Mars’ Matt Cassidy joins ‘Moments with Marketers… in Uber Rides’ to share how the snacking giant is leveraging digital platforms, cultural events and retail innovation to transform impulsivity into opportunity.
For a business like Mars with a multitude of household brands being top of mind is always important. But in today’s digital world being there at the right moment matters more than ever.
In the latest episode of ‘Moments with Marketers… in Uber Rides’, Matt Cassidy, Head of DComm and Retail Media at Mars, joins Uber Advertising’s Michael Levine to discuss how the confectionery giant is rethinking retail for a world driven by e-commerce and granular data.
Cassidy’s career has been defined by this shift, as he cites his move to the e-commerce team a decade ago as the most defining moment of his professional life. Back then, consumer packaged goods were considered outsiders in the then emerging space, but today they’re an ever-present, even in its biggest moments.
He says: “Black Friday, a few years ago, was an event that only the big, major purchase items could play in, whereas now it’s really important for CPG brands like ourselves to play in that moment.”
This is a significant change, and one that has had a massive impact on Mars and the sale of confectionery items – products which are impulse and not big-ticket buys.
That’s why for Cassidy, timing is everything. Whether that’s snacking at 11pm, grabbing gum on the way to work or filling a cart with Halloween treats, positioning Mars in front of the consumer in these opportune moments is essential.
Cassidy puts it simply: “What’s important for us is to be there when people are starting to think of us.”
No moment demonstrates that better than Halloween – Mars’ biggest seasonal play and a cultural moment it has helped bring to life across Australia.
On the growth of Halloween in Australia, Cassidy says: “We can see Australians really starting to adopt Halloween as a cultural moment, and we love being a part of it.”
When it comes to making the most of this cultural and retail moment, the company doesn’t just rely on aisle-end towers and packaging – it also invests in more creative platforms, like the national ‘Spookiest House’ competition it ran last year in partnership with the TODAY show.
Cassidy explains: “When we look at Halloween, it’s about how do we leverage all of our partners? How do we make sure we’re tapping into the different opportunities that arise as part of that? It’s about bringing that key cultural moment to life,” he adds.
But Cassidy’s team isn’t just showing up where it’s expected to – he is always on the lookout for ideas on how the brand can appear in new and interesting ways.
As an example, Mars is breaking into new cultural and sporting moments, like the Australian Open where Mars launched its first M&M’s World store in the Southern Hemisphere.
Cassidy reveals: “It wasn’t just about purchasing chocolate. We wanted our audience to interact with our fun brand, merchandise and the characters.”
This extended to targeting people traveling in an Uber to the Australian Open at Melbourne Park with highly contextual ads in the app, encouraging them to go and check out the special activation.
As Cassidy explains, Mars’ advantage lies in its agility – tapping into moments when consumers are ready to act and adding just enough magic to turn impulse into connection.
He says: “Being an impulse category, it’s hard to build that brand saliency. So we need to be there at the moment that people want us.”
You can watch the full series of ‘Moments with Marketers… in Uber Rides’ on B&T’s YouTube channel, with more episodes rolling out soon. The series is created by Uber Advertising and features conversations with marketing leaders from BMW, THE ICONIC, Telstra and Tourism Australia.
