Anna Ablett & Becky Haigh‘Take A Chance On Marmite’

D&AD – UnileverAnna Ablett – ablettanna@hotmail.com

Becky Haigh – beckyhaigh@hotmail.co.uk

D&AD Student Awards 2013Open BriefBrief set by: Unilever

Exploit a brand’s power to make the world a better place

BackgroundThe Unilever Sustainable Living Plan was set out in November 2010, in which they committed to a ten-year journey towards sustainable growth. Within the Plan, Unilever takes responsibility not only for direct operations, but for how their suppliers, distributors and, most crucially, their customers, use their brands. Go to www.unilever.com/sustainable-living/ to read the plan in full.

Creative ChallengeCreate a positive social or environmental impact utilising the power of a Unilever brand. Choose from one of the following:• Lipton• Marmite• Persil• SimpleDevelop your idea with a focus on one of three objectives:• Improving health and wellbeing• Reducing environmental impact• Enhancing livelihoods

You can take any approach to this brief; whether it be in the form of a product, service, experience, event, community group, communication campaign…Unilever are looking for any vehicle or channel that can be used to make a positive difference.

Considerations• Unilever are looking for something that could feasibly be developed. You need to show how the potential would be realised, ie how it would be taken to market through materials, production, branding, advertising, marketing, etc.• Consider forming an interdisciplinary collaboration to create a rounded entry, incorporating design, marketing, graphics, advertising, craft and business studies.• Your idea needs to relate directly to your chosen brand’s values and audiences.

Target AudienceResearch your chosen brand’s target audience by visiting their website and other brand touch points.

DeliverablesMain deliverable: Upload a presentation film of your work (max. 2 mins) or up to eight images showing your solution. Optional supporting material for presentation film: Up to four images; interactive work (websites, widgets, apps, HTML, etc.); physical material (prototypes, mock-ups, etc.); supporting information (up to 400 characters).

Optional supporting material for images: Interactive work (websites, widgets, apps, HTML, etc.); physical material (prototypes, mock-ups, etc.); supporting information (up to 400 characters). Keep any text on images to a minimum; supporting information can be entered online.

For full format specs and guidance, see ‘Formatting Your Entries’ on the next page. Work in formats other than those outlined will not be accepted.

Unilever produces and distributes over 400 products worldwide.

“People's lives are changing fast. As the way we all live and work evolves, our needs and tastes change too. At Unilever we aim to help people in their daily lives. So we keep developing new products, improving tried and tested brands and promoting better, more efficient ways of working.”

“Focusing on performance and productivity, we encourage our people to develop new ideas and put fresh approaches into practice. Hand in hand with this is a strong sense of responsibility to the communities we serve.”

Unilever prides itself on its positive impact on society and is continually striving to improve the impact their brand s have on society and the environment. Their Sustainability Plan is also a way for them to make sure their products have a positive impact on the world and give back to the community.They also have regular Sustainability Challenges to get consumers involved in different lifestyle changes e.g. Change their bathroom habits, make the most of your freezers, save money on household bills.

The Unilever Foundation was set up to improve hygiene, sanitation, access to clean drinking water, basic nutrition and enhancing self-esteem of communities around the world.

Background Research Into Unilever Brands

The question is simple: are you a lover or a hater? Ever since Marmite yeast extract was first introduced to the UK in 1902, it has caused a great

divide in Britain.

Limited edition Guinness Marmite was launched in 2007, followed by Marmite champagne, especially for Valentine’s Day in 2008 and 2009 saw

a cricket-themed Marsden’s Marmite. Extra strength Marmite XO was developed in 2010 and to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in June

2012, Marmite decided to pay a fitting tribute by launching another limited edition, aptly named ‘Ma’amite’.

As a brand, Marmite aren’t afraid to have a little fun, as seen through many of their advertising campaigns. Some of their

adverts refer to pop culture or political statements, showing they are a brand who likes to relate to ‘the people’. They have a strong

social media presence, with their main website also being their Facebook page.

