ABSTRACT
Fred Walker & Company Pty., Ltd., a food marketer in Melbourne, Australia, was looking for a new product to launch. Cyril Percy Callister, the chief chemist at Fred Walker, supplied it when he created a vitamin B-rich spread made from brewer’s yeast, a product similar to the English product Marmite. In what was to be the first of many innovative promotions, the company ran a contest to name the spread. The winning entry was “Vegemite,” and the product was launched in Australia in
. Despite a high level of public awareness of the product, initial
sales were slow. The lack of customers was attributed primarily to the spread’s intensely strong taste. Because most people were accustomed to the relatively weak flavors of mayonnaise and a ketchup-like substance called brown sauce, many likened the taste of Vegemite to that of “rusty salt” or “highly concentrated soy paste” before learning to spread it thinly on bread. A little Vegemite-or “A mere smear”—they found, went a long way. In
Fred Walker joined with James L. Kraft of Chicago, Illinois, to form the Kraft Walker Cheese Company, which began manufacturing processed cheese in Australia. In
Walker, still controlling the Vegemite brand, changed the product’s name to Parwill, parodying the popular Marmite slogan (“My Mate-Marmite”) with the slogan, “If Ma might, then Pa will!” The new name failed to increase sales, and it was soon changed back to Vegemite. The Walker-Kraft partnership continued until
, when Kraft acquired controlling interest in the company after Walker’s death.
