So, Alex James has launched a new range of cheeses for Asda. Unless you’ve been in a cheeseless cave somewhere for the past month you will of course already know this. Prior to launching his collection for Asda Alex James won awards for his cheeses Little Wallop and Blue Monday and sees himself as somewhat of a cheese connoisseur. Which is why so many were so surprised when he launched his range for Asda. Unsurprisingly the range has been slated by food critics for appealing to the mass market and including flavours such as tomato ketchup cheese and tikka massala. It’s not just the flavours the critics object to though – it’s the production of cheese into blankets and cube form, meant for heating, spreading and pouring on jacket potatoes and toast that really get these lot’s backs up. Just check out Xanthe Clay’s Telegraph article and The Independent’s review to get an idea of the strong flavour of objections out there.
I suspect none of this coverage (good or bad) has harmed sales of Alex James’ new range and Asda, ever the brilliant PRs, were quick to respond to critics describing them as ‘cheese snobs.’ Asda has hit this nail on the head, foodies and food snobs aren’t going to buy into this range - Asda’s customers aren’t looking for the best ever cheese, they’re looking for fun things that appeal to their children and flavours like tomato and ketchup are obviously going to.
And what’s my take on the cheese range? I’m not a massive fan of the packaging. It’s pretty dull and the navy blue colour doesn’t really reflect cheese nor its appeal to kids and families which is a bit of a shame. I can only gather that by choosing this look Asda were going for more of an upmarket vibe, but have they got this wrong if they’re trying to appeal to the average cheese eater on the street? Obviously priced at £2 a packet it’s not going to be the best cheese in the world but I liked Alex’s Best Ever Mature Chedder and the Cheddar and Sweet Chilli flavour definitely added a great kick to my omelettes (see the half eaten pack above). It doesn’t really matter what I think however as I’m not really Asda’s target market – you’ve got to take the range at face value as these sorts of flavours will be popular with families. Combined with the talkability factor surrounding the launch I reckon this range will have already been a success for Asda. As Alex Bradbury, Cheese Buyer at Asda said in their press release (I never quote releases but I couldn’t help myself) “We jumped at the chance to make something fun that customers wouldn’t have seen before and are delighted that Alex chose us to launch his first widely available range – it’s a real a-cheesement for the team here.” Love it.