Marmite is a British yeast spread with a dividing taste. You either love it or hate it. That’s been the brand truth, and indeed, the slogan for years.

Fans of the brand are exceptionally proud of their ‘lover’ status – and like anyone who is in love - really respond well to anything Marmite does that highlights this love.

Our brief was to activate this brand truth on April Fools’ Day by creating a compelling experience that would engage and reward Marmite ‘lovers’ and create genuine noise and fame for the brand – with zero advertising spend and a production budget of less than £5,000.

Our idea embraced the silliness and spirit of April Fools’ and the ‘You either love it or hate it’ essence of Marmite.

Introducing Pre-Hated Marmite. A product with a ridiculous USP.

Marmite jars that have been opened, tried and discarded in disgust by ‘haters’ – now available to buy at deliciously discounted prices for ‘lovers’ in the world’s most famous second hand store eBay. And also in second hand stores in real life.

Our target audience was fans of Marmite – the ‘lovers’. But we wanted to engage them in a totally unexpected way, an approach that is especially relevant to April Fools’.

So instead of targeting them using the traditional approach, that pandered to everything they loved about the brand, we focussed on how much ‘haters’ hated Marmite – really dialling up the loathing and repulsion they had. With the theory being that this would bring the ‘lovers’ of Marmite together to support and defend the brand.

A high risk / high reward strategy that we hoped would cut through. And to help do this we took an equally cut through approach to our media by using social just as a springboard to make eBay and POS in second hand stores the main focus of the campaign.

On April Fools’ 2022 we launched the Pre-Hated Marmite store on eBay and in real life. Selling jars that had been opened, tried and discarded in disgust by ‘haters’ - at discounted prices for ‘lovers’.

A deliberately repulsive and utterly ridiculous USP that tapped into the spirit of April Fools’ and the love/hate essence of Marmite.

Promoted on social - detail and authenticity were key. From the item descriptions in eBay, where each listing was crafted to promote hate and disgust, through to the disgusted Point Of Sale used in real life.

We made sure that buyers could see just how much each Pre-Hated Jar was loathed with descriptions such as:

-Rated R for Repellent.

-Disgusting - Zero Stars.

-This is Rank.

-Yuk Out Of 10.

-Completely and utterly repulsive.

While prices were set at just a few pence to underline the loathing and dial up the lunacy.

Our strategy and creative paid off. The more we hated the more ‘lovers’ loved it.

By tradition April Fools’ jokes end by midday but in just one morning

WE SOLD OUT OF PRE-HATED MARMITE.

With all the Pre-Hated jars selling for many times more than their brand-new equivalents. And one jar described as WHAT IS THIS 🤮🤮🤮🤮?!?!? selling for £16.00. That’s 6 x the price of a brand-new jar!!!

Plus we generated

-17,000 organic engagements

-Over 1 million social impressions

-4.7 million PR impressions

-With press coverage in some of the UKs biggest newspapers like The Sun.

Comments from buyers included:

“The dedication here is immense, love the eBay listings when you click the link”

“@Marmite That’s totally brilliant”

“You deffo won April fools’ this year”

All of which helped us hit the target set for us by the client:

Win April Fool’s for Marmite.