VottO’s

Hold on, how much for a box of VottO's?

Ya know, it doesn't actually say Joey will be there.

First spotted Friday morning, Joey Votto’s cereal, VottO’s has hit the streets of the greater Cincinnati area. The “Toasted Oats” cereal is available at Kroger stores around the region. We’re sure that Cincinnatian’s have descended upon the Cost Cutter to nab as many boxes as they can. After all, they are limited edition.

Kroger is kicking off the cereal launch with a little fan-fare next week. Joey Votto will be making an appearance at the Newport Kroger Marketplace on Tuesday. Here are the details:

Tuesday, April 3, 2012 – 12:00pm
Newport Kroger Marketplace
No Autographs due to time constraints

A quick review – Noms

We need a food stylist

VottO’s sports is nearly identical to the “Honey Nut Toasted Oat” recipe that Chad Johnson’s Ochocinco’s cereal had back in 2010. Yes, the ill-fated Ochocincos. We can only hope that someone proof-read and double checked all phone numbers on the VottO’s box before it went to the printers. The same group that created Ochocino’s and many other athlete-endorsed food items, PLB Sports, created VottO’s.

We just like typing VottO’s.

So, the cereal. It’s fine. Yep, it’s… fine. It’s not bad. It’s a touch sweet, decent crunch, no frills, nothing fancy. It’s fine. Buy it – you’ll eat it. You will eat it.

Now, if we were doing VottO’s we would ditch the toasted oats, go straight-up regular oats, but then drop the marshmallow on y’all. Like, in the shapes of little “Vs” and “Ts”. Wouldn’t that be awesome? Maybe throw in some little marshmallow baseball bats and baseballs. Killer. Oh, and they would be called “VottOMGs” – You knew that was coming.

A quick review – Box Design

The illustration by “Celebrity Sports Artist” Kevin-John is solid. Using a pose of Joey at the end of his swing was a clever way to avoid having any Reds logos or marks, thus avoiding any MLB licensing issues. The illustration is also available for order from PLB Sports for $19. You can check out Kevin-John’s work at www.kevin-john.com

The box design itself is a bit clunky and feels rushed. Actually it feels like it’s from 1991. It’s too bad, really. The über-gradients used on the VottO’s header are awful and the American flag-like stripe holding up the left side is just unfortunate. Joey deserved much better. Oh, and the milk spilling out of the spoon is just… WAH WAH.

Plus, when you get down to it, most of the information on the box is about the Kevin-John. Any bio or story about Joey is relegated to a side panel and simply lists a few accomplishments.

Either way, we felt compelled to scan the entire box and post it here. Not sure exactly why. Enjoy!!

VottO's - Front panel

VottO's - Side panels

VottO's - Back panel