MediaCom & Mars Partner to Transform Global Marketing Strategy

NEW YORK, Feb. 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Mars, Incorporated has retained WPP's MediaCom as its global media agency across its Mars Wrigley, Mars Petcare and Mars Food segments. This new global partnership, which began in January 2022, will run until the end of 2025.

The reappointment follows a thorough media review throughout 2021, a critical element of Mars' new vision for marketing called "Building Brands for Mutual Value." This strategic platform includes transforming its approach to consumer engagement, data insight, digital marketing, and brand purpose in three ways:

• Driving an innovative media transformation plan across all Mars businesses, brands, and regions. It will focus on embracing the latest in data-driven planning, underpinned by WPP's Choreograph, which will bring its data enablement capability to help Mars evolve its content strategy and adapt to changing media habits.
• Supporting Mars as a champion of brand safety and expanding its investments in inclusive and sustainable marketing through GroupM's industry-leading Responsible Investment Framework.
• Extending the relationship to include GroupM sister agency, Essence, who will develop Mars' approach to auction-based media. Essence will enable Mars to reach and engage consumers, and will be responsible for Mars' fast-growing programmatic video, social and search investment, establishing specialist hub capabilities regionally in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Rankin Carroll, Chief Brand & Content Officer at Mars Wrigley and Executive Sponsor for Media, Mars Inc. said: "We set out a detailed vision and operating plan for our next wave of media transformation at Mars. We were impressed by WPP's commitment to evolving their own integrated team to deliver that vision, building on our trusted partnership with MediaCom but adding in fresh, digital-first thinking from other GroupM partners, including Essence."

Simon Sadie, WPP's Global Client Leader, Mars and Client President, MediaCom said: "After a decade of partnership, we are incredibly proud to extend our relationship with Mars, and excited to embark on the next stage of the journey together. The coming years will see accelerated changes in how Mars approaches media, reflecting changing media habits and the fast-evolving data-driven media opportunities. We are dedicated to seeing the bigger picture for Mars to deliver smarter and forward-thinking media solutions."

Ron Amram, Senior Director of Global Media for Mars, commented: "The extension of our WPP relationship brings a new level of partnership between Mars Inc. and WPP, building on enhanced mutually aligned commercial terms and greater operating transparency which will enable us together to drive improved media effectiveness and real business growth we have designed a modern partnership that addresses many of the challenges of the 21st century digital age".

Sasha Savic, MediaCom's U.S. CEO, said: "It is an honor to evolve and expand our partnership with Mars. Their new vision for marketing, "Building Brands for Mutual Value," compliments our philosophy and allows for an even stronger path to transformation - by being data-driven, collaborative, and purposeful."

About MediaCom
MediaCom unleashes brands' growth by helping them See the Bigger Picture. This means that we apply our unique 'Systems Thinking' philosophy and technology to all marketing levers: media, message, and data. As a result, we design communication strategies that deliver short term results and help brands build for the future.

As part of WPP, the world's largest marketing communications services group, and GroupM, WPP's consolidated media investment management arm, we have access to the richest data, most robust benchmarks, and most advanced capabilities in the market. This helps us provide comprehensive solutions to all marketing challenges. Our success is underpinned by our long-standing 'People First, Better Results' belief. We know that by investing in our people's whole-person wellbeing, careers and capabilities, we will help grow our clients' businesses.

In 2021 this approach led MediaCom to be crowned Global Media Network of the Year by Adweek, Eurobest, Festival of Media Global and M&M Global. 

MediaCom is one of the world's leading media communications specialists, with billings of US$17.6 billion (Source: COMvergence, 2020), employing 8,000 people in 125 offices across 100 countries. Its global client roster includes adidas, Bayer, Coca-Cola (TCCC), Dell, Hasbro, Mars, NBC Universal, P&G, Richemont, Shell, Sony, Uber and Walgreens Boots Alliance. Find out more at www.mediacom.com.

Alternatively, follow us @MediaComGlobal on Twitter or via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mediacom/

About GroupM
GroupM is the world's leading media investment company responsible for more than $50B in annual media investment through agencies Mindshare, MediaCom, Wavemaker, Essence, and m/SIX, as well as the outcomes-driven programmatic audience company, Xaxis. GroupM's portfolio includes Data & Technology (Choreograph), Investment, and Services, all united in the vision to shape the next era of media where advertising works better for people. By leveraging all the benefits of scale, the company innovates, differentiates, and generates sustained value for our clients wherever they do business.

Discover more about GroupM at www.groupm.com.
Follow @GroupMWorldwide on Twitter
Follow GroupM on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/groupm

About Choreograph
Choreograph™ is WPP's global data products and technology company fueling growth for the world's most admired brands. Built on the most advanced global data foundation, and powered by 850 technologists, product developers, and data scientists, it harmonizes data capabilities across GroupM and WPP into an end-to-end data orchestration system. With our commitment to "Data with Purpose. Fuel for Growth," Choreograph brings your customer data to life, empowering marketers to move with intention. Discover more about Choreograph at www.choreograph.com.

ABOUT MARS, INCORPORATED
For more than a century, Mars, Incorporated has been driven by the belief that the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today. This idea is at the center of who we have always been as a global, family-owned business. Today, Mars is transforming, innovating and evolving in ways that affirm our commitment to making a positive impact on the world around us.  

Across our diverse and expanding portfolio of confectionery, food, and pet care products and services, we employ 133,000 dedicated Associates who are all moving in the same direction: forward. With $40 billion in annual sales, we produce some of the world's best-loved brands including DOVE®, EXTRA®, M&M's®, MILKY WAY®, SNICKERS®, TWIX®, ORBIT®, PEDIGREE®, ROYAL CANIN®, SKITTLES®, BEN'S ORIGINAL™, WHISKAS®, COCOAVIA®, and 5™; and take care of half of the world's pets through our nutrition, health and services businesses, including AniCura, Banfield Pet Hospitals™, BluePearl®, Linnaeus, and VCA™. 

We know we can only be truly successful if our partners and the communities in which we operate prosper as well. The Mars Five Principles – Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency and Freedom – inspire our Associates to take action every day to help create a world tomorrow in which the planet, its people and pets can thrive.  For more information about Mars, please visit www.mars.com. Join us. on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.

SOURCE MediaCom