Based on the insight that somewhere inside every kitchen cupboard is a jar of the nation’s favourite yeast extract, the campaign evolves the well-known love it or hate it strapline, urging users not to forget their jars, ‘Love it. Hate it. Just don’t forget it’.

The TV spot, shot in the manner of a real-life animal-rescue programme, sees the Marmite Rescue Unit remove neglected jars from offenders’ homes before taking them to the Marmite Rehoming Centre. From there, the previously lonely and forgotten jars are ‘adopted’ by Marmite-loving families.

The key to success lay in achieving nationwide outrage. The challenge was clear: we needed to provoke then assuage.

And how we provoked. We used pre-launch PR to plant the idea that food was being forgotten, left at the back of British cupboards. Major national newsrooms seized upon the story, laying the ground for launch. Posters alerted people to tell-tale signs of neglect, before our 90 second ad debuted on Coronation Street – one of Britain’s most watched shows.

Suitably incited, we assuaged the nation. Britain was invited to discover our rescue teams’ dedication in a series of online videos. On Facebook, fans could nominate neglecters to receive a ‘Marmite care pack’.

We went further, activating where all cases of Marmite neglect really begin: supermarkets. Marmite Rescue Vans raised shopper awareness outside, highlighting neglected jars’ plight. Inside, newly designed “Baby One” jars compelled buyers to end Marmite neglect before it began.

For everyone involved, Neglect was a staggering success.

It got Britain talking, creating a cultural moment that all brands covet, but few ever achieve.

Within 48 hours we’d scored 250,000 YouTube views. Parody after parody was uploaded. Shamed neglecters tweeted pictures mirroring our posters.

Baby One jars spread across eBay like wildfire. The campaign was heatedly debated across national papers, television and radio. We even picked up a few awards. Not forgetting the 500 formal complaints and subsequent ASA investigation (not upheld), generated the kind of fame that’s so important to Marmite’s commercial success.

Our client saw immediate, unexpected returns. Neglect was intended to increase usage, so we anticipated that impacting sales would take time. That we saw a 13% sales uplift overnight – sustained ever since – is proof that Neglect put Marmite back where it belongs: at the front of Britain’s cupboards and on its papers’ front pages.