We’ve always known people either love or hate Marmite. But we’ve never understood why. Until now.

Working in partnership with a leading genetic tech company, we created the Marmite Gene Project: a nationwide experiment to discover whether Brits are born lover or haters – complete with a home genetic testing kit, accompanying white paper and a full 360 degree integrated campaign.

The aim of our experiment was to get as many lapsed families with young children trying Marmite at breakfast as possible, in order to reverse a 10-year penetration decline – all on a comparatively smaller budget compared to competitors like Nutella and Rowse.

The experiment turned out to be Marmite’s most effective campaign to date.

It became famous: generating 2 billion impressions, the Marmite Gene Project was written about in every national newspaper, and was even made the subject of a prime-time TV show on Channel 4.

It increased sales: the Marmite Gene Project successfully reversed the long-term sales decline. In the 6 weeks following launch, total sales increased +14%. In Tesco, sales spiked +60%. But more importantly, increased sales were sustained for the rest of the year. In the four months following the launch of the campaign, 4.8 million jars of Marmite were sold, equivalent to an just over £12million in salue sales.