M&M’s
By: Laura Lutz, Brian Bugay, Yusuke Matsui, Byeoli Yun
Table of Contents
 History and Development
 Competitive Matrix
 Marketing Strategy
 Consumer Analysis
 S.W.O.T. Analysis
 Objectives
 Segmentation of Target
 Marketing Mix
Market
 Target Market
Demographics
 Target Market
 Touch Point
 Budget Breakdown
 Evaluation
Psychographics
 Competitive Analysis
1
Introduction
 Today, when people try to
make purchase decisions, they
have a hard time to do that
because there is a variety of
choice. Because consumers’
interest and desire to choose
products are varied, we plan t
o learn what strategy can reac
h
target consumers.
 Our client is M&M Chocola
teEven though M&M chocolat
e
is well known, there are lots of
competitors in this product
strategy. By designing an IMC
plan for M&M, we will make
more consumers buy M&M
chocolates.
 This IMC project will consist of three parts. First, we will
provide a company or marketing analysis. Second, we will
decide exact target market and analyze them that we can
persuade them to buy more M&M chocolate. Finally, by
using different touch points, we plan to advertise M&M
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chocolate in a creative way.
History and Development
 In 1940’s, Mars and his friend, Bruce Murrie, started to create
chocolate product in the United States. Mars has tripped to Spain
and he ate chocolate there. Mars then began to try chocolate
manufacturing since that time. In 1941, M&M chocolate has
started to sell in the United States and it spread out quickly. At that
time, M&M’s shape was kind of cylindrical and people could easily
bring it anywhere. Late 40’s, it has become pretty famous. People
love its unique characters. In 50’s, M&M’s used TV commercial,
which caused the brand to become more famous in the United
States. In 1954, M&M’s peanuts emerged and it also has become
a famous product in M&M’s chocolate.
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History and Development
 In 1960, M&M’s peanuts added three colors which are
red, green and yellow. In 1972, the characters of the
brand have emerged in its packaging and those
characters showed on TV commercials too. It helped to
build a strong brand image to people. In 1982, M&M’s
chocolate went to space, surprisingly. It became one of
the space foods at that time. In late 80’s marketing in
Europe became huge. In 90’s, M&M’s got two new
products; peanut butter and almond.
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History and Development
 After a half century since M&M’s emerged, people
voted for adding one extra color to M&M’s in 1995. And
the result was chosen “Blue”. In 1996, M&M’s won a
prize, which is the good design of the advertising in
USA TODAY. In 1997, it was the first time to add a
M&M woman character. In 2001 and 2002, M&M’s had
success in a web cite vote, which is “Global Color
Vote”. The trial was taken over two hundred countries
and resulted with purple being added to the M&M’s.
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Marketing Strategy
Target Market
M&M's is a brand of chocolate pieces that originated the United States in 1941, and are now sold in
over 100 countries. This wonderful candy is produced by Mars, Incorporated. M&M's comes in red, blue, brown,
green, orange, and yellow. Fillings include: milk chocolate, dark chocolate, crisped rice, mint chocolate, peanuts,
almonds, orange chocolate, coconut, pretzel, wild cherry, and peanut butter. With the wide variety of flavors the
marketing strategy can be almost endless. Being around for 70 years this candy has been known all around.
M&M's would like to appeal to a mass market; it is hard due to the "sweet tooth" sensation fading away as your
age increases. Generally, M&M's targets the young children because their love and obsession for candy. Kids love
colors and that’s exactly what M&M's has to offer. It would be nice to target an adult market, so M&M's has come
up with great marketing campaigns in doing so. Adding different kinds of M&M's might target the adult markets
taste buds. Those flavors possibly being: Coconut, almonds, peanuts, etc.
"There are two kinds of markets for the M&M’s brand; those who consume the candy on a regular basis and those
who consume the candy on special occasions. People who consume the candy on a regular basis are typically
children and families. People who consume the candy on special occasions such as Halloween, Easter and
Christmas are more apt to buy M&M’s brand candy in the larger packages that come in special holiday colors.
(classes.bus.oregonstate.edu/fall-05/ba590/MM's.doc)." This would be nice to even out the target audience to buy
M&M's more than just on an occasion.
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Marketing Strategy Cont.
M&M's made an appearance in NASCAR. In 1998, Elliot Sadler, was
decided to become the race car driver for the number 38 M&M's car. "Research has
shown that fans of NASCAR are three times more likely to purchase products form
companies that sponsor the sport (classes.bus.oregonstate.edu/fall05/ba590/MM's.doc.)". That being said, this will target an audience of kids and adults.
