In this second edition of my blog on our Social Networks presentation given on the 1st of April I will be taking a look at the Marmite election campaign which was created by DDB UK. For the campaign, "The Love Party" and "The Hate Party" have been set up, with each attempting to convince the public to vote for them on a specially created election website. Each party has a Marmite-related manifesto and a series of pledges to be implemented if they get in power.Faye Freely leads The Love Party, which aims to "Spread the Love" of Marmite across the UK by highlighting its nutritional values and looking into new ways of using the product to help tackle social issues. Among the Party’s pledges are anger management courses for Marmite haters and a shrine for lovers of Marmite can congregate in peace.
The Hate Party will be led by Steve Heaving, and has called to "Stop the Spread" of Marmite by reducing its production and consumption. If they get into power there will be designated "Marmite-eating" zones, as well as a compulsory label change to "Tarmite".
The parties began campaigning on 2 April when their party political broadcasts were launched on TV and online. Both candidates have Facebook pages and Twitter feeds containing information on their manifestos, and will also launch press ads in various weekly magazines. The Marmite News Network (or MNN, an obvious nod to CNN) site will run rolling news coverage of the election campaign, broadcasting party announcements and events. Voting will close on Thursday 29 April, with the winning party being announced on 2 May.
I believe this is an excellent example of how social networks can be utilised. There has been much talk of this being the first truly ‘Facebook’ election where the apathetic 18-25 bracket can be finally brought into the fray. It is rather ingenious of Marmite to do the same thing and, no doubt, be more successful than the politicians. Marmite have, for a while, capitalised on the fact that their product has a ‘love it or hate it’ quality. This takes it to the next level in an innovative way which will step up the debate for and against Marmite and therefore pushing the product further into key public’s consciousness.
Marmite - yuk! But I really like their campaign. I totally agree with you that this is a good way of targeting the youth who are - like the rest of the UK to be honest - apathetic. This is fun and makes the brand stand out. The politicians and candidates for the up and coming general election could learn a thing or two from this campaign!
ReplyDeleteMarmite has used social networks in a very innovative and creative way. I love the example of it. It's smart because they not only target the people that love Marmite but even the people that hate it.
ReplyDeleteAs you said they have accepted the fact that they have a love it hate it policy, and I agree with both of you, politicians and candidates could indeed learn something from this campaign!
:)
It's important to stand out and use a very creative campaign online as now any company can use it.....