be set in home fridges everywhere. Big Strawberry Danone vibes too, but way, way, way less healthy.

Cadbury Old Gold x Baileys Irish Cream

Speaking of serving suggestions, here’s one for Cadbury’s new dark chocolate block filled with some sort of gooey Irish non-alcoholic liqueur: Crush four squares with the back of a spoon. Stir through two scoops of vanilla ice-cream. Eat immediately.

KitKat x Milo

The Green Tea KitKat is the best KitKat. End of discussion. We will be taking no further comments. The Milo version is a close runner-up though, with a balanced wafer-to-chocolate ratio, and just the right amount of malted chocolate powder. Hard to fault. Milky Bar KitKat, you can take home the bronze.