Persil is a UK laundry detergent launched in 1909. They work hard to be at the forefront of the laundry market, to make washing

easier and more convenient for households.

Their current tagline is ‘Dirt is Good’, with the message that children should be allowed to be messy, as there’s always a Persil

product that can remove the stains.

“With a product to suit every consumer, Persil allows you to continue exploring and living life to the full, no matter how dirty you get in the process. Today, you can still trust Persil to provide unbeatable cleaning that gets the washing clean first time, every

time.”

Persil is a light-hearted brand - they often refer to the stains children create and the fact mum’s have to get rid

of them. Their website features ‘The Stain Gang’ – a set of cartoons that represent common clothing stains. It also

features activities for kids and laundry tips.

Lipton is a brands of tea-based drinks including leaf tea, infusions, ready-to-drink tea and other healthy,

refreshing alternatives to soft drinks. They are best known for their Lipton’s Iced Tea.

It is available in over 110 countries and is particularly popular in Europe, North America, the Middle East and

parts of Asia.

“Each pyramid bag provides perfect conditions for fresh, juicy flavours to combine with other delicious

ingredients, ensuring every cup is brimming with tantalising taste including luscious raspberries, succulent

strawberries, aromatic herbs and natural spices from around the world.”

Lipton focuses on the natural and refreshing quality of their drinks, which is reflected

throughout their website.

Background Research Into Unilever Brands

Simple is a brand of skincare products that focus on vitamin goodness and ingredients that are kind

to your skin. Their products range from the ‘Spotless Skin’ range for teenagers to the

Regeneration Range for the older consumer.

“Our philosophy is simple – no perfume, no colour and no harsh chemicals in any of our products, as

these are the most common causes of skin irritation.”

Simple, as a brand, likes to focus on how they can make the public look good, and feel good in themselves. They use simple designs and branding, to match their name. They like to focus on what they can give back to their consumers – be it simply feeling good about

themselves or VIP tickets to festivals.

Unilever and their Sustainability Plan

Unilever’s sustainability plan began in 2010, their aim being to take

responsibility for their operations, suppliers, distributors, and how the

consumers use their brands. Around 60 targets make up the plan, which all fit

into these categories on the left.

After looking at this, we began to think about which of the brands we were given

could fit into the categories of the Sustainability Plan.

Health & Hygiene• Simple – keeping clean using their products• Lipton – tea is known for it’s calming effects, particularly in the UK – if there’s a stressful situation people put the kettle on. This could become part of the ‘well-being’ section. • Marmite – well-being – tackle a social issue – such as racism – with the love it or hate it campaign – ‘we love marmite but hate racism• Simple – against a social issue with ‘it’s simple’

Improving Nutrition• Marmite – there are a lot of nutritional benefits that people are unaware of• Lipton – the healthy benefits if a cup of tea

Greenhouse Gases• Persil – doing more eco-friendly washes – but they already have this covered with their ‘wash at 30’ campaign• Marmite- a humorous campaign about how if greenhouse gases smelt like Marmite you would be doing something about it

Water• Simple & Persil – using their products alongside lower water amounts

Waste• Persil – recycling clothes scheme – donate the clothes you don’t want anymore• Marmite – don’t waste food – if you hate marmite don’t put it on your food, if you love it – cover your food in it and eat it all up!

Sustainable Sourcing• Lipton – where there tea comes from and how it keeps their economy going

Better Livelihoods• Marmite – could show farm animals rolling around in marmite – ‘they love marmite, and we love to support local farmers’

Product and Audience Research

Marmite NutritionAs well as yeast extract, marmite contains vegetable extract, salt, niacin, thiamin, spice extracts, folic acid, riboflavin, celery extract and vitamin B12. It contains 9 calories in a 4-g serving. Marmite is very low in sugar, low in calories, contains no saturated fat and is completely vegetarian. To complement marmite spread, the Marmite company also produces marmite cereal bars, bread sticks, rice cakes and cheddar bites.

