Every single day, 700,000 British expats live a miserable Marmite-less existence in the US.

It’s almost impossible to find and criminally overpriced.

Back in the UK, we really felt for our fellow countrymen in New York, because once a Marmite lover, always a lover. To get Marmite to these expats in need, we needed to take drastic measures. So, we tapped into a powerful force at our fingertips: a network of British Lovers so dedicated to Marmite they would do literally anything for us. Or would they? We decided to find out by attempting to recruit a ring of Marmite Smugglers, to stash the yeast spread and take it on their flights from the UK to NYC.

In the UK, Marmite is outspent by peanut butter and chocolate spread brands, and is the only yeast spread. We couldn't compete with our competitors' budgets, but we could compete in another way. Marmite Lovers are always willing to help the brand, especially when they can get their hands on a limited edition jar. So we decided to test just how far Lovers were willing to go. In doing so, we could leverage that love to generate conversation around the brand, while spending a fraction of what our competitors do. It was a tried and tested approach to gaining a dispropriate share of the attention, previously seen in campaigns that subjected Lovers and Haters to gene testing, hypnosis and even pre-natal scans. The question was, how could we go even further this time? Our challenge and our call to action to Lovers was simple 'Willing to smuggle Marmite to NYC?'

We posted a simple recruitment message on Marmite's Instagram and Threads. 'Willing to smuggle Marmite?', driving to a WhatsApp number.

We used WhatsApp because millions around the world trust it to keep things on the down-low, and it meant there were no barriers to entry. After all, what dealer has a microsite with a form to fill in?

We exchanged WhatsApps with would-be smugglers to gather their details, and delivered a discreet package containing Marmite to their address.

Smugglers then shared footage of their smuggling experience back with us. These day-in-the-life of a smuggler social films were composed entirely of real footage captured from real drop offs and journeys by smugglers, and showed everyone we were for real, driving even more recruitment via WhatsApp.

1,325 Lovers willing to smuggle Marmite.

4,246 WhatsApp messages exchanged co-ordinating the smuggling operation.

26 Brits risked it all to ferry the goods across the US border.

2 smugglers offered to put jars inside themselves.

289,665 kilometers travelled by British lovers to smuggle Marmite.

33 separate pieces of PR coverage.

5.6 million earned reach in UK print and online publications.