What does be marmite, not butter mean for a brand?

It means accepting that a brand strong enough to attract committed followers will also repel some people, and that this is the price of being remembered. A brand designed to offend nobody tends to be chosen by nobody in particular.

Does a polarizing brand hurt enterprise credibility?

Only if the boldness is untethered from substance. The distinction is between a brand with a clear point of view and one being provocative for effect. Enterprise buyers respond to conviction supported by evidence.

Why does narrowing your target customer make selling easier?

Because it lets the message be specific. A prospect either recognizes their own situation described precisely, or rules themselves out quickly. Both outcomes are more useful than a broad message that nobody reacts to.

Is this episode still relevant now Yaya works only in cybersecurity?

The principle is. The specific proposition being critiqued dates from 2024, before the narrowing to cybersecurity, so treat the examples as historical and the argument about polarization as current.

Be marmite, not butter: Why divisive brands attract the biggest fans.

Phill Keaney-Bolland· Co-founder and Designer, YayaJuly 30, 20242 min read

With Adam Yaya-Durrant, Co-founder and Design Director, Yaya, Roland Gurney, Founder, Treacle

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Key takeaways

A brand everyone finds acceptable is a brand nobody chooses deliberately.
Understanding the target customer precisely is what makes a message specific.
Narrowing the niche makes both marketing and sales conversations easier.
Repositioning demands a clear, concise message before anything visual.
Being the visible face of the brand is a strategic decision, not vanity.

Critique in public
Marmite, not butter
Narrow the customer, sharpen the message
A note on this episode

Recorded in 2024, before Yaya narrowed to cybersecurity, and the argument has only got sharper since. Almost 70% of the security startups we later scored at RSA lead with the same colour, and a brand nobody objects to is a brand nobody remembers. If you are weighing how far to push an identity past what your category expects, this is the reasoning. It is the thinking behind how we approach cybersecurity branding today.

Critique in public#

This episode is Yaya on the receiving end. Roland Gurney of Treacle was brought in to critique the Cult Products proposition and its early website, live, with the founders in the room. It is an uncomfortable format and a deliberate one, on the principle that a brand agency that will not take the treatment it gives should not be giving it.

Marmite, not butter#

The phrase that came out of this conversation has stayed in use ever since. Butter is inoffensive and universally acceptable, and nobody has strong feelings about it. Marmite divides people, and the half that likes it is loyal in a way butter never inspires.

The commercial argument underneath the metaphor is the one that matters. A brand pitched to offend nobody gets remembered by nobody. In a crowded category, being forgettable and being commoditized are the same outcome. It is not about being better than everyone else, it is about being different by design.

Narrow the customer, sharpen the message#

Much of Roland’s critique is about specificity. Who exactly is this for, and what exactly changes for them. Narrowing the target makes the message concrete, and a concrete message makes the sales conversation shorter, because the buyer recognizes themselves in it or rules themselves out quickly.

A note on this episode#

This is a 2024 episode, recorded before Yaya narrowed to cybersecurity exclusively. The proposition under discussion is an earlier one and the specifics have since changed. The principle it produced has not.

Phill Keaney-Bolland

Co-founder and Designer, Yaya

Co-founder and designer at Yaya, and host of the Cult Products podcast. Fifteen years designing products, brands and UX across multiple industries before narrowing to cybersecurity, and lectures on design at Imperial. Works with cybersecurity founders on positioning, strategy and the website that has to carry a launch, across identity, cloud security, AI agents and software supply chain, including Twine out of stealth and Geordie AI, which won the RSA Innovation Sandbox in 2026.