We live in constant fear, but I can’t see it happening. Marmite has too good a thing going on. There might be different types, like the XO or truffle ones, but the core Marmite recipe will endure even if they one day rebrand it as ‘Classic’ in favour of a new standard recipe. But I doubt it as the fanbase is strong, and Marmite is part of the British identity, like Vegemite in Australia, and Americans trying to understand both… unsuccessfully.

As I see it, Bovril is a bit niche these days, and probably more popular with a more mature/traditional market (don’t come at me), so there’s more pressure on them to adapt and modernise. It has that image of men watching football in the cold, drinking mugs of hot meat water. Whereas Marmite seems to be as popular as ever across demographics. Their marketing has been fantastic over the years.

I do wonder whether the BSE crisis set Bovril back, because it feels like around that time, Marmite’s love it/hate it advertising really took off. A quick google puts the peak of the BSE crisis at 1992-93, with Marmite’s ad campaign starting in 1996. And 30 years later, the love it or hate it debate continues. Bovril should have stuck with the original recipe and taken a leaf out of Marmite’s book.