Remember how our parents used to make us drink chicken essence when we were preparing for our exams? That tiny green-labelled glass bottle with dark substance was a familiar sight back then. While some loathed the smell and taste, others had no qualms about drinking it.

Well, love it or hate it, 10 Singaporean and Malaysian bloggers were each made to drink 14 bottles of Brand's chicken essence for two weeks straight and subsequently had their brains picked at the Brand's Blogger Challenge which was held on Wednesday at Geek Terminal, Market Street.

Clad in red t-shirts with the Singapore flag on their sleeves, the team of five Singaporean bloggers: ECL Tan (http://www.eastcoastlife.blogspot.com), Aaron Ng (http://aaron-ng.info/blog), Sheylara (http://sheylara.com), Mr Endoh (http://www.mr-endoh.com) and Wilfrid Wong (http://www.wilfridwong.com) were pretty hyped up and alert throughout the challenge.

After what seemed like an hour of gruelling, mind-boggling, yet amusing questions, the Singapore team emerged as the winner with 54 points, while the Malaysian team scored 47 points.

Both teams performed exceptionally well, answering questions that tested their concentration, alertness, memory and logic. The challenge comprised seven rounds with both teams faring the worst in the mental arithmetic segment

Isabella Tan, vice-president of Regional Marketing at Cerebos Pacific Limited, explained why Brand's chose bloggers to take on this mental challenge.

"They were specially invited because their profile overlapped with respondents of a survey which we conducted last year.

"When we think of online respondents, bloggers naturally come to mind," said the 43-year-old, who is mainly in charge of the marketing functions of Brand's.

The Brand's Blogger Challenge was inspired by a mental performance survey, conducted in 2007, across eight countries in Asia. Its objectives were to understand the various beliefs and aspects of mental performance in this region.