NASCAR Cup Series

Mars Chocolate North America is sweet on social media: whether you prefer to "friend" someone or

Published Oct. 20, 2010 10:16 p.m. ET

share

facebookxredditlink

foxsports

PART I

SOME FOLKS LIKE TO BLOG. OTHERS TWEET OR TEXT. AT MARS Chocolate North America, they're taking marketing efforts to a whole new dimension with communication that includes these methods with surprising twists.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

According to Lauren Nodzak, Spokesperson for Mars Chocolate North America, "Our core consumers' behavior revolves around social and user-generated media. They enjoy becoming more involved with our brands,so we want to create opportunities within social channels. This enables our brands and consumers to communicate openly, which at the end of the day influences purchase decisions.

"Social media is a two-way medium, and the consumer is our best source of information and inspiration for products. Through this instantaneous relationship, we can monitor and respond to consumer feedbackand attitudes."

Voting Via 360-Degree Marketing

Red, Yellow, Orange, Blue, and Green. These aren't just colors of the rainbow; they symbolize M&M'S[R] Brand Chocolate Candies. Consumers were able to cast votes for their favorite M&M'S[R] Brand Characters in a colorful promotion.

The great debate ran between April and July, when a 360-degree marketing campaign hit the airwaves. The five popular M&M'S[R] Brand Characters launched their colorful competition via on-package graphics, in-store displays, television, radio, print ads, Tweets, FaceBook postings and more.

All M&M'S[R] Brand vote-themed packages contained messages from one of the characters urging consumers to vote at www.mms.com for theirfavorite "candidate."

The thousands of instant-win prizes included branded debit cards for $25, coupons for free product and other great prizes. Consumers who voted online were also eligible to win the $50,000 grand prize in asweepstakes drawing that occurred in July.

Pretty as a Picture

For the third year in a row, M&M'S[R] Brand Chocolate Candies celebrated the colorful passion of NASCAR[R] fans across the country withthe return of the M&M'S[R] The Most Colorful Fans[R] of NASCAR[R] Contest. Hosted by NASCAR.com, the official Website of NASCAR[R], the M&M'S[R] Brand contest celebrates, recognizes and rewards fans regardless of their favorite NASCAR[R] driver.

During the 16-week contest which ran from Memorial Day to Labor Day, fans were able to show their love of the sport by uploading their colorful racing themed photos to www.NASCAR.com/MostColorfulFan. Visitors to the site submitted photos and casted votes to help choose weekly winners and win instant prizes. The winner took home the title ofM&M'S[R] The Most Colorful Fan[R] of NASCAR[R] a VIP experience at the Ford 400 in Miami, Florida, a $10,000 cash prize, and were also featured in a M&M'S[R] Most Colorful Fans[R] of NASCAR[R] display at the new NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte.

An extensive social media campaign promoted M&M'S[R] The Most Colorful Fans[R] of NASCAR[R] Contest, including the use of two real life"fanvocates" using digital forums--Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Break.com and NASCAR.com (search "Most Colorful Fans")--to connect with race fans. Message boards, blogs and social networking communities reach online racing fans with additional promotion on nascar.com and yahoo.com

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Sweepstakes with a Nutty Twist

This fall, football fans will go nuts when they participate in theSNICKERS[R] Brand NFL[TM] "Go Nuts At The Super Bowl" Sweepstakes. This season-long promotion teams two iconic brands--SNICKERS[R] and the NFL[TM]--in a promotional partnership highlighting the league's most passionate fans. Every NFL team has them--those extreme fans, mild-mannered during the week but who go stark-raving nuts for their favorite teams on game day.

In honor of all NFL[TM] nuts across America, the SNICKERS[R] BrandNFL[TM] "Go Nuts At The Super Bowl" Sweepstakes will be promoted on packages of specially marked SNICKERS[R] King Size and SNICKERS[R] Minis. Consumers will have the chance to instantly win one of 17 grand prize trips to Super Bowl XLV in Dallas by entering codes online and via text-to-enter. SNICKERS[R] also will award thousands of other NFL-related sweepstakes prizes.

The campaign will be supported by a fully integrated marketing plan that includes media, digital, PR, in-store displays and creative materials, as well as on-site tactics. Plans also include drafting "nutty" NFL fans to serve as spokespeople for the campaign.

Texting for a Social Cause

In 2009, SNICKERS[R] Brand teamed up with Feeding America to "Bar Hunger"--a campaign to help the one in six Americans struggling with hunger. In continuing this highly successful campaign, SNICKERS[R] shows consumers that "It Tastes Good To Do Good." As part of "Bar Hunger," SNICKERS[R] will donate up to the equivalent of 3.5 million mealsto Feeding America. In addition, the brand is spreading the word about hunger by showcasing its commitment and encouraging its fan base to join the fight against hunger.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

SNICKERS[R] Brand added two new components this year to engage consumers in a more powerful way. "Text to Donate" enables the brand to link donations to a SNICKERS[R] Bar purchase. Every SNICKERS[R] Bar on shelves July through September 2010 will include a special code printed under the wrapper. Consumers will be able to text their codes, and for every code texted, SNICKERS[R] will donate one meal to FeedingAmerica, up to one million meals. Consumers also can make additionaldonations at SNICKER[R] Web site (www.snickers.com).

In support of the campaign, SNICKERS[R] Brand will implement a fully integrated communications campaign to educate consumers about hunger and to show the brand's commitment to the cause. This includes special packaging and educational verbiage, national advertising, use ofsocial media and special events. Social media is a key element, especially for younger Americans. In 2009, Facebook was the most successful driver of user response in the campaign.

Key Information Affects Customers

As Nodzak says, "Social media is a component of every Mars Chocolate brand communication plan, since it's a key source of information to affect consumers' purchase decisions. From Mars, expect to see various levels of social media engagement to further integrate our existing and new fans of the brand. This includes mobile technology; we're looking at how to use this growing technology to engage consumers. This represents a huge opportunity in addition to traditional websites.

"As a member of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA), we look to the learnings of the members for inspiration. Social media is an exciting field and a new world; to ensure success, we need to be open to taking risks and carving new paths. At the same time, it's an open world when working in social media, and companies need to respect and support opinions that may not always be positive on their respective social media pages--transparency and being genuine is extremely important. More information on social media ethics and policies can be found at womma.org, which Mars and many other companies supportin social media activity."

share

Get more from NASCAR Cup Series Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

in this topic

NASCAR Cup Series