MARMITE / XO LAUNCH

The Contagious office was trembling with excitement yesterday when a jar of Marmite XO, an extra-mature, extra-strong version of the love/hate yeast extract spread arrived.

But what truly delighted us was the way XO has been building anticipation in the lead-up to its launch. We first wrote about XO in November, when 'secret society' Marmarati launched to engage the most ardent Marmite lovers in the creation and marketing of the extra-strong Unilever-owned spread. Read that story here.
 
Launched through London-based social media agency We Are Social and Splendid Communications, the Marmarati enlisted the help of around 30 bloggers to form 'The First Circle' to help spread news of the society. Those who sought to join 'The Second Circle' had to prove their love by taking quizzes which they could share on Facebook and Twitter. They also had to upload a video, photo or a written submission for the chance to preview the extra-strong spread, with site visitors voting for the winner.
 
Once enlisted, members could win a handmade jar and also got to meet each other at a tasting event shrouded in mystery.

One of those lucky enough to be in the inner sanctum was James Whatley, engagement strategy director at 1,000 Heads, who proudly showed off his special jar at a talk delivered at the WOM UK Espresso event in London last week. Whatley also revealed that Marmite had encouraged those lucky so-and-sos who had received a handmade jar of Marmite - encased in beautiful packaging - to film themselves unboxing it, in a witty imitation of mobile phone unboxing films that clutter up YouTube. Watch an example above.

One member of the audience was so impressed that he described Whatley as 'a living case study of the power of word of mouth for Marmite', due to the fact that he was spreading the word and building hype around the new product immediately prior to its launch.
 
Reactions to the taste of the new XO are currently being uploaded to the Marmarati website and to Facebook and Twitter. Contagious was no exception: having sampled the new spread on toast, we immediately Tweeted our verdict: a resounding 10/10.

 * Read more about the Marmarati and learn about other effective ways in which Marmite has reinforced its love/hate strategy in the upcoming issue of Contagious. Not a subscriber? Fix that now by visiting the Contagious shop.