Favourite Items – South African Halloween Jar

250g Marmite Halloween Jar

250g Marmite Halloween Jar from the “Don’t be afraid of the dark” promotion

One of my favourite jars in the whole collection is from one of my most favourite ever Marmite promotions, this is a 2012 Halloween promotion from South Africa.  The only other place in the world to have their only other Marmite factory (British Marmite that is, the original and best).

Don't be afraid of the dark

Don’t be afraid of the dark – Original Artwork by Andrew Ringrose

Marmite conducted research to better understand the South African youth and what they thought about Marmite. The results were astonishing – Marmite had very little relevance. How could this be? How can so many people not know about such an iconic brand? We needed to change this.

“If Mother didn’t tell you about Marmite, what else didn’t she tell you?” – A campaign line that brought to life everything unknown, interesting or downright bizarre. One thing your mother definitely didn’t tell you are scary stories – local and traditional- that spring from Halloween. Since we’ve positioned ourselves as the spread that tells you things your mother didn’t tell you, we thought it appropriate to connect the dots, and created a Halloween campaign that did just that.

The tactical Halloween campaign ‘Don’t be afraid of the Dark’ encourages people to be brave and try the original dark stuff, because there really isn’t anything to be afraid of.

Creative Directors: Jake Bester, Gareth McPherson
Design Directors: Dani Loureiro, Bridget McLaren
Art Director: Josh Foster, Andrew Ringrose
Copywriters: Jake Bester, Gisele Human, Neil Meyer, Craig Walford
Designers: Dani Loureiro, Bridget McLaren, Andrew Ringrose, Josh Foster
Illustrators: Dani Loureiro, Andrew Ringrose
**https://www.behance.net/gallery/5747063/Marmite-Dont-be-Afraid-of-the-Dark-2012

The video is a brilliant time-lapse of the painting of a wall mural animation by Nick Herbert and Natalie Perel.  

POLL – How do you like your Marmite in the morning (or any other time)?

How do you prefer your Marmite?

How do you prefer your Marmite?

I’ve always had an interest in what people like to eat their Marmite with.  Marmite is eaten all over the world, using all kinds of bases.  The ones I’ve added are wheat based, but as I ran out of options that I could add, the “other” choice is for things such as Porridge (very popular in Sri Lanka, babies are brought up on the stuff), various kinds of pancakes or anything else that you like.

What base do people prefer?  Personally my base is a crunchy toasted crumpet (twice in the toaster) with a generous amount of butter and a generous slathering of Marmite. It’s just the perfect snack treat for any time of day.

So what is yours?

[interaction id=”56c0f1fc17a1f6c05094d9fa”]

If your answer is “Other” please let us know in the comments section below.

Personalise your Marmite for the one you love.

We had the Christmas Marmite personalised labels and now for Valentine’s Day 2016, Marmite have brought out loving labels for loved up Marmateers.

There are 2 different styles “Be Mine” and “I’m Yours”

You have 11 Characters to tell them how much you love them.

They are £4.99 for a 250g jar and if you want a box, it’s a £1 extra.

Postage and Packing is £2.99 no matter how many you order in one shopping spree.

Censored Marmite Pet Names

Censored Marmite Pet Names

However, if you have a rude petname for your loved one, there is a chance that the company won’t print it. Also the pet names that make your average person cringe such as “Snookums” and others are also not going to be printed.

The Standard Newspaper stated that Philippa Atkinson, Marmite Brand Manager said “We appreciate that Marmite is a spread best enjoyed at breakfast, and nobody wants a side helping of nausea first think in the morning, so thought it made perfect sense to ban the most hated pet names.

So in the same rules as Marmite, Love it or Hate it, you have to be more old fashioned with your personalisation.

Please note, for guaranteed delivery by 14th February,

please order by MIDDAY ON 9TH FEBRUARY

If you want just a normal label, then that is fine, as it’s there for you too.

So what are you waiting for…………………….Order Now!

The Marmite Museum gets a chance to make someone happy with a bit of music.

A few months ago I was contacted by a lovely lady who was enquiring on behalf of a 99 year old Gentleman from Malmesbury.

His name is Mr Ernie Walker and this is what he asked “My father, active in the Seven kings and Goodmayes Gramophone Club, amused our family playing a 4″ 78s record, but this object was destroyed by a V2 rocket bomb in 1945 when our home was damaged. Pieces were seen but not retrieved as I had to return to my army unit, and my parents were evacuated for the second time…”

He was trying to find a copy of the Ma-Might song from the 1920’s. It was an early advert for Marmite and only came on small gramophone records, this is pre radio and apart from live advertising in theatres, this was the only other way to have vocal advertising. Ernie was trying to remember how the advert went to share with other residents of the home where he lived.

She contacted us at the Marmite Museum because she searched the internet and found that we had a copy of that gramophone record in our collection. The only problem was that we didn’t have a digital copy of this record, so touched by the story, we felt we had to get this record digitised as soon as possible. Time was against us here as the gentleman was 99 years old, so the stops were out. We had to find a gramophone and someone to digitalise, and as it happened, we knew where to obtain both and within 5 days we had MP3 copies of the A and B side.

The quality wasn’t the best, but the fact that it survived the last 90 to 95 years, when these are so delicate, is a miracle.

I sent the MP3 files to the woman who enquired feeling quite pleased that I managed to get this done and was surprised to get the reply with a full disclosure. This lady was an archivist that worked for the Unilever Archives in Port Sunlight and they were really so enamoured by the story that she decided to try and find a copy of the advertisement in her own time. They don’t usually do private searches, but the story was just too hard to just push to one side. They didn’t have a copy of the gramophone record at the archives so she found us. She put me in touch with Ernie’s Daughter in Law who gave me permission to write this blog post and let me know that Ernie was over the moon in hearing the advert again, and sang along with it.  I was sent lovely emails from her and now have permission to use a wonderful photograph of Ernie with his son.  She told me that Ernie had always been very charming and smart man, and NEVER went out unless he was dressed immaculately as it shows in the photo.

Ernie Walker and his son Richard

Ernie Walker and his son Richard

It was a real pleasure and honour to do this for Ernie and his family, and that I could be a part of something quite special.

The Ma'might Song by Albert Whelan

The Ma’might Song by Albert Whelan

Here are the words.

The Ma’might Song by Albert Whelan

I’ve just been down the doctors to-day.
He said I’m getting too thin.
He made me keep quiet and gave me a diet.
And this is how I’m to begin

Little Jack Horner who sat in the corner, said
Friends, I’m going on strike,
This nursery rhyme gives me pie all the time
But I’ll tell you what I would like.

Chorus

On Monday I might have a sausage and mash
And MA’MIGHT too,
On Tuesday a sandwich, on Wednesday some hash,
And MA’MIGHT too
On Thursday I’ll fast ’till Friday is past,
On Saturday I might have a stew.
With Maudie and Carrie, and Tom, Dick and Harry
And MARMITE too.

To listen to the recordings – SIDE A is just an introduction and SIDE B is the advert.

The artist, Alan Whelan, was born in Australia in 1875, he came over to the United Kingdom in 1901 and was very prominent on the stage and early movies and made quite a number of gramophone advertisements. He died in 1961.

Here is a photo of him during the filming of This is your life, in 1957 being given the Big Red Book by Eamonn Andrews

Albert Whelan - This is your life

Albert Whelan – This is your life