Marmite seduces ‘first timers’ with smutty puppets gyrating to a pumping music track

Marmite’s most recent campaign from adam&eveDDB was all about babies in the womb. Now we get a little hint of where those babies come from. In a fun and unexpected shift in tone for the brand, adam&eveDDB has rolled out a new spot with a racy vibe, as two puppets are seen experimenting with putting Marmite on toast for the first time—as a dance track in the background urges them to “stroke that,” “push that” and “lick that.” U.S. music producer Giraffage remixed his electro track “Workout” exclusively for the spot. The end line is, “Love it. Hate it. Get it on.” The campaign was inspired by YouGov research that revealed 43% of 18- to 24-year-olds in the U.K. have never tried Marmite, despite it being a staple in British homes for generations. “When we saw the number of young adults who had never even tried it, we knew we had to do something to dare them to take the plunge and try our special spread,” said Laura Iliffe, Marmite brand manager. “This campaign represents a step-change in the way we advertise Marmite—with a clear focus on driving trial and penetration. We want to recruit our next generation of lovers, and show young adults how to approach their first-time with Marmite.” Yes, she said penetration. “The U.K. has a great tradition of comedy double acts—French and Saunders, Reeves and Mortimer, Mel and Sue, Mitchell and Webb. Unfortunately they all declined the auditions, so we were stuck with a pair of filthy-minded puppets,” said Ben Tollett, group executive creative director at adam&eveDDB. The campaign also includes Spotify and banner ads. One Spotify ad features a remixed version of the Giraffage track; another uses ASMR “to get potential Marmite customers in the mood,” the brand said. Also on the way: sampling kits for first-timers at universities across the country; a TikTok challenge called “Are you a Marmite First-Timer?”; and a quiz on Tinder called “Sticky Situations” that will ask participants to “love” or “hate” certain behavior in a potential partner, in humorous and saucy language. A forthcoming PR campaign, led by W Communications, will invite university students to “pop their Marmite cherry” with sensory experiments to help them discover whether they are a lover or a hater. The spot itself is running on TV, with shorter films in VOC, supported by social media and digital OOH. Media was planned and bought by Mindshare U.K.

Marmite seduces ‘first timers’ with smutty puppets gyrating to a pumping music track

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