Title	TASTEFACE
Brand	MARMITE, UNILEVER
Product/Service	MARMITE? // SPREAD?
Category	E03. Innovative Use of Technology
Entrant	ANALOGFOLK London, UNITED KINGDOM
Idea Creation	ANALOGFOLK London, UNITED KINGDOM

Name	Company	Position
Simon Richings	AnalogFolk	Creative Partner
Sara Pouri	AnalogFolk	Associate Creative Director
Jack Finn	AnalogFolk	Creative Team
Jake Haynes	AnalogFolk	Creative Team
Dan Saxton	AnalogFolk	Senior Designer
Marcus Thouant	AnalogFolk	Designer

The Campaign

“You either love it or hate it.” It’s a phrase that’s been synonymous with Marmite for over 20 years. This year, the brand delved into what really forms one’s opinion on the sticky stuff and discovered a surprising answer: science! It turns out there’s a genetic explanation for likely Marmite preference. This framing got lots of people talking about Marmite again, but our challenge was to get people actually tasting the product, again. The answer? Once again, science came to the rescue - this time through some very accessible but highly sophisticated technology, delivered through the audience’s ever-present smartphone browsers. We created TasteFace, a way for lovers (or haters) to get an ‘official’ analysis of their feeling for Marmite. Combining a sampling experience with a unique scientific test, we were able to encourage further awareness of the campaign and drive mass trial.

Creative Execution

The TasteFace experience did two jobs for product consideration - prompting our audience to dig out their Marmite from the back of the cupboard and reconsider it as an everyday spread, and to provide a fresh, engaging way of distributing free samples and encouraging their consumption. The experience needed to appeal to the whole family, so we used a fun pixel art style throughout. This engaged the user and provided a distinction between an entertaining experiment and the more formal science behind the project itself. Once the user progressed through the easy-to-follow instructions, they were taken to a front-facing camera view, so we could reduce the chance of user error and they could choose the shot. They were then shown a countdown before recording started. We captured a short video of the user taking the taste test and used Microsoft’s emotional analysis API to evaluate their face based on eight emotions. The output was fed into our bespoke algorithm that translated it into a score from ‘100% hater’ to ‘100% lover’. We ensured the results revealed to the user were not only easily shareable, directly from the experience, but also something they would want to share. Based on the insight that users are more likely to share something they’ve personalised, we included a number of filters that could be applied to the GIF and corresponded to the user’s result. People could proudly assert their ‘lover’ status or share an amusing GIF of their negative reaction. The TasteFace experience extended the reach and message of the Marmite campaign, allowing us to democratise the process of ‘testing’ for the gene and providing a reason to sample the product and get the whole family involved.