Marmite is a British yeast spread with a dividing taste. You either love it or hate it. That’s been the brand truth, and indeed the brand‘s tagline, for years.

Our brief was to use this to win one of the standout moments in the UK calendar, April Fools’ Day. With zero advertising spend and a production budget of less than £5,000. IDEA If you try Marmite and hate it, what do you do with the rest of the jar?

Maybe you sell it to someone who loves it enough to give a used jar a new home? Introducing ‘Pre-Hated Marmite’. A chance to buy second hand jars that have been tried, detested and offered up for sale in disgust. EXECUTION Promoted on social, we launched our own eBay store, where lovers could buy all kinds of tasted and hated jars. Then they also went on sale in a traditional British second hand shop. And we got really playful with just how hated Marmite was.

Not many brands would be brave enough to do this. But incredibly the more we hated our own product, the more the lovers wanted it. RESULTS Social engagement went crazy. And even though it was clearly a joke, the bids came flying in. By the time the stores closed at midday (when by tradition all April Fools’ must end) we’d completely sold out, with some of our second hand Pre-hated Marmite jars selling for more than 6 x the price of a new one.

Most importantly, we earned national PR coverage, even making it into Britain’s number one tabloid, where our April Fools’ stunt was deemed one of the nation’s favourites of 2022.