4. Would an emotional or humorous message appeal be more appropriate for the Vegemite campaign? How might you execute that?

In the past, Vegemite’s prime focus, to portray authentic Australian culture, was successful thanks to various campaigns such as ‘Tastes Like Australia’, ‘Abbreviatin’ Everythin’, ‘Having a Public Holiday for a Horse Race’, ‘Vegemite Name Me’ and ‘How Do You Like Your Vegemite?’. These phrases resonated well with the Australian public.
The message advertised during the Ashes series glorified Australian taste preferences and aimed at appealing to an international crowd by reflecting patriotic sentiments. The message adopted an emotional appeal, which intended to obtain empathy for the brand and lead to an amicable confrontation against its competitor, Marmite.
The importance of a collaborative agency and marketing department relationship is typified through a quote by Adam Ferrier. Ferrier, the founder of Thinkerbell agency and who is an award-winning advertising creative, says, ‘Having a tightly understood brand platform in Tastes Like Australia means that as a working team we can have fun, take advantage of topical events and work at speed with confidence. The strong brand understanding and clear articulation makes doing interesting spikes of activity much easier.’ This ability to work at speed was exemplified by their response soon after Australia’s cricket victory in the Ashes series. Vegemite concluded the battle by sending the burnt remains of a piece of toast spread with Marmite and contained within the Mitey Ashes Urn to Marmite’s office in the UK with a note that said: ‘Thanks for a mitey battle. Catch ya at 2021!’.
In marketing strategies, there are always numerous choices on how to respond. Without knowing what was in the minds of the Vegemite marketing team, it is possible that other strategies could have been considered. One possible approach might have been to use Australian celebrities whose names are well established internationally, such as actors Margot Robbie, Rebel Wilson or Hugh Jackman, or the singer Sia, who could have promoted Vegemite’s brand name with a unique personalised message. The limitation here is deviating from the sport, as those who follow these celebrities may not necessarily follow cricket. Another approach could be to get famous Australian cricket stars to endorse Vegemite. However, this might have the problem of limiting the message to cricket followers rather than getting it across to the general public.