Health BenefitsBrewer's yeast (the base ingredient of Marmite) is a good source of B complex vitamins; it also contains pantothenic acid (B5), pyridoxine (B6), niacin (B3), riboflavin (B2), thiamine (B1), folic acid (B9) and biotin (B7). These vitamins have a number of health benefits, including helping to break down carbohydrates, proteins and fats to provide your body with energy. They also help to maintain a healthy nervous system, support your digestive muscles and keep your eyes, hair skin, mouth and liver in good health.

Marmite and VegetariansVegetarians often miss out on key B12 vitamins – something Marmite is full of and it is a veggie-friendly product.

Marmite and ChildrenMarmite is high in Vitamin B, which is a vitamin children who don’t eat wholegrain foods often miss out on. By having Marmite every now and again it means children will get a vitamin boost – helping to improve their growth and development.

Marmite and Pregnant WomenMarmite is high in folic acid, which is something pregnant women are advised to get a lot of, as it helps increase chances of conception and helps with the development of the baby’s spine in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Rather than taking folic acid tablets, women could have a slice of Marmite on toast to keep their folic acid levels up – much more fun than taking supplements! Marmite has also been known to help cure morning sickness.

Marmite and the ElderlyThe strong taste of Marmite has been proven to be popular with elderly people who have lost their sense of taste – Marmite being one of the only things their taste buds can pick up on!

Past Advertising Campaigns

The most famous of the Marmite campaigns is probably the ones that follow the slogan of ‘Love It or Hate It’ .Marmite is a spread that divides the

nation – some people absolutely love it, some people think it’s the worst taste in the world. The

majority of the Marmite adverts run with this theme, and it has lead the way for some very

unusual and creative interpretations.

The advert on the left features the children’s cartoon character Horrid Henry. By using this

character is implies that Marmite is also ‘horrid’. The character of ‘Perfect Pete’ has also been used to stick with the ‘love it or hate it’ theme, as Peter thinks Marmite is perfect, Henry thinks it’s horrid, but does use it to deface his mum’s magazines, so

it comes in handy.

The advert on the right is a bit more simplistic, it uses a marmite-filled sandwich to either create a

smiley or sad face, but effectively gets the message across and uses the bright yellow

colour of the Marmite brand.

Past Advertising Campaigns

Running with the ‘love it or hate it’ theme, these adverts look at what else could apply to this – the above examples are France, Mr Bean, 4x4s and men

with hairy chests. All are drawn with marmite, making for some very eye-catching print adverts. However, they could be seen as taking away

marmite’s unique selling point – people love it or hate it – and replacing it with ‘look at what else we can disagree over’.

Past Advertising Campaigns

The print campaign on the left is for marmite-flavoured crisps. It uses a graphic style to create eye-catching posters that are

also very clever. Depending on which way you view them, the person in the image is either

happily munching on a bag of Marmite crisps, or being force-

fed them. The use of text on the arm forces viewers to turn the page around to see the other

perspective. 2007 saw Paddington Bear, a bear well-known for his love of marmalade

sandwiches, replacing them with Marmite, and he loved it. The characters around him, however, didn’t. A controversial

move for Marmite as many people felt Paddington would never change his

sandwich filling – but it got people talking. Marmite adverts often use popular culture

figures – such as Horrid Henry, Mr Bean and Paddington.

This sonogram advert shows a baby who’s mother has clearly

just eaten marmite, and the baby hates it! A good way to imply the health benefits of Marmite – its full of folic acid which is great for pregnant

women.

Television Advertising Campaigns

My Mate Marmite/I Hate Marmite - 1997

This campaign uses a re-vamped version of the retro campaign ‘My Mate Marmite’ but has 2 versions of the advert – one is ‘My Mate’ the other is ‘I Hate’.

