PETFOOD PROMOTION - Mars Petcare Goes on Tour

Mars Petcare is introducing its latest line of restaurant-style dog food meals with a cross-country sampling campaign to be held at dog parks and beaches beginning this month.

• "Share the Love," as the tour is known, promotes the pet food maker's Cesar Canine Cuisine Bistro brand, which provides dogs with not "just a meal, but a dining experience." The entrees, which are sold in food, pet and mass merchandise stores, include varieties like Grilled Chicken Primavera, Tuscan Style Stew with Braised Beef and Oven Roasted Beef Burgundy Flavor. The company said each entree is meant to "evoke . . . the classic bistro" taste.
• Mars Petcare, a division of snack foods maker Mars Inc., which owns brands such as M&M's and Skittles, is sampling the line at more than 125 dog parks and beaches through October. The promotion is meant to tap into consumers' needs to vacation while staying close to home and affording small indulgences for their pets.
• "Cesar Canine Cuisine wants to help small dog parents who want to provide the very best for their little companions," said marketing director Anne Herrington in a statement. "With the 'Share the Love' program, we are happy to provide support with gourmet meals and a restaurant-inspired dining experience for small dogs, while also helping to enrich the relationship between pet owners and their small dogs," she added.
• The tour hits Atlanta, Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia and Phoenix, among other cities. A street team will provide complimentary samples, and staffers from Us Weekly magazine will assist with the treat giveaways on Aug. 27 in Chicago and New York.
• Mars is also offering coupons for free samples online at Cesar.com/bistro. The coupons are available for download each Saturday through Oct. 10.
• The promotion comes as penny-pinched consumers have cut back on discretionary household purchases, but have shown a willingness to spend for pets.

Cesar Canine Cuisine had $4.7 million in 2008 measured media expenditures, excluding online, per Nielsen. Through June of this year, Mars spent $100,000 advertising its pet care brand.

Source: Brandkeek, Eliane Wong

MARS' confidence for confectionery in the recession

By Sarah Hills, 30-Apr-2009 Confectioners are expected to benefit as shoppers change their behaviour in tough economic times and cut back on necessities for a little indulgence, according to consumer trends research from Mars Chocolate UK.

• Mars’ research indicates that the recession is changing people’s purchasing habits and they are going to the shops more often, which is creating more opportunities for impulse buying and affordable indulgence that confectionery taps into. They are also staying in more but without sacrificing a sense of occasion, which lends itself well to sharing formats such as pouch packaging.
• Mars has just published its latest market review and it said that last year the company saw a further increase in sales of its Bitesize products, as sharing confectionery was an “ideal way to enjoy a big night in”. Also the pouch format taps into a growing sharing sector as research shows that 70 per cent of chocolate consumption happens when with others.
• Meanwhile, Richard Peake, Mars UK Impulse Category Controller, said that people are indulging to survive the credit crunch. He added: “People are actually cutting back on what we call more basic and necessary items to allow them to continue to have more indulgences. “Years ago people used to save up to allow themselves to have indulgences. “Now there is instant gratification on indulges.” He said that for a category like confectionery, which is a low cost way to indulge, there was good reason why it was buoyant and resilient at the moment.
• Figures show that the confectionery market is worth more than the crisps, savoury snacks and fizzy drinks markets combined at £4.9bn, and grew 2.2 per cent in 2008.

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• The leading manufacturer in the confectionery market by share is Cadbury at 29.8 per cent, followed by Mars at 21 per cent.
• Sixty eight per cent of confectionery is bought on impulse, which is twice as much as soft drinks and three times as much as crisps.

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• Mars’ research indicates that consumers are no longer cash-rich and time-poor but cash-poor and time-rich. They are also shopping more locally and going to the shops more often to top-up.
• Peake said this could drive confectionery sales as there are more opportunities to create impulse moments, as confectionery is considered an “impulsive category”.
• Peake added: “Seven out of ten people who walk out of a store with a confectionery item didn’t know they were going to buy it when they walked in.”
• Consumers are also buying in to more promotions, shopping around to manage their spend and moving from premium to discount and value items.
• However, Peake added: “People aren’t necessarily looking to buy cheap, they are looking to buy value for money.”
• The research also showed that consumers were not prepared to sacrifice their basic ethics and beliefs.
• Peake said: “They are really looking for ways to manage their spend and looking for ways to cut back, but they won’t do that by compromising their core values (such as sustainable sourcing).
• “When people are finding it hard, they will often draw back to their core principles and buy into brands they know and trust.”