Vegemite bowls bouncer at Lord’s in continuing campaign against England’s Marmite
In case you’ve been asleep in the outfield, a tasty battle has been unfolding during this year’s Ashes series, between Australia’s Vegemite and England’s Marmite. The Mitey battle continues today with Vegemite, via agency Thinkerbell, Melbourne bowling a bouncer at the most sacred of British aristocratic symbols, the yellow and red blazers worn by the privileged members of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the owners of Lord’s Cricket Ground.
In an unexpected twist in the battle for yeasty pride, Vegemite is claiming that all members turning out in the traditional red and yellow colours at Lord’s, are actually showing their support for Vegemite.
An unnamed member of the MCC said: “I no longer care what happens out in the middle, the colours I wear as part of my membership to Lord’s will, now and forever, be in recognition for my love of Vegemite on toast, with plenty of butter”.
Says Matt Gray, spokesperson for Vegemite: “We are flattered that the members of the home of cricket have been showing their support for Vegemite for years. We’re only sorry we didn’t give them the recognition they deserve for supporting Vegemite until now. We’re not sure how Marmite must feel, knowing that the MCC Members openly prefer the taste of Australia.”
Vegemite is also offering a Marmite amnesty. Any MCC members who turn up to Lord’s in their red and yellow Vegemite colours, with a jar of Marmite can then send the Marmite jar to us in Melbourne Australia, and we’ll swap it for a new jar of stronger, bolder Vegemite.
44 Comments
What the fuck is this shit
Why do the stripes of the tie in the print ad face the opposite direction?
Thinkerbell have been schooled. Let’s hope the cricket isn’t the same.
Lord’s has an apostrophe. And it doesn’t help that Marmite’s colours are also red and yellow.
How can donning these colours in public be secret code for a Vegemite lover when it’s a public announcement?
Not sure what they were thinking with this
Personally, I thought the first print ad was overly jingoistic and cringeworthy, and the retort from Marmite on point.
This though is much, much better and smarter. Nice one. Keep it going.
First delivery was a good line and length. The follow up was a wide down leg side into the ropes for 4.
Can you even English?
I was actually looking forward to see if vegemite would respond. This is outstanding. Old school communication still having an impact. Nice work marmite and vegemite.
Lords doesn’t require an apostrophe if they’re addressing the Lords of England, which it appears they are. Back to school for you…
Can’t understand the hate for this, I think it’s brilliant.
I’d also be interested to see if, similar to Australia with the Herald Sun/The Daily Telegraph, the Mirror is handed out free at every test match, if so then that is really good contextual media targeting also given most people in the ground are going straight to the cricket section, and a good portion of the crowd are Aussies.
As has already been pointed out, MCC membership has nothing to do with being a peer of the realm. MCC members do, however, attend Lord’s. With an apostrophe.
Smart ad! Will sure get them talking about Vegemite at Lords.
The people on this forum are serious grubs. You guys have absolutely no idea what real people find entertaining. Fantastic, populist creativity that will continue to build fame and sell spread. Bravo.
Agree with Chappy on this one. You could unpack any piece of communication until the cows come home. But the truth is, this continues to create buzz around the brand.
Well done @Chappy, on agreeing so thoroughly with Chappy.
Yeah, nah, it was a decent first effort. And then Marmite cleaned your clock, and you should have stayed down. Instead, you’ve gotten back up and punched yourself in the face.
Quite possibly one of the quickest shark jumpings seen in advertising.
The ground is called Lord’s.
The members of the MCC are not Lords. Anyone can become a member.
Nice comeback.
Like it. Very subtle yet brilliant.
Too many wankers on here that need to quit their jobs and take a chill pill.
Stop……let’s face it the Brits response was stronger, sharper and better and now they are just going to eat you alive with this one. Think of the brand not just the creative opportunity.
You are not a member of Lords. You are a member of the MCC. This is what happens when you have creatives who don’t understand the sport.
Just makes this all an even more overwhelming win for Marmite.
No no no. This is just cringeworthy in the extreme
yes, some of the Lord’s references, grammar are incorrect.
But………………..
its good fun, totally on brand and the PR in Oz has been great. The ROI has been much greater than if Vegemite had run the same ad here.
Please just stop. The first ad was cute, this is now drawing blood from a stone.
So, Marmite came back with a better response than yours and you/your client felt you just couldn’t let it ok. What a shame. Because this is not great, and cricket fans in the UK that I know are tearing it apart. What started out well has ended up with you hitting your own wicket.
It’s a cracking attempt and still a goodie, however, Marmites retaliation was a clean Mike Tyson right hook uppercut. The research team should of dug a little deeper for the creatives before responding – looking at the facts a) Marmite did ‘tamper’ with their recipe only last year… And, b) the English were also caught up in a ball-tampering scandal in the 2017 Ashes. Could have of been an even bolder response.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11967315
https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/6137362/marmite-recipe-change-good-reason/
Still, good work as always Thinkerbell.
‘…if you secretly prefer that your toast tastes like Australia.’
I’m confused. I love the sledging, but your copy could be improved.
This makes Australians look stupid, confirming what most Brits already know to be true.
Sorry, I think the red and yellow of Vegemite is closer match to a dukes ball and sandpaper
what are you talking about? there is nothing incorrect with that line, even if there was, it doesnt matter as long as the message comes across
Your audience is English. Hence they speak English, not ‘strine’.
If you can’t see what is wrong with that line you shouldn’t be writing. Anywhere.
You just hit your own stumps, fellers.
‘Back to sledging the English players about their wives and Mothers then, I guess.
I guess I’ve been outed at long last.
It’s been quite an adventure, but I reckon I’ve held my own.
Think it’s bloody fantastic.
Regardless of the quality, it’s been fun to watch this play out over here. I hope they keep the back and forth going.
a bunch of english people on here?
This is a good campaign. The tone is fun. The apostrophe isn’t needed. Good brandter. The sheer amount of hate for this work smells like nit picky jealousy. The targeted media is smart. The papers are writing about this campaign on both sides of the globe, smart.
the copy adam&eve wrote in response to vegemite’s opening salvo was worlds ahead of the sloppy copy stinkerbell tapped out.
craft ain’t dead – it’s just not in aus.
Apostrophe is needed – Saying you’re addressing Lords is just heavy backtracking from Thinkerbell staffers once they’d realised they sent a press ad to print with a typo in it.
Don’t try and make Brandter a thing, it isn’t a thing.
Hi @russty – just saw this – people still commentating! Please be assured we didn’t miss the apostrophe – we were addressing the Lords of England as .’joke’. However, please keep your eagle little eye on our work – we’re bound to make mistakes in the future – and I’m sure I can count on you to interested enough to spot them and comment anonymously about them.
Alas! Vegemite is, and always has been, an inferior knock-off of Marmite, with barely any of the vitamins Marmite has – so who would bother with that rubbish?