Exactly what M&M's is looking to do.
Customizing M&M's is a marketing campaign that has been going very
good for Mars, Incorporated. You can customize your M&M's from your own ideas to a
sports team logo such as NFL teams, NHL teams, MLB teams, and NBA teams. The
ideas are endless. Within the first 4 hours of inventing the idea of customizable
M&M's, revenue peaked. There were 300 orders per day in the first year. Each order
size was averaged to about 10 pounds of M&M's candies.
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Marketing Mix
Product:
Marketing Strategy
Cont.
M&M's comes in a vast variety of colors and flavors. M&M's can even be customized. This product is vastly growing into many different
ideas. Clothes and products can be bought that promote the M&M's candy. With different seasons there are different colors that represent those
seasons. Christmas has red and green, Halloween has orange and black, and Easter has pastel colors. This product has great ideas for
marketing through out different seasons.
Price:
Pricing for M&M's is affordable and nearest to other candy prices. There are small bags of M&M's that cost .99 cents and large bags that
range form about $2-3. Customized M&M's is a little bit more expensive. The price for an 8 ounce bag of customized M&M's is $9.49, but the
minimum amount of bags is 4. Now, free shipping is offered if ordering customized M&M's which is a great deal.
Place:
Where can you find M&M's? Well, being such a popular candy, M&M's can be found at local retail stores such as Wal Mart, Target, gas
stations, and other small convenience stores. Finding M&M's near you is very simple. Of course you can buy them on the website, and you can
also vote for new colors and ideas for marketing ideas.
Promotion:
M&M's promotion is outstanding. There are funny commercials, ads in magazines, and the M&M's car in NASCAR. TM&M's is well
promoted making the awareness for this candy to be known by many. On the
website there are many games, voting's, and activities you can join in on. The
website is very colorful making viewers want to come back and even tell there
friends about it.
S.W.O.T. Analysis
Strengths
Weaknesses
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Strong, recognizable brand name.
Good reputation among consumers.
Strong advertising possibilities.
Long lasting roots, originated in 1941.
Consumers disliking chocolate.
High calorie.
High fat.
It is hard to come up with original
ideas in the candy market.
Opportunities
Threats
• Addition of new flavors.
• Worldwide market creates more
advertising possibilities.
• Unfulfilled consumer needs.
• Advancements in technology.
• Holiday advertising and promotions.
• Possible shifts in consumer tastes.
• Possible increase in trade barriers due
to economic conditions.
• Trade regulations.
• Competition between other candy
companies.
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S.W.O.T Analysis
Strengths: M&M’s are a popular candy worldwide which has given them a strong and
recognizable brand name. Their long lasting roots, originating in 1941, has helped them to
maintain a good reputation among consumers. All of these factors contribute to a number of
strong advertising possibilities.
Weaknesses: M&M’s will not be able to appeal to the interests of those people who do not
like chocolate. Also, many people will choose not to eat M&M’s due to health reasons.
M&M’s contain both a high number of calories and fat content. Another weakness is that in
the candy market it is hard to come up with new advertising ideas that have not been used
before.
Opportunities: The possibilities of adding new flavors are never ending. Also, M&M’s have
a worldwide market which makes it easier to advertise new products. Consumers’ needs are
always unfulfilled as they will usually come back for more. Advancements in technology
create new advertising possibilities and there are always new opportunities for promotions
during the holiday season.
Threats: Consumer tastes are always changing, so it is possible that consumers might
begin to dislike the taste of our product. Because M&M’s possess a worldwide trade market,
the threat of possible trade barriers is always present and would affect the success of M&M’s
greatly. Probably the most prominent threat now, however, is the threat of competition
among other candy companies.
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Segmentation of Target Markets
The primary target audience for M&M chocolate will consist of both males and females
age 18 to 24 in Denver, CO. According to the MRI report, young adults aged 18 to 24 like
to eat M&M chocolates more than other groups.
When it comes to brand image of M&M’s chocolate, the colorful chocolates are the first
idea coming into consumers’ minds. The brand image of M&M’s is young, creative, and
active. This kind of brand image can be used to appeal to both female and male
consumers.
