Thinkerbell

Client: Bega Foods
Product: Vegemite
Title: The Mitey Battle
Media: Print - PR
Country: Australia
Date Of Campaign: 7th August 2019

Background: Australia and England have had a 130-year cricket rivalry called ‘The Ashes’. But a similar rivalry between who has the best yeast spread (Australia’s Vegemite, or England’s less-good Marmite).Vegemite is always on the look for opportunities that continually position it as an iconic Australian brand, underpinned by the brand platform ‘Tastes Like Australia’. We knew that during the Ashes cricket series, Australians were watching and engaged. And when opportunity knocked, we answered. When we saw that Marmite were handing out jars to people at the first Ashes test in England to try and convince Aussie cricket fans that Marmite was a superior tasting yeast spread, it was our national duty to respond.So, we did what had to be done, we took out a full page ad in the UK Mirror (the paper who wrote about the sampling campaign) talking directly to Marmite telling them their efforts were futile. The ad was deliberately placed in the sporting pages, alongside a story relating to the Aussie V England cricket match. And then, as they say, it escalated quickly.

Idea: The PR strategy was simple: to ruffle as many English feathers as possible (and therefore create something newsworthy), we strategically placed our ad in an English newspaper (rather than here on home soil in Australia). We knew news would reach the Australian audience here back home, via the coverage our cheeky ad placement would create. The other strategic decision was to move fast, creating and running the ad within 24hours of hearing about Marmite’s sampling stunt.Timing and placement were of the essence. Within 24hours of news of the Marmite sampling reaching down under, we were in the Daily Mirror (the paper that ran the initial Marmite story) the next day. Deliberately placed in the sporting pages, in the cricket section.The execution was deliberately simple, striking and heavily branded Vegemite - designed to be ‘re-read’ by press and media. The writing was carefully crafted to include just the right amount of sledges to warrant a reaction, with specific detail placed on the last line “Catch ya’ at Lords” (the next match in the series) designed to elicit a reaction from media, and hopefully Marmite themselves.

Results: Our perfectly timed, perfectly placed humble print ad created: - 32 million media impressions globally, with the ad reprinted around the world. - On many occasions, our print ad was read verbatim on national Television and radio networks (not a bad result in itself).- 5.6Million reach on owned channels- 1.1M organic reach - All with 100% brand mention and 93% positive/neutral commentary (not bad considering it was designed to ruffle a few feathers)- Many national TV and radio programs read the ad out verbatim (e.g. The Project, Studio 10, Channel 7 news, and Channel 9 news as did radio (including 6PR, 3AW, ABC, 5AA, and Triple M). - Local & international print and online publications included: Bloomberg, Daily Mirror UK, NZ Herald, Indian International Business Times, and The Citizen (South Africa), Herald Sun, The Daily Telegraph, Yahoo Sports, News.com.au, and Brisbane Times amongst others. - Vegemite is up by one per cent for the quarter vs. a year ago. Total spreads category is in - 0.5 per cent decline, so Vegemite is growing 1.5% ahead of the market.