The teams from Unilever Sri Lanka and Mindshare’s Team Unilever who were part of the Marmite ‘Spoiler-Mite’ campaign

Unilever Sri Lanka and Mindshare’s Team Unilever, a unit of GroupM Media Private Limited Sri Lanka, bagged the Gold Award in the ‘Best Use of Digital Media’ category at the Festival of Media Global Awards held in Rome for the Marmite ‘Spoiler-Mite’: The Game of Thrones Spoiler Blocker campaign. The award, Sri Lanka’s biggest global accolade to date in digital marketing, is a landmark achievement for marketing in the island.

The Festival of Media Global Awards is an established global benchmark for creativity and innovation in media and recognize the creative use of media and effectiveness as well as media owner innovations. Showcasing the very best in media thinking from around the world, it is open to all those involved in brand communications including agencies, media owners, brands, ad tech and communication specialists. A preeminent panel of judges comprising of senior industry leaders judged work by some of the world’s leading brands to pick winners across 26 categories at this year’s event.

Unilever and Mindshare’s Team Unilever deployed the ingenious Marmite ‘Spoiler-Mite’ campaign during the 7th season of the blockbuster TV series, Game of Thrones (GOT), to help fans in Sri Lanka stay away from spoilers that might ruin their GOT experience for them. 

The campaign involved a Marmite branded Google Chrome extension that allowed users to block all spoilers when they were online. A pop-up interface appeared every time the extension detected a spoiler, giving users the option to choose whether they wanted to see or block the piece of content. Using Love and Hate buttons inspired by Marmite’s Love it or Hate It marketing platform to further cement the connection with the brand. Allowing Marmite to be present wherever GOT was being discussed online, the clutter breaking campaign reached more than 2.5 million Sri Lankans with over 400,000 engagements.

“At Unilever, we place the consumer at the heart of everything we do, from product development to marketing communications and beyond. In line with this, the Spoiler-Mite campaign leveraged a global media phenomenon to engage consumers in a meaningful manner. It is an honor to see this work being recognized with a Gold at the Festival of Media Global Awards. It wouldn’t have been possible without the relentless efforts and commitment of the extended Marmite brand team and our longstanding digital partners, Mindshare’s Team Unilever. The award also helps showcase Sri Lanka’s ingenuity and digital prowess to the world,” said Sharmila Bandara, Marketing Director – Home Care, Foods & Beverages at Unilever Sri Lanka.

“As media platforms get ever more cluttered, it is becoming increasingly difficult for brands to rise above the noise and get their messages across to consumers. Working together with our digital partners, Mindshare’s Team Unilever, we were able to capitalize on the popularity of Game of Thrones for Marmite through an innovative digital proposition - Spoiler-Mite. We are delighted to see this campaign being recognized at the Festival of Media Global Awards. Bringing glory to the nation, it underscores Sri Lanka’s position as a strong player in the digital media landscape. We look forward to working on more such path breaking media innovations,” said Channa Tennakoon, Head of Media and Activations at Unilever Sri Lanka.

Shalendra Mendis, Head of Digital for Mindshare's Team Unilever said “Spoiler-Mite was one of those epiphanic ideas you get in the middle of the night and you instantly know it’s going to take the marketing world by storm. Spoiler-Mite’s ingenuity harnessed the power of Game of Thrones and converted it into absolutely clutter breaking, contextually relevant and precisely targeted messaging for Marmite. Mindshare's Team Unilever is the best in the business:  Spoiler-Mite and this FOMG Gold just proved that we are truly world class. Delighted with this win which gives us the impetus to keep driving impactful digital innovations.”

The ‘Spoiler-Mite’ campaign has received several other accolades over the past year including winner of the MindShare Global Campaign of the Month in November 2017 as well as emerging as the Runner Up in the Best Adaptive Solution of 2017 category and being shortlisted in the Campaign of the Year 2017 category at The Mindshare Original Thinking Awards.