In case of male target consumers, they are very active and always looking for something
new and funny. M&M’s chocolates can satisfy their desires because small bag of M&M’s
chocolates can be brought in pockets or in small backpacks. Moreover, they can eat
M&M’s chocolate while they are working out or hanging out with their friends. On the other
hand, in case of female target consumers, they always think about what they carry with
their stuff. Colorful and cute characters in M&M bags can be the solution to appeal to
female consumers.
In addition, our project will be executed in the Denver area. The Denver area has many
resorts for winter activities. Also, many families and young generations will visit Denver. It
is a great opportunity to promote our product and increase our market share.
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Target Market Demographics
 The demographics for M&M’s
primary target audience are:
The demographics for M&M’s
secondary target audience are:
-Males and Females
-Males and Females
- 18-24 age people
- 25-34 age people
-Caucasian race
-Caucasian race
-In school, Middle class
-Household annual income $20,000+
-Single, married, divorced,
separated, widowed
-Working class
-Graduated school, and worker
-Any education level
-Live in or are frequent visitors to
the Denver Area.
-Live in or are frequent visitors to the
Denver Area.
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Target Market Psychographics
 The psychographics for the M&M’s campaign consist of:




People who are interested and participate in trends
People who are young or who have a young state-of-mind
People with a sense of adventure
People who like to try new things
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Competitive Analysis
M&M’s’ competitors include well-known candy bars such as Oh Henry!, Baby Ruth, 3 Musketeer,
Butterfinger, Kit Kat, Reese’s, and Junior Mints. M&M’s are a product of the company Mars, Incorporated which
competes against other top chocolate manufacturing companies. M&M’s’ biggest competition is Hershey.
The chocolate industry is extremely competitive. Mars and Hershey are bitter rivals and would love
the opportunity to gain more market share. There have been many attempts at legal actions but both companies
generally agree to either settle their differences out of court or simply ignore the issue entirely. Candy companies
and their products are perceived as the embodiment of fun and happiness so they do not want to do anything that
would tarnish this reputation.
In 1954, Hershey-ettes were introduced to compete with M&M’s. However, they have not been very
successful and are generally only available for consumers around the Christmas season. In an effort to compete
with M&M’s, Hershey has extended their Hershey Kisses brand. On November 17, 2005 Hersheys launched a new
sales campaign introducing a new product called Hershey’s Kissables. The fact that Hershey was directly targeting
M&M’s is very evident in the packaging and look of the candy.
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Competitive Analysis
In 2003, a new competitor to M&M’s emerged. Jelly Belly already had small candies similar in size to M&M’s, but did
not have any products in the chocolate side of the confectioning market. The Jelly Belly candy, called JBz, were
introduced to take a much closer aim at the M&M’s market. They even began to shape the candy similarly to M&M’s.
JBz’s pair a chocolate center with many different flavors. JBz candies come in many of the same colors as M&M’s
and even include a white JBz decal similar to the M&M’s white stamp.
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Competitive Analysis
Mars, Incorporated also competes against the mega chocolate manufacturers such as: Barry
Callebaut, Ferrara Pan Candy Company, and Ferrero. However, these companies do not pose a direct threat to
M&M’s as they do not produce anything similar.
As companies release products that are similar to M&M’s, it will become increasingly difficult for Mars
to continue to command the same level of market share in the chocolate candy industry. Without creating new
advertising and marketing ideas such as ours, the product has the potential to get lost in the supermarket aisle.
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Survey questions
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Survey questions
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 Competitive Matrix
Brand
m&m's
Reese's Pieces
Melts in your mouth, not in your hand.You'll love em' to pieces.
Hershey's Drops
Smarites
A lot of Hershey's happiness in A little drop.
Only Smarites have the answer.
Slogan
Design
Brown bag or box with two m&m
characters on it with m&m logo.
Zip lock, Hershey's decorated bag
Orange bag with Reese's Pieces logo
with choice of chocalet or cookies n' Clear plastic bag for sweets. Blue
and bite size candies featured on the
cream making the bag white or
colorful box for chocalet bites.
front.
brown.
Butterfingers
Nobody's gonna lay a finger on my
Butterfinger.
Sleek yellow wrapper with blue
lettering saying "Nestle Butterfinger".
Kids to adults. Sex: Male and Female. Kids to adults. Sex: Male and Female. Kids to adults. Sex: Male and Female. Kids to adults. Sex: Male and Female. Kids to adults. Sex: Male and Female.