Both adverts use comical situations to show how the nation either adores or detests Marmite. For example, an old man strokes his marmite on toast before eating it, and a man is seen sticking

voodoo pins into a toy marmite jar. The adverts show that Marmite is a brand that aren’t afraid to make fun of themselves with the ‘I

hate’ scenario.

Television Advertising Campaigns‘The Blob’ - 2007

This advert was a parody of the 1958 movie ‘The Blob’, and again shows the nation divided into loving or hating. Some people choose to run, screaming, from the marmite blob,

other run towards it with their lunches in hand. Again, another advert that shows Marmite aren’t afraid to

have a little fun and make fun of their own product. Sadly, this advert was banned as parents complained their

young children found the big brown blob too scary.

Political Party Advertising Campaigns

This spoof political campaign was Marmite’s advertising campaign for 2010. Both sides of Love and Hate were covered in the Love Party and the Hate Party. Both parties had political style posters, campaign packs and party political broadcasts.

Consumers could vote on which party was to win – and as to whether UK was a country that overall loved or hated Marmite.

This campaign strategy was clever and got the public actively involved in both campaigning for their chosen party and the brand of Marmite.

Marmite: Branding

From the brand guidelines sent to us by D&AD, we can see that Marmite has become established as a healthy,

nutritious spread in the UK. Marmite is a spread that ‘defies convention’, which could apply to their advertising

campaigns also. ‘People love the brand even if they hate the product’ –

people can become involved in the campaigns despite the fact they might never actually eat marmite itself.

‘The antidote to bland’ – Marmite likes to create fun campaigns that are different to the norm.

The above logo shows the colours that should be used for branding with Marmite. When creating our campaign, we will use these colours wherever possible to stick with a clear brand theme. We would also

use the font below, as it’s bold and strong, and relates to the brand.

The tone of voice for marmite is conversational – it can be quite silly and fun.

Combining Marmite with Unilever

To create a successful campaign we knew that we would have to combine the brand values of both Marmite itself and Unilever as a whole. The Marmite brand feel would provide humour and a quirky, bold

advertising campaign. The Unilever aspect would include something that contributed towards their Sustainability Plan – something that showed

Marmite in a positive light and helped changed the environment or society in some way.

Our initial feel towards this was that we wanted to either highlight the nutritional values of Marmite, or use the Love and Hate theme to tackle a

social issue e.g. Love Marmite, Hate Racism.

Initial Ideas

Against racism – person blacked up with marmite

Dating profile for marmite – trying to find love from the people who hate it – showing its favorable qualities such as high in Vitamin B and folic acid.

People who have never taken a chance to eat marmite – gambling theme

Halloween theme – Trick or treat? Depending on weather the person loves or hate marmite.

Take a chance on marmite – for the people who have never tried it – using songs (particularly ‘Take A Chance on Me’ and other memorable songs by Abba) to get people involved

Ideas to go alongside the Abba theme – • Competition online – make your own songs and post them on YouTube • Taster sachet – can take the chance without having to commit to buying a large jar• Taster booth – in supermarkets or unexpected locations – a stall designed for people to try marmite• Bottom of jar competition – if you make it t the bottom of the marmite jar there’s a surprise waiting

for you• Timeline of eating marmite from a young age to an old age – show how it benefits all ages

Development

Development

Development

This was an idea to expand the campaign to other iconic songs or themes events, such as Christmas, valentines day,

Halloween.

Storyboard

Image: A marmite jar will be in the centre of the screen at eye level camera angle against a large yellow background matching the Marmite yellow. It will rotate around 3 times within 30 seconds. Throughout the video cardboard signs will come onto the screen saying “Take a chance” (title of the campaign), “High in vitamin B”, “Brill!”, “Full of folic acid”, “Great” (to promote the healthy aspects of marmite) and “marmite.co.uk” (to give further information to the views with the website link).Sounds: Music will play over this sequence of the Abba song ‘Take a chance on me’ with an edited version that instead of singing ‘Me’ a monotone masculine voice says ‘Marmite’.Style: The look and feel of the advert is meant to be home-made, amateur style. (For instead the cardboard signs will be hand written, the jar may not turn smoothly, the editing of the song with not sounds like it is a recorded song, it will be an inexpert edited version of the song.

