Iconic Aussie brand Vegemite a world hit

Sydney | July 22, 2008

According to a article by Stephen Fenech, (The Daily Telegraph, Sydney), a global survey of the world's most popular products confirms 'Vegemite' among the most loved brands, alongside giants Coca Cola and Nike.
 
The article continues:
 
'We love our Vegemite, we all adore our Vegemite' the famous jingle says and that sentiment has been proved overwhelmingly after research revealed the uniquely Aussie product is the most loved brands on the internet.
 
Research conducted by IBM showed that Vegemite outranked other giants like Coca Cola, Nike, Toyota, Sony and Starbucks when it came to people searching and commenting on their favourite product online.
 
The study, which examined more than 1.5b posts in 38 different languages, showed 479,206 mentions of Vegemite - more than any other brand globally.
 
Simon Talbot, head of corporate affairs for Vegemite maker Kraft Australia says the findings took the company by surprise.
 
"At 2am one Saturday morning I got phoned up by the head of IBM research to say you won't believe what we found,'' he said.
 
"Pound for pound the affinity Australians have for Vegemite is unparalleled to any other brand they've come across.''
 
The research also revealed that 98 per cent of people who eat Vegemite are Australian.
 
"Based on Vegemite's global passion you can plot where Australians are around the world so epicentres are in London, Singapore and Hong Kong, Vancouver, New York and LA,'' Talbot said.
 
Another by-product of the study was hearing the many different ways people like to enjoy their Vegemite which sparked the company's latest marketing campaign.
 
"There were 110,000 who have it with avocado and others having it with tomato,'' Talbot said.
 
Talbot puts Vegemite's popularity down to it's link with being Australian.
 
"We have a product that nobody else gets and that's very Australian,'' he said.
 
"It's gone through the whole Australian history. We have stories of war veterans surviving on Vegemite.
 
"It's also a bit of fun to give it to a friend from overseas and see their reaction.''
 
Today Vegemite is more popular than ever with production expected to hit 23 million jars annually in 2009 - that's 300,000 jars a day.
 
Source: The Daily Telegraph, Sydney