Mars Inc makes some of the most popular candies in the world, including Snickers, M&Ms, Milky Way, and Twix. The company also makes Pedigree, Uncle Ben’s rice, and other food brands.
Mars, a 106-year-old company with $35 billion in annual sales, has historically tried to stay out of the public eye.
But during the last few years, the Mars family and company executives have started to speak out.
One reason they’ve started to be more outspoken is that consumers want more transparency from the companies that make their products.
But during the last few years, the Mars family and company executives have started to speak out. They’ve started to make this shift, at least in part, because consumers are starting to care more about where products come from than they had in the past.
“For most of our history, in fact … for 99% of our history, we’ve chosen not to be in the public eye and we’ve really wanted our brands to engage consumers. And yet times have changed,” Mars chairman Stephen Badger said.
“Consumers do want to know more about not only the brands that they’re buying, but the company that is behind them,” Badger, who is also the great-grandson of the company’s founder, Franklin Mars, said.
Badger is right. A recent study by Label Insight, which surveyed 2,000 consumers, found that 94% of respondents would be more loyal to a brand if it offered complete transparency.
But it’s not just a shift in consumer behavior that convinced the company to be more public. Mars is also speaking out because it wants to attract talent, and workers increasingly want to work for companies that have a strong mission.
“There are a range of issues that are very serious facing the world and that are a direct threat to our business if not addressed, as well as a threat to the planet overall. So whether that is issues like climate change or labor issues in our supply chain or diversity and inclusion or health and well-being, these are really key issues that are significant challenges as well as opportunities to our business,” Badger said.