‘High empathy tasks’: Mars’ CMO on AI, commercial models and being future fit
Niamh CarrollFrom negotiating a changing media landscape to the impact of AI, Mars Food and Nutrition’s CMO is ensuring the brand can meet the challenges of the future.
From negotiating a changing media landscape to the impact of AI, Mars Food and Nutrition’s CMO is ensuring the brand can meet the challenges of the future.
Having marketing and sales singing off the same hymn sheet is crucial to drive sustainable growth, says Mars Food and Nutrition CMO Matthew Graham.
Co-creating experiences with consumers might feel scary at first, but for Mars it has led to engagement with “no dead ends”, says CMO Gülen Bengi.
Twix owner Mars Wrigley responded to complaints by stating the ad is “absurd, fantastical and removed from reality”.
The acquisition of snacking company Kellanova is the biggest buyout in consumer packaged goods history, surpassing Mars’s 2008 Wrigley deal.
A year and a half on from bringing together its growth, digital transformation and platforms business, Mars Petcare’s Leonid Sudakov says it’s enabling the business to be at the “forefront of digitalisation”.
Tasked with managing the tensions between long and short-term growth, Mars Food & Nutrition marketing boss Matthew Graham explains how his team focused on “fewer, bigger, better” innovation.
Mars introduced a tool that uses “behavioural philosophy” to predict the impact of creative in driving sales in 2020, part of its eternally evolving effectiveness effort.
The confectioner’s play to win the chocolate war by axing Bounty helped Celebrations pull ahead of its key competitors over the Christmas season.
Private ownership means Mars can be ‘bold’ and think about the long-term health of its business without being distracted by short-term thinking, says senior brand director and business unit director, Kerry Cavanaugh.
The potential cull of Bounty from the Celebrations tub sparked frenzied debate from the pages of the New York Times to Good Morning Britain.
The loss-making chocolate brand has been bought by Mars for £534m, as its new owner looks to boost its premium appeal.
The confectionery giant has appointed its first chief customer officer to “develop and consolidate” its consumer strategy across Europe.
Half of characters depicted in Mars advertising are now women, a 51% increase on 2018 levels. Racial representation has also improved, with people of colour now making up almost two-thirds of those on-screen.
Mars Wrigley’s chief brand officer says its marketing is “building on the shoulders of giants”, but to keep up with evolving consumer demands it has been overhauling how it approaches media, data, team building and purpose.