Homesick Kiwis compete to get home for Christmas

Media Release
27 October 2010

1000 homesick Kiwis compete to get home for Christmas

A Kiwi Christmas – beaches, baches and BBQs – is enough to make any homesick expat long for home. And many are trying to return to New Zealand this yuletide season as evidenced by the number of entries received in Marmite’s Bringing Home the Kiwis competition. The competition closes on Sunday October 31 and has already attracted nearly 1000 entries from New Zealanders all over the world.

To celebrate 100 years in New Zealand, Marmite put the call out to Kiwis who want to be reunited with their loved ones this Christmas, inviting them to enter at www.marmite.co.nz and tell Marmite judges why they, or their loved one, deserve to win one of 100 one-way flights home from around the world this December.

Head judge and Marmite brand manager Hayley Findlay says the job of selecting 100 winners will be incredibly difficult.

“Choosing 100 expats from nearly 1000 fantastic entries is not going to be easy,” she says. “The standard of entries is extremely high and there are loads of people who deserve to spend a Kiwi Christmas at home with their families and friends this year. We’ll be selecting those with the most compelling stories and those who have put the most effort into their entry.”

The competition site allows entrants to upload stories, images and video footage to support their cause, while each entry can be edited and updated right through to the close of the promotion on October 31 – all in a bid to ensure Marmite judges can make the most informed selections on the day.

“The effort being put into entries is overwhelming. Some people have posted to their page more than 100 times! Most entries are coming from the UK and Australia, but we’ve also had entries from Kiwis scattered all over the world - from as far as Iceland, Mongolia, Chile, Uganda, Hungary, and Bahrain to islands closer to home like Vanuatu, Tonga and New Caledonia,” says Findlay.

Marmite will announce 100 winners before November 14 – one winner for every year Marmite has been in New Zealand. The winners will arrive at Auckland International Airport on December 8.

Marmite’s centenary marks 100 years since Marmite was registered and sold here in New Zealand. For almost 35 years, Sanitarium imported Marmite from Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England until a New Zealand version was formulated in the mid 1940s, making Marmite the brand Kiwis have truly made their own.

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