Marketing Essays – Mars Bar Marketing
Mars Bar Marketing
The Marketing Strategy for the Mars Bar in the United Kingdom
In this report a strategic analysis will be made of a Mar’s Bar (as opposed to the Brand) I think you have this wrong – a Mars Bar is a mix of milk, chocolate, glucose, etc! – you mean, I think, a review of Mars Bar as a product, rather than a review of the Mars Company as a whole. Mars is both an item of confectionary and a leading global brand recognisable almost anywhere in the world. NO, Mars is a global confectionary brand and the Mars Bar is one of its flagship products! There will be a detailed examination of the integration between strategic aims and marketing actions. Mars strategy and relationship between its target market segments will be examined, along with its products and services offered to the different customer groups and promotional activities.
The links between the external environment, (PEST, Porter), business strategy and marketing will be evaluated.
A Mars’ bar is in essence chocolate-malt nougat topped with a layer of caramel and covered with milk chocolate. In the United States, it is known as the Milky Way bar. (There was a Mars bar in the United States, but it was discontinued in 2000. It was then re-launched under the new name the Snickers Almond bar.)
Mars Incorporated is a privately held family company — a structure that has allowed it to pursue long-term brand investment without the quarterly earnings pressure faced by publicly listed competitors. Mars Incorporated is a family owned company that produces some of the world’s leading confectionery; food and pet care products and has a growing beverage and health & nutrition businesses. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Mars Incorporated operates in more than 65 countries and employs more than 40,000 associates worldwide. The company’s global sales are approximately $21 billion annually.
Founded in 1911, the company manufactures and markets a variety of products under many of the world’s most recognizable trademarks, including MILKYWAY®, M&M’s®, SNICKERS®, MARS®, UNCLE BEN’S® Rice, and PEDIGREE® and WHISKAS® pet care products.
Frank Mars was born in Minnesota, USA in 1882. Due to mild polio his walking was impaired. His mother taught him to hand dip chocolate as a means to keep him entertained. Frank married in 1902 and in 1904, Forrest Mars Sr. was born, in Minnesota.
Frank Mars and his second wife started making and selling butter cream candies from their third home in Washington, in 1911. This led them to renting their first candy factory, the Mars Candy factory Inc, which employed 125 staff. In 1920, Frank moved to a larger site in Minnesota, which he called nougat house. The Mar-o-bar was introduced to the candy range in 1922. With a larger site for distribution of this candy the Mar-o-bar company was launched. After three years of researching, the Milky Way candy bar was introduced and was an instant success. Sales increased and more staff were hired. In 1929 Mars incorporated, now with 200 staff, relocates from Minneapolis to Chicago. The central location of Chicago offers a better railroad access to the rest of the country. The Snickers bar is launched in 1930. Forrest Mars Snr arrives in the UK, in Slough to start his own business in 1932. The Mars confectionary business diversifies with the acquisition of the dog food business in the UK.When?
Porter’s 5 Five Forces Analysis of Mars Bar
Power of Suppliers
Mars Bar in the Contemporary Confectionery Market: Health Trends and Brand Adaptation
Mars Incorporated has faced a sustained challenge common to premium confectionery brands: reconciling the indulgent, high-sugar positioning of flagship products such as the Mars Bar with growing consumer and regulatory pressure to reduce sugar and calorie content in packaged foods. In the United Kingdom, the government’s sugar reduction programme — which called on confectionery manufacturers to reduce the sugar content of products consumed primarily by children by 20% by 2020 — placed particular scrutiny on chocolate bars sold in standard single-serve formats. Mars responded by reducing the portion size of several of its flagship bars rather than reformulating the chocolate composition itself, a strategy that preserved taste profiles while technically reducing per-serve calorie counts. However, research on consumer perceptions of portion reduction in confectionery suggests that shoppers frequently perceive downsized products without price reductions as a form of “shrinkflation,” which can damage brand trust among price-aware consumer segments (Velasco et al., 2021). The Mars Bar’s broader marketing strategy has also increasingly incorporated digital channels; Mars’s UK social media campaigns for impulse purchase products leverage Instagram and YouTube placements timed to align with sports broadcast schedules, given that the brand’s long-running association with sporting energy — encapsulated in the former strapline “A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play” — retains strong recall among 25–45-year-old male consumers. Balancing heritage brand equity with modern health positioning will remain the central strategic tension for the Mars Bar in UK grocery retail for the foreseeable future.
References
- Velasco, C., Spence, C., & Petit, O. (2021). On the consumer psychology of portion sizes, display contexts, and perceived appropriateness. Food Quality and Preference, 94, 104367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2021.104367
- Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2022). Marketing management (16th ed.). Pearson Education.
- Mintel. (2023). Chocolate confectionery — UK market intelligence. Mintel Group Ltd. https://www.mintel.com/gb/market-research/chocolate-confectionery