TASTEFACE

TitleTASTEFACE
BrandMARMITE, UNILEVER
Product/ServiceMARMITE? // SPREAD?
Category A03. Augmented Mobile Experience
Entrant ANALOGFOLK London, UNITED KINGDOM
Idea Creation ANALOGFOLK London, UNITED KINGDOM
Credits
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

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

We used facial emotional analysis to evaluate eight feelings in parallel to define if the user’s expression showed ‘love’ or ‘hate’ while eating Marmite. With reach in mind, we made an extra effort to develop TasteFace with web technologies and server-side equations in order to make the experience as app-like as possible. The bleeding-edge technology and algorithms employed were wrapped in an intuitive user experience with a fun and engaging design. This allowed the users to forget all the technological complexities of the process - videos getting chunked into pieces, analyzed, and categorized with accurate reaction recognition - and instead enjoy the output, a funny gif. The TasteFace experience extended the reach and message of the Gene campaign, allowing us to democratise the process of ‘testing’ yourself for the gene and providing a compelling reason to sample the product and get the whole family involved.

The experience has extended the reach of the above-the-line campaign, allowing the public to take part in the experiment. Over 436k people have visited the TasteFace microsite to date and have spent 2.5 minutes, on average, playing with the content. Importantly, we’re getting the product in people’s hands and inspiring them to try it. Within the first 6 weeks over 50k samples have been distributed with two more paid media pushes still to come. TasteFace has allowed us to generate PR coverage over and above a traditional ATL campaign, receiving coverage from tech-focused blogs and drawing the attention of Microsoft’s AI Division, who expressed an interest in working with us as creative partners as a result of this activity. Finally, this activity has provided us rich consumer data, allowing us to talk to lovers and haters with tailored messaging while using our initial findings to inspire further creative work.

The TasteFace experience did two key 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. We ensured that the end product of the experience was inherently shareable, enabling people to proudly assert their ‘lover’ status or share an amusing GIF of their negative reaction. Allowing test-takers to share the results to social media directly from the experience (and letting them customise this content) maximised the opportunity for organic sharing. Finally, the wealth of data we acquired about our users through the sample and testing process can be in future communications to shed light on the way the nation feels about Marmite, as well as allowing us to customise and target future messages based on known preferences.