Taking it too far isn't far enough
Marmite's "Love it or Hate It" platform has been going for a long time - and every new iteration seems to take it further. This campaign didn't disappoint.
Challenge
Every single day, 700,000 British expats live a miserable Marmite-less existence in the US. It's impossible to find and criminally overpriced, leaving them desperately begging their family and friends to smuggle it across the pond. But more than the 700,000 expats - the American market has never engaged with Marmite in any meaningful way. The opportunity was to establish a foothold there to grow market share.
Strategy
Marmite recruited Brits to smuggle the stinky yeast extract to the US by any means necessary, so that the 100k plus British expats in New York can once again enjoy the salty spread.
Execution
To recruit Lovers into the smuggling network, Marmite launched a lo-fi recruitment campaign, hacking UK radio stations and fly posting on UK streets. Over a thousand brave smugglers volunteered to board a transatlantic flight with Marmite stashed in their luggage. The brand sent them by the dozen, and met them stateside to collect the goods. Then they spread word of our supply among British expats in New York, infiltrating British soundcloud mixes and expat Reddit forums and fly posting outside pubs and grocery stores. To collect their fix of Marmite, expats were directed to a dodgy Canal St store in the heart of New York's black-market. Finally the whole operation wasexposed in a documentary-style TV spot.
There was a similarly mysterious and bare web page for the campaign, but it’s the campaign film that ties it together. Shot and edited like an investigative documentary, there are pixelated faces and modulated voices to hide the identities of the Marmite criminal underbelly.
As silly and hyperbolic as this campaign may be, it’s based on a real insight. Brits abroad do struggle to find Marmite, and many “smuggle” it in suitcases when they travel. Marmite even launched a “hand luggage friendly” 70g jar in 2015, based on the same insight.
Results
The campaign achieved an earned reach of 5.6m, with more than 1200 applicants putting themselves forward to become Marmite smugglers. Plus, the number of Americans searching for Marmite online increased by 26%.