M&M's Shows Some Smarts

Hackettstown, N.J. — Ms. Brown, the latest spokescandy for Mars Chocolate North America's M&M's, rose to fame in 30 seconds when she appeared in a Feb. 5 Super Bowl commercial. But she had already revealed herself before the TV spot aired, and consumers haven't seen the last of her.As The New York Times reported in January, the TV spot was intended as "the centerpiece of an elaborate campaign" that included pre- and postgame elements. And the spot kicked off a plethora of activity to establish the bespectacled Ms. Brown as the brainiest of the M&M's characters. Every effort has been made to make sure she has staying power. "The Ms. Brown campaign started Jan. 17 with The New York Times feature story, but it's a year-long campaign, so you'll see new extensions of the campaign throughout 2012," says Lauren Nodzak, a spokeswoman for Mars Chocolate North America.The "tease and reveal" campaign, which early on showed Ms. Brown only as a tantalizing silhouette, "was strategically designed to surround our target audience with Ms. Brown, from both traditional and social media channels as well as in-store," says Nodzak.Pre-Super Bowl, highlights included:The launch of Ms. Brown's Twitter handle (@mmsbrown) and her debut on the M&M's Facebook page;The launch of the Ms. Brown channel of Pandora;Print ads in January publications including TV Guide and People as well as Facebook and mobile ads;Radio coverage on Clear Channel's "Elvis Duran and the Morning Show";The unveiling of the first images of Ms. Brown via a fan mosaic on Facebook and as two oversized statues at the Grove in Los Angeles and at M&M's World in New York. Actor Neal Patrick Harris emceed the L.A. event and promoted Ms. Brown on Twitter to his 2 million followers;Seeding a trailer of the Super Bowl spot to traditional and social media influencers the week of the game.Post-Super Bowl activities included:A satellite media tour featuring an animated version of Ms. Brown as well as a live video chat with fans on Facebook two days after the Super Bowl;Vanessa Williams, the voice of Ms. Brown, opening the new Museum of Chocolate Art in New York, which showcased Ms. Brown's life story using 20 milk chocolate sculptures;Ms. Brown appearing on the NBC program "Celebrity Apprentice";In-store media banners, shelf talkers and floor talkers in more than 14,000 grocery and drug stores;Radio coverage on the Tom Joyner Morning Show."We worked closely with our sales and retail teams to ensure that once Ms. Brown was revealed during the Super Bowl, stores across the country were 'painted brown.' We secured in-store media through News America and Valassis to hit over 14,000 grocery and drugstores," Nodzak says. "Our retail coverage teams secured placement of high-impact point-of-purchase materials – everything ranging from plastic Ms. Brown standees to danglers." Thomas J. Paul, Rydal, Pa., handled in-store materials.The marketing team "conducted extensive research to nail the personality for Ms. Brown, including coordinating a series of focus groups," Nodzak says. Mars positions Ms. Brown as an intelligent, sharp-witted female who finally decided to reveal herself after working for decades behind the scenes as "chief chocolate officer."Asked if the team addressed the possibility that brown might be perceived as the dullest or least popular of the colors (Van Halen's tour rider famously demanded a bowl of M&M's with all the brown ones removed), Nodzak replied, "We don't think brown is dull; in fact, M&M's milk chocolate candies have been sold in a brown bag for more than seven decades."Compared with her fellow mascots, Ms. Brown is the only one that might be perceived as belonging to a particular race. (The others are red, yellow, blue, green and orange). Asked if racial sensitivities helped guide the development of the character and marketing campaign, Nodzak states the obvious: "None of our characters have a specific ethnicity. They're either milk chocolate, peanut, almond or pretzel. Ms. Brown is milk chocolate."However, veteran marketing executive Kirsten Osolind, who has worked as a brand manager with global CPGs such as Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and General Mills, says M&M's has tended to "capitalize on brand myths and color/flavor perceptions that originated outside of their own marketing efforts."Remember the unveiling of the flirty Ms. Green during the 2008 Valentine's Day season? This campaign played off of urban folklore stating that green M&M's are an aphrodisiac. Surely, Mars can't have missed "rumblings of racial undertones and under-representation" with regard to brown M&M's, says Osolind, now chief executive officer of marketing and innovation consulting firm Re:Invention Inc., Chicago and Coronado, Calif.Indeed, says Nodzak, "One of the major catalysts for the introduction of Ms. Brown was the fan feedback we received during our 'Vote' promotion in 2010. That specific promotion asked fans to vote for their favorite M&M's spokescandy, and we saw substantial input from fans asking why they couldn't vote for brown." It's no accident, Osolind says, that Ms. Brown was cast as "a smart, no-nonsense traditionalist – the boss, the brains behind it all."Ms. Brown has a fairly modest Twitter following of just over 4,300. But her Super Bowl spot, created by BBDO, New York, was wildly popular, winning industry awards as well as the No. 1 spot in YouTube's Ad Blitz ranking and a Top Five finish in the USA Today/Facebook Ad Meter ranking."We're evaluating the success of the Ms. Brown campaign on a number of fronts, including sales, retail activations, overarching integrated marketing impressions, and social fan acquisition and engagement, as well as responses to the Super Bowl ad itself," Nodzak says. "As a private company, Mars does not disclose any of this data."

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