Situation: Our beloved (or perhaps contentious) spread returns to store shelves after a two-year hiatus. However, the launch of our return lacks the allure of a novel flavour to captivate consumers and explain the production delay. With a limited budget and the ambition to maximize our marketing impact, how can we reignite excitement with just...well, Marmite?

Brief: People already have strong feelings about Marmite – they either love it or hate it. We need to leverage the uniquely polarising sentiments around Marmite to celebrate the return of the iconic spread in stores.

Objectives:

1. Bring awareness to the return of Marmite in stores and drive talkability

2. Reach consumers who are disengaged and thus not thinking about our brand.

3. Foster brand love by highlighting the timeless appeal and enduring presence of Marmite within the passionate community of Marmite enthusiasts and critics.

4. Drive sales of Marmite in store.

We launched a digital-led campaign titled "New and Unimproved”, drawing from the insight that brands often boast about their improvements upon returning. We announced the return of Marmite, flipping the “new and improved” trope by proudly declaring to South Africans that Marmite remained unchanged and iconic.

Instead of following the traditional marketing approach of appealing to everyone (and potentially failing), we deliberately chose to refrain from investing resources in trying to convert critics into fans or vice versa. We used the existing conversation to shape a campaign message that would resonate with both groups to some extent. We reached a larger audience and attracted more people to the movement at a lower cost by staying true to our unapologetic nature and inviting consumers to rediscover their love (or disdain) for it all over again. This approach not only saved on targeted conversion efforts but also boosted brand awareness and engagement.

We delved into comments on our Marmite SA Social Media pages to assess consumer sentiments regarding Marmite’s absence from stores. We also worked with our Insights and Analytics partners to get a complete picture. We found that Marmite continued to spark discussions among both its devoted fans and its outspoken critics. This discovery inspired us. What if we could do something that really gave the Marmite lovers and haters something to talk about? What could we say about our product that would play up this existing consumer tension?

We also discovered feedback regarding perceived recipe improvements from our devoted consumers through consumer comments on social media. This feedback uncovered an important human truth: people seek authenticity from brands, especially those to which they're loyal.They also value sustained quality over mere change for the sake of it, highlighting an important sentiment: classics are revered for a reason. Often, what we love.

The digital campaign effectively announced Marmite's return and maintained the brand’s unapologetic identity by inviting consumers to embrace their love or dislike for the product. By leveraging social media and capitalizing on online anticipation, the campaign successfully transformed disappointment into communal excitement, fostering anticipation and excitement around the brand's comeback. By resonating with both fans and critics, the campaign reached a larger audience and attracted more participants at a lower cost, reaching over 5 million people and generating 15 million impressions with a media budget of less than $8,000 for phase 2 of the campaign.

This not only saved on targeted conversion efforts but also boosted brand awareness and engagement, resulting in a significant sales increase of 23% annually. This demonstrates the substantial and maximum impact of the creative strategy on the client, the brand, and the industry. We used a small budget to get BIG results.