Target Audience
$.99-3.4oz. bag
$.98-4 oz. bag
$2.78-8 oz. bag
$7-72ct. Box
$.98 each
Launched in 1941
Launched in 1978
Launched in 2010
Launched in 1937
Launched in 1923
White is orange/cream, yellow is
pineapple, pink is cherry, green is
strawberry, purple is grape, and
orange is orange.
Butterfingers candy bar, Snackerz,
and Butterfingers Crisp
Price
History
Products
m&m's: Plain chocalet, dark chocalet,
mini's, mint, peanut, peanut butter Reese's Pieces with peanut butter in Milk chocalet, cookies n' cream, and
almond, coconut, pretzel, custom
the middle.
peppermint pattie.
m&m's
Consumer Analysis
To know more information about consumers, we conducted a survey. The purpose of this
s
urvey is to know public thoughts about M&M’S chocolate. After getting the results and
knowing about this, we will target consumers specifically. The survey results will help us to sell
more products. The survey was conducted online. We recruited our respondents by social netw
ork services like Facebook, twitter and e-mail. 50 people participated in this survey; 24 are
female and 26 are male. Most of them are UNK students, and it is good to know about our
target audiences because they are aged 19 to 25.

Tendency of target audience:
Based on our survey, we can know consumption preference of out target audience.
Most of them answered they like to eat chocolate once a week or day. It means that our target
audiences normally like to eat chocolate. Therefore, we should think about how to influence
people purchase M&M’s chocolate among the other brands or selections.
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Consumer Analysis
 Effect of commercial
Unfortunately, even though many respondents answered that they
watched commercials about M&M’s, many of them like to eat other
chocolate not M&M’s. As a result, we find some weaknesses of our brand. According
to the survey questions, 90% of respondents answered that they watched TV
commercials. However, many of them also answered they like to eat chocolate from
other brands. It seems that consumers were not affected by our commercials.
Therefore, we think promotion events like giving them free samples will be a more
effective way to promote M&M’s.
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Consumer Analysis

Weakness and strength of M&M’s chocolate
Among several other choices, many of people answered they like to eat Twix especially. The
difference between Twix and M&Ms is that people can taste more pure chocolate from Twix.
Furthermore, Twix contains other ingredient too. At the same time, people answered that they
like to eat M&M’s chocolate only, not with other food. Therefore, we find out that people like t
o eat M&M’s because they can find pure chocolate tasty. This fact not only can be the
strength for M&M’s, but also can be a weakness at the same time. As a weakness, M&M’s lose
chances to promote their selling with other snacks.
On the other hand, another strength of M&M’s is its price. Some respondents answered that
they like to buy M&M’s because it is cheap. Moreover, people think that 50 cents to 2.50
dollars will be reasonable price for a bag of M&M’s.
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Objectives
Objective Introduction:
Our main goal is to promote M&M’s chocolate and brand in Denver during the 2012 fiscal
year. We are going to promote it with some different opportunities. However, M&M’s
chocolate is already famous so we will try to make people enjoy our campaign even more.
We have some plans to take our campaigns to different attractions in the Denver area.
Marketing Objectives:
The following objectives are the goals of the campaign.
-We aim to increase market share by 5% in Denver Area.
-We aim to gain an attention increase of 10% among our primary and secondary target
audiences.
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Objectives
Communication Objectives:
Our communication objectives are to increase consumers of M&M’s brand
awareness. For example, one of our touch points will distribute pocket tissues
in the Denver Stadium. It can communicate with passers-by, even if they don’t
have any interests in M&M’s, they direct some of their attention to the pocket
tissues with some good design ad.
-We aim to target young people. Primary and secondary target
-We aim to use not-traditional media, which will effectively support good
brand image.
Objectives
Media Objectives:
We promote M&M’s product in the Denver area as effectively as possible
with a cheap budget. It is very important to use good and creative ideas.
We will focus on primary and secondary target audiences of course. We
think young people have somehow big power to influence the society or
become a big consumer. If they become a big fan of our product, they would
also promote our product to their friends, family or whoever they talk.
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Christmas Decorating M&M
Style
Competition increases during
the holidays so, in order to
maintain a standing above our
competitors, we need to
promote our product. Many
college students like to
decorate for the Christmas
season. Our idea is to
provide one of these M&M
ornaments with each
purchase of two bags of
M&Ms. This will give
consumers an incentive to
buy more M&Ms and will also
integrate the M&M brand
more prominently into the
lives of college students. This
idea may provide a lasting
impression in the minds of
M&M consumers.
