Marmite sneaks in to NYC with WhatsApp smuggling ring

Will Marmite ever be one of the big global brands consumer goods giant Unilever wants to keep? Mega-ice cream brands Magnum and Ben and Jerry’s are currently under the hammer (Unilever has belatedly realised they’re seasonal, so a bit of a nuisance) so what hope is there for a condiment Brits either “love or hate?”

Shame if it goes because it’s the one brand from purpose-packed, po-faced Unilever you can have fun with, as adam&eveDDB does here wi8th an attempt to set up a WhatsApp Marmite smuggling ring for Brits in NYC starved of their addiction.

Within an hour of the ads going up two weeks ago, over 250 Brits sent texts to the WhatsApp number. Photos of the ads on social media have been flooded with comments from UK volunteers willing to test the legal limits.

Cost effective too. A&E NYC associate creative director Chris Brailey says: “We didn’t promise flights or that we would be able to help if they were stopped by customs or TSA (transport police.) People did this on their own accord. So far no one’s been arrested.”

Marmite may survive a little longer.

MAA creative scale: 8.