Gone too far with a bar?
The latest offering from Marmite is being launched – or is it trialled – across London with a blaze of innovative and perfectly on-brand activity. The product is a Marmite Cereal Bar and the big idea is that the people from Marmite really are not sure if their new product is going to fly or flop. Its perfectly on message for a brand that revels in the extreme reactions that it provokes. The strap line is “have we gone too far?” and as ever with this all-too-honest brand, the question seems genuine.
Visit the Marmite bar Facebook page to see plenty of brilliant examples of how they have delivered this idea: from video booths at train stations which record and post your reactions to your first bite, through to spoof posters promoting Marmite shower gel and detergent.
It’s a great example of attention grabbing, dialogue generating, on-brand launch activity. It is the kind of thing that you really do talk about when you get to your desk – even if you aren’t in the marketing industry. More than that, its another example of just how self-referential some brands are becoming now. The brand is launched with apparent trepidation. It seems to invite criticism. It mocks the world of marketing – it might even mock the corporation it belongs to. Is Marmite a post-modern brand?
Beyond all these musings, the key question remains. What does it taste like? The consensus from here is ‘love the marmite, hate the wood chippings you are calling cereal!’.
Related post: The Marmarati
In: Advertising, Food and Drink, Innovation · Tags: Brand stretch, Breakfast, Campaigns, Marmite
