THE MARKET Vegemite Is a Truly Iconic Australian Brand and Its
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THE MARKET “Parwill”. This was an attempted play on words: “If Vegemite is a truly iconic Australian brand and its Marmite… then Parwill” was the intended pun, but unique heritage is unmatched by any other spread it didn’t sell the product. or perhaps even any other Australian brand. Walker went back to his first choice of name Vegemite has always been around, it’s a part of when he became convinced that the problem was growing up happy and healthy in Australia – part getting consumers to try the product. He launched of our DNA, and consumers naturally associate it a vigorous two year coupon redemption scheme with their childhood. and gave away a jar of Vegemite with every Families have always eaten Vegemite. Parents purchase of another product in the Fred Walker want their children to like Vegemite so it can be Company range. passed on to future generations, making Vegemite The campaign worked: consumers tried the much more significant than just their own childhood product, and loved it. Baby health centres across memories. Loving Vegemite makes you part of the the nation were even recommending it as an ideal bigger Australian family – a link across generations. food supplement for both babies and nursing Not that its enjoyment is restricted to family use mothers. Australians of all ages continue to love only; in the Second World War Vegemite was in Vegemite today. Its unique flavour could almost be the trenches alongside the Diggers. called the taste of Australia. Vegemite is produced in Australia at Kraft Just before the outbreak of the Second World Foods’ Port Melbourne manufacturing facility. This War, Vegemite gained official endorsement from the has the capacity to produce 235 jars of Vegemite a British Medical Association. It was then advertised minute, and more than 22 million jars are sold in in the Australian Medical Journal, and doctors were Australia every year. increasingly recommending it as a nutritionally balanced food. During ACHIEVEMENTS Vegemite is one of the world’s the War, supplies of Vegemite to Mention Vegemite to any Australian and you are richest known sources of B complex civilians were rationed as the Armed likely to find instant recognition. There are bald vitamins, especially thiamine, Forces bought it by the seven facts about Vegemite, such as the fact that 70 riboflavin, niacin and folic acid. pound (3.2kg) container. percent of it is consumed at breakfast, and most is During the post-war “baby eaten on toast. But facts alone cannot convey the HISTORYHISTORYHISTORY boom”, wartime goodwill translated full flavour of this unassuming black paste. At the beginning of the 1920s, the into a boom in Vegemite sales. In Fred Walker Company had a 1950, Vegemite came under the Kraft successful business making, selling Foods Limited umbrella, and the and exporting food products. Its company has consistently owner Fred Walker decided that it was reinforced the food value and time to tackle the concentrated yeast “Australian-ness” of Vegemite. spread market, and in 1923 he hired Dr Soon after that, the song which Cyril P. Callister to develop an Australian was to secure Vegemite’s place in the yeast spread. Australian heart forever was introduced. This was In a laboratory at the Albert Park factory Dr the “Happy Little Vegemites” song. Callister, who incidentally became Australia’s leading food technologist in the 1920s and ’30s, THE PRODUCT experimented with brewers’ yeast from the Carlton The original Vegemite concentrated yeast extract & United brewery. By July 1923 he had developed recipe devised by Dr Cyril Callister in 1923 remains the spread that Walker wanted. The product was virtually unchanged. Vegemite is rich in protein and ready but the name wasn’t. minerals and a rich source of Vitamin B. B complex Fred Walker turned to the Australian public and vitamins in Vegemite are essential to the body’s launched a nationwide competition to find a name use of carbohydrates. for his new food. The prize pool held a very tempting fifty pounds, and the name selected was Vegemite. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS An English yeast spread dominated the Vegemite has become so identified with Australia Australian market at the time, and shoppers were that there has been a tongue-in-cheek proposal of reluctant to add Vegemite to their baskets. Sales its label as the new national flag. languished. The product was actually renamed only Vegemite has seen innovation with the launch four years after its introduction, and relaunched as of a Vegemite ‘Snackabouts’ variant in 1999 which 104 104-105_vegemite.p65 104 10/21/2007, 6:25 AM .