This campaign ran during the build-up to the UK General election in April. It played on the inherent polarizing qualities of Marmite – with the famous tagline “You either love it or hate it” – and revolved around two political parties: “The Love Party” and “The Hate Party”.The two parties were represented by leaders Fay Freely and Steve Heaving, who campaigned to win the votes of the electorate through election broadcasts, both online and on tv, “Love Party” and “Hate Party” facebook pages, print ads, direct mail, twitter feeds and PR stunts. A dedicated news website, “The Marmite News Network” was created to report on events during the campaign, with spoof news bulletins both online and on radio. The public was able to vote for the parties on the website and the winner announced on may 2nd. Whichever party won would get one of their manifesto pledges enacted.

The Marmite election campaign began on 31st March with the party leaders giving exclusive interviews to Stylist and Shortlist magazines. They announced their intention to put social networking at the heart of their campaigns with the launch of their Facebook pages: www.facebook.com/marmiteloveparty and www.facebook.com/marmitehateparty. The parties’ manifestos were then announced on these pages.Party political broadcasts launched on TV on 2nd April with extended versions of the broadcasts on Facebook. Press executions ran in magazines from 5th April alongside online banners. Love Party door drops were also sent out with packs for consumers to promote the party. The most fanatical supporters were appointed as Cabinet members.

There was also rolling news coverage on www.marmitenewsnetwork.com with radio adverts running as news flashes driving to the site from 12th April.

Voting closes on 29th April with the winning party to be announced on 2nd May online and in national press.

As of 16th April (just over 2 weeks into the 5 week campaign) there were over 42,000 members of the Hate Party Facebook page and over 50,000 new members of the Love Party page. The online news videos and political broadcasts received thousands of comments on Facebook, Twitter and on blogs and a mention on BBC news. The campaign also led to offers of commercial tie ins, including an invite for the Love Party to visit Guernsey from the Guernsey Tourism Board (Guernsey was mentioned in the Hate Party broadcast as the place where all marmite lovers should be banished to!).