"Shreddies is supposed to be square!"

It’s hip to be smart.

You might think, watching the inanity parade, that everybody reveres Khloe Kardashian, that everyone’s enamored of the MTV/gossip blog no-talents.

You’re wrong.

Sure, it’s fun to watch these idiots act like they’ve got no parents, and no obvious future, but the average citizen is buckling down and trying to get ahead.  Which is why the TED lectures spread so far and wide virally, like milk on a breakfast cereal.

A friend e-mailed me Rory Sutherland’s presentation.  I’ll be honest, I was listening with one ear, and then he started talking about Shreddies.

Go to the lecture here:

Life lessons from an ad man

And scroll forward to a starting point at about 11:55 (for those not tech-savvy, it’s easy, allow the buffer to expand, then drag the slider to the right until you see "11:55" to the left of the total length of the piece, "16:39").

Hang in there until you see the commercial.  Of the Shreddies assembly line.

You see Shreddies are supposed to be square.

But suddenly, there are diamond shapes.

They even did market research.

This is utterly, positively hilarious.  It’s raw creativity in action.  What we used to specialize in in the music business.  How did Frank Zappa come up with "Flower Punk", or "Status Back Baby"?  We didn’t used to play to the lowest common denominator, we challenged convention.

Watch the Shreddies Comparison here

You can watch further Shreddies focus group footage here

You can vote whether you prefer traditional square Shreddies or Diamond Shreddies here

Right now, Diamond is winning, 55% to 45%.

I prefer the new Diamond shape.  But I am wary of getting them caught in my mouth.  The points dig into my tongue, and the other edges embed in my cheeks.  Diamond has a bit more zest, they’re a bit more flavorful, instead of getting the hit all at once, it comes on slowly, the experience unfolds, from the tip to the lengthy longitude of the Shreddie.

You may disagree.

But however you feel, you’re now thinking about Shreddies.  And isn’t that the point?