Shooting the advert

We wanted the advert to have quite a raw, home-made look to it, which was great for us as this would be simplistic and quick to both create and film. In our minds we had both imagined the marmite to be slowly spinning on a turntable – almost like a prize on a game show. We decided that a yellow background would be the most striking and would associate with the Marmite brand. When it came to the signs, again we decided that we wanted it to look as though someone was deliberately putting these signs into the advert themselves, so it didn’t matter if the edge of a hand is visible in the shot. The signs would be made from cardboard and be written In marker pan to create the ‘home made advert’ look.

Plan• Date: Monday

– Need to buy:– Martmite

• Yellow Background• Need to create:

– Spinning device– Signs

• To collect and set up on day:– Camera– Lighting– Tripod– Laptop– USB pen

Final Advert

Final Posters

StrategyTake A Chance On Marmite strategyIntroduction-The Love/Hate campaign is well known for Marmite, however (estimated 30%) of people have never tried it because they don’t want to take the chance of loving or hating it. We created the campaign “Take a chance on Marmite” when thinking of a corresponding song. We instantly thought of Abba – Take a chance on me.What - We realised Marmite fits brilliantly with the tunes of ABBA – along with many other great songs. So why not celebrate a joy or hatred of marmite by singing about it! • Initial advert – to be posted on YouTube and be shown on TV• Posters – shown in town centres, in and around supermarkets• Competition – getting people involved by posting their own marmite music videos online – to show if

they love or hate it after taking the chance! The video MUST include a clip of them tasting marmite. Winner could get a year of free Marmite.

• Taster sachets – ‘single portion’ pots already exist – bringing free single portion sachets onto supermarket shelves will give people the option to try marmite without committing to buying a large pot.

• Taster stalls – could be set up in supermarkets with bite size toast/crumpet pieces coated in marmite so people can take the chance. Could also be set up in unexpected places or busy public areas

• Guerilla/ Advertising stunt - car/van with giant marmite jar on the roof travelling around cities providing taster stalls – like the red bull cars

Why –Marmite has some great nutritional values that people may not be aware of – this campaign is to raise awareness of that! It could be extended to other spreads, sauces and condiments as part of a larger healthy eating campaign. We want to show that if you love marmite – great! Eat in moderation and enjoy the benefits.If you hate marmite – fair enough! But maybe eat a nibble of it every now and again to boost your vitamin B and folic acid levels. Who – 20 – 45 year olds, as they are more likely to take the time to pick up a taster sachet and give marmite a try. However we would hope marmite fans and enemies of any age would enjoy the musical advert and join in the fun. The campaign is aimed at the large majority of people that haven’t tried marmite, increasing the audience of consumers.

Strategy

Tactics in campaign – • Humour• Popular well known song• ‘Homemade’ ‘amateur’ ‘raw’ feel to the adverts• Memorable advert• Audience participation at taster booths & online competition • Advertising stunt to get people talking about the campaign• Highlighting the healthy aspect of marmite to appeal to audience’s rational side• Possible expansions of campaign into more Abba songs• Possible expansions of campaign into themed songs such as Christmas, or valentine’s

day• Possible expansions of campaign into more well know popular songs (links in with

competition)• Keeping to the brand of marmite• Creating a twist of the well-known Love/Hate campaign and targeting to all audience

that haven’t tried the product• Creating a fun, humour campaign for marmite makes the brand more appealing Marmite has some great nutritional values that people may not be aware of! The campaign could be extended to other spreads, sauces and condiments as part of a larger healthy eating campaign.

Presentation video

• This folder is accompanied with a USB pen containing:– Behind the Scenes video– Different TV adverts– Presentation Video– Sketchbook Presentation– Steategy