Maybe
Christian Woolfenden, Global marketing director, Bacardi
Convenience sells, especially in the UK. We have been quick to embrace everything designed to make life easier. Just look at the premium that people used to pay for sliced veg, as opposed to the variety that needs a bit of chopping.
The cereal bar market epitomises
our desire for the quick fix. We are addicted to these short cuts, but where cereal had an easy ride behind the established category of confectionery, savoury bars have a challenge.
People love a savoury experience for breakfast but it's usually hot and buttered, with lashings of something else - which is where Marmite comes in.
Love it or hate it, the Marmite breakfast bar strategy is bold. You can count on Unilever to deliver a cracking execution on packaging and communications, but can it deliver the toast experience? That unmistakable tingle you get tucking into hot toast covered with butter and Marmite? If it can convey that with a bar, it will take the market by storm. If not, it will be off the shelves before you can say ‘BOGOF'.
Yes
Simon Davies, Marketing director, Molson Coors Brewing
The Great British Breakfast is one of our finest unmanaged brands, and the best thing since sliced bread must be piping-hot toast with melting butter. There is clearly demand for a savoury start to the day.
I'm sure in the 106 years since the The Marmite Food Extract Company was founded, there are few people who haven't tried the brand at some time in their life and made an instant decision on where to place it on the ‘love it or hate it' scale.
For Marmite lovers, this could be the best news they've had this month. With
no need to spend half an hour making extra-thick lumpy porridge with salt, they can join the morning bustle with their breakfast-bar-to-go
I am 100% confident that there is
a market for a Marmite breakfast bar.
It might not be the biggest category of the market, but it is bound to have a loyal following.
Yes
Oliver Lewis-Barclay, Managing director, Hooper Galton
One of the happiest moments of my life was when I came across Marmite in a tiny shop in Kathmandu after months of yeast-extract-free Asian breakfasts. When it comes to Marmite, I'm a lover, not a fighter.
Even when I try to be objective, this seems to be a good move for the brand. Breakfast-skippers need a savoury alternative in the cereal bar market.
If the breakfast that was missed included that food of the gods, Marmite on toast, then a sugary Tracker just won't hit the spot.
Marmite has its problems with salt content, but it tends to be ‘haters' who go on about that. We ‘lovers' remain in blissful denial.
So, when they hand out samples in Victoria Station, as they undoubtedly will, there will be plenty of grabbers. However, it's hard to imagine what form the product will take. A Twiglet, Ryvita, rice cake-like mélange? It will have to be irresistible if a lovers' tiff is
to be avoided. (PS Note to the brand team: pretty please bring back the Guinness version.)
Yes
Peter Lidgey, Managing director, OgilvyAction
The launch of Marmite's breakfast bar makes good marketing sense.
The breakfast-bar category is cluttered, certainly, but most of the existing products are sweet cereal derivatives. Marmite's savoury entrant is a relevant extension for a brand primarily associated with breakfast.
The main advantage of savoury
bars is that they will attract men to the category for the first time. They offer a genuine alternative to toast and a cooked breakfast. It is also a great awareness drive. In their current format, Marmite jars spend most of their lives gathering dust at the back of the cupboard. The bar will offer millions of advertising opportunities throughout the day.
It also offers a great way to sample a savoury breakfast product and gives new consumers a route into traditional breakfast territory.
Expect to see sampling teams soon in a railway station near you.