To understand my level of excitement at Red Truck’s new Red Blast, I need to compare it a little eto my last review of their product. I started off their last product review by mentioning how much I am not excited by gummi bears. Scratch that for these little black packages. After I had the first 2 gummies, I was hooked. I wanted the pack – I NEEDED the pack. Gone was my desire to share my sweets, these little gooey red gems were all mine! They tasted superior, the looked cute, and 9 of them ( the whole pack) gives a nice boost with fantastic flavor! They managed to completely upgrade from little handy treats with a very light lift to a seriously fun treat!
Nutrition/Buzz:8
Gone is the request that 2 gummies equal a serving, and instead in the little icon letting you know that 1 pack of gummies equal one energy drink. They still manage to put a nice dose of vitamin B, Taurine and theophylline and theobromine, the same substances found in cocoa, which are also present in the Guarana they use to caffeine these little jelly dudes up. They have doubled, from 30ish mg of caffeine for the normal ones to 64mg of caffeine per pack here. OK, while not technically an energy drink’s caffeine levels, it certainly boosts this snack past the Diet Mountain Dew Standard, providing enough energy to keep you awake a little while longer. Not to mention these have over 750% of your vitamin C as well. While not a powerhouse of energy, 2 packs of these gummies will get you past needing that second cup of coffee or energy drink.
Packaging:10
This is a great design, cashing in on their flagship product branding, and yet still making it appeal more to the energy drinker audience. This design looks appealing both to candy mavens and to energy drinkers, a real challenge. I also really appreciate the listing of caffeine content, as well as all the other nutrients. Everything is well done, and the gummies stay fresh in their little metallic looking pouch which does keep things nice and fresh. While they sell a big pack that contains a bunch of these little 1oz packages, I would LOVE to see this in a serious snacking dose, a big pack with a resealable top that could have 50-60 gummies a bag. Of course at 7mg of caffeine per gummie I would probably eat the bag at my desk and not be able to sleep for a week.
Taste:10
This taste is truly fantastic – way better than their original flavor. Coming from someone who does not even really like gummi anything, I ate 2 packs of these and hunted in my little package for more. Without even thinking about it easily could have munched a very very big bag of these and have been too wired to even be able to sit in front of my computer, let alone write a review. Yes it is a Candy, so don’t go looking for this in your hippie natural foods store – but the ingredients hardly matter when compared to the firm but not too chewy cherry flavor that fills your mouth but leaves little aftertaste. Mind you, the aftertaste is a little sour – but that makes you want to eat even more of them. I am glad these come in packs of 9 for starters, but very soon they really will need to be making these things available in big bags for easy consumption.I still am in shock that me, of all people, are giving a gummy a 10. They are just that good.
Website:8 http://www.loudtruckgummi.com/index.html
This is a great looking site, if not built a little oddly. It looks very nice, and it was designed rather well, keeping in mind all the things graphic designers do well. the right colors, backgrounds and UI – and you can get all the information you need fast. I love the ease of the shopping cart, as well as being able to get all the info I could possibly want on the company, the gummies, and even links to reviews about it.
My problems with this site are more with how the site is run. First, never give me a popup window I did not ask for. Especially one that links to a video player! If I click on a video, that’s cool – but don’t force me to deal with pop up screens, a third party’s slow loading video half opened. If you want a video on your site, do it right and put it in the dang page. This popup looks like an afterthought – and a bad idea at that.
Secondly, the site is slow. With over 350 k worth of images to pull down, this site is waay to heavy on graphics that don’t need to be there. Even the html code itself is bloated, written in nested tables.
I would suggest as the company grows ( and it will – this idea will catch on like wildfire) hire a professional web developer to go along with that great graphic designer.