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Eat, Play, and have
The younger, college-aged generation will be our target market. It is
important to think of ideas which would attract this group of consumers.
Younger people generally like to play games. The bean bag toss game
is a very popular game which would draw a lot of attention from college
students. Coincidentally, the shape of a bag of M&Ms greatly resembles
that of a bean bag. Our idea then would be to include a zipper pouch
with the M&Ms design on the front with each purchase of 3 packages of
M&Ms. Consumers can then place a bag of M&M’s in the zipper pouch
and use it as a bean bag. This bag will not only serve as fun but it will
also provide a snack during play. The zipper pouch is multifunctional
and is not limited to being used as a bean bag so consumers could use
it to carry pencils or anything else that they would need.
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Catch Our M&M Frisbee
If you love to play catch with a Frisbee, why not play with one decorated
looking like an M&M? This marketing campaign is cheap, fun, and a good way to
target the kids and grown ups audience. You would get a lot of people looking and
wondering where you got that cool looking Frisbee. Playing with this on the beach,
at a party, or even a family function will target audiences of all ages.
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M&M Bowling Ball
So many people love to go bowling! Kids,
teens, college students, and the elderly love to
bowl. Ages from a young child to a older
person love this sport; it is a good way to get
out and socialize. What is better than a ball
designed and painted exactly like an M&M?
This marketing idea will catch a lot of eyes in
the bowling alley. This ball can be targeted to
consumers of all ages. Most kids would see
this ball and immediately want to use it.
Cosmic bowling consists of a lot of black lights
glowing over all the lanes in a bowling alley.
Now, making this M&M ball fluorescent, would
make it stick out like a soar thumb, in a good
way.
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Twister With a Twist of M&M’s
Twister is a popular game for kids
and parents. A great marketing
campaign for this would be to turn
the colorful dots into M&M logos.
Twister, being the popular game
that it is, makes advertising for
M&M’s a great idea and a
success. Who wouldn't’t want to
play Twister on eye catching
M&M’s?
There is a another version of
Twister for the summertime. It
involves attaching a hose and
turning on the cold fresh water.
The water runs through the hose
into the Twister mat and out of a
hole in the middle of all the dots
on the mat. Lets have that water
squirt out of all the “m’s” on the
mat to make this marketing
campaign a great idea.
M&M Ski Poles
The area we are covering is
Denver. Ages of people that go
skiing and snowboarding in
Colorado ranges from children to
grown ups. Kids>Adults. Having
the ski discs shaped and looking
like an M&M makes a great
advertising idea for everyone who
rents skis and poles when they
go the mountain for a fun time.
The discs can easily be placed on
and taken off so it can be a great
cheap way of advertising for
M&M’s.
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M&M Billiard Ball

First target people, who are around
college student age, like to play pool.
After school or work, you can play
with funny M&M balls. In addition,
this is not only for our first target but
also its campaign will effect the older
generation because they like to play
this game too. So, this campaign will
be a good idea to promote the brand,
and become more famous.
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Pocket tissue
In Asian countries, it is a famous way
to promote the brand by distributing
pocket tissues to people who are in
the shopping mall or downtown. This
campaign is really effective when it is
the winter season. In addition, this
campaign will not cost very much. All
we have to do is design an ad to put
on tissue and then distribute them.
M&M Car Plate
Denver area has the Rocky Mountains
that people can do winter activities in.
Therefore, during winter time, many
people from other states will visit
Denver by flight and also by driving!
While driving through Denver areas
people can concentrate on other car
plates and if we offer M&M customized
car plates to people who visit Denver
they would like to use this because it is
cute and we can promote our brand.
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Budget Breakdown: Denver
Total Marketing Expenses
Summer
Fall
Winter
Spring
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Budget Breakdown
 Total Budget for M&M Campaign: $10,000.000

Summer: Our summer advertising touch points include: twister, billiard balls, and bean bag toss. We will plan
to budget 60% of our total on this season.

Fall: Our fall advertising touch points include: bowling balls and the car plates. We will plan to budget 25% of
our total on this season.

Winter: Our winter advertising touch points include: ski poles, pocket tissues, and Christmas decorations. We
will plan to budget 7.5% of our total on this season.

Spring: Our spring advertising touch points include the frisbees. We will also plan to budget 7.5% of our total
on this season.
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