M&M'S® Delights Viewers With 'Nutty' Super Bowl Ad

HACKETTSTOWN, N.J., Feb. 2, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Fans turned MetLife Stadium into a mass of orange, blue and green on Super Sunday, but the color that really stood out in Super Bowl XLVIII was … yellow. Today, Mars Chocolate North America unveiled another MVP-caliber Super Bowl commercial for M&M'S® Brand that shined a spotlight on M&M'S® Peanut – and confirmed its beloved character Yellow's reputation as "America's Favorite Nut."

The 45-second commercial, created by BBDO New York, aired during the first half of Super Bowl XLVIII on FOX – the third straight year the M&M'S Brand has appeared in the Super Bowl. The spot opens with ominous, cinematic shots of a car creeping toward a secluded mansion. A powerful, mysterious figure, played by the imposing actor Rade Šerbedžija, opens the car's trunk and speaks to an unseen figure inside, threatening in a foreign language to chop them up and sprinkle their remains … on an ice cream sundae. The humorous reveal shows the M&M'S Peanut spokescandy Yellow seated among grocery bags, blissfully unaware of just how irresistible he is.

"We chose to put M&M'S Peanut front and center because it's a special product worthy of the biggest stage," said Seth Klugherz, Senior Director, M&M'S Chocolate Candies. "Our Super Bowl commercial and campaign provided an outstanding platform to communicate our quality message that each M&M'S Peanut is literally 1 in 100 – meaning we have to sort through 100 different peanuts, just to find one that's lucky enough to make its way into a bag of M&M'S Peanut."

The Super Bowl XLVIII commercial is the latest exciting effort in the brand's "Year of Peanut" integrated marketing campaign, a yearlong effort to showcase the irresistibility of M&M'S Peanut.  The campaign has included several exciting activations, including:

• a fully integrated push behind the Super Bowl XLVIII spot that included a humorous trailer and social media campaign fueled by Yellow and his fellow M&M'S spokescandies
• an exciting real-time content platform during the Super Bowl that treated fans and consumers to fun, insightful "Color Commentary" anchored by breathtaking Vine videos which showed M&M'S Peanut lentils act out key moments in the broadcast
• a star-studded event on New Year's Eve in Atlanta – the unofficial peanut capital of the nation
• a humorous online video series called the "Search for the One," which starred actor and comedian David Koechner as an eccentric explorer searching for the "perfect peanut"

Yellow was first introduced along with M&M'S Peanut in 1954.  Since then, the irresistible chocolate-coated peanut has captured the hearts and "taste buds" of the nation, but he usually plays a supporting role to his best friend and fellow spokescandy Red.

On the heels of Super Bowl XLVIII, M&M'S plans to continue to roll-out the integrated marketing campaign focused on M&M'S Peanut, which includes multiple English and Spanish television, print and digital ads, in-store displays, consumer promotions, public relations and social media.

Fans can get another glimpse of the commercial at the brand's official Facebook page: www.facebook.com/mms. And they can get up close and personal with Yellow on Twitter via the handle @mmsyellow.

About Mars, Incorporated
In 1911, Frank C. Mars made the first Mars candies in his Tacoma, Washington kitchen and established Mars' first roots as a confectionery company.  In the 1920s, Forrest E. Mars, Sr. joined his father in business and together they launched the MILKY WAY® bar. In 1932, Forrest, Sr. moved to the United Kingdom with a dream of  building a business based on the objective of creating a "mutuality of benefits for all stakeholders" – this objective serves as the foundation of Mars, Incorporated today. Based in McLean, Virginia, Mars has net sales of more than $33 billion, six business segments including Petcare, Chocolate, Wrigley, Food, Drinks, Symbioscience, and more than 72,000 Associates worldwide that are putting its Principles into action to make a difference for people and the planet through its performance.

Mars brands include: Petcare – PEDIGREE®, ROYAL CANIN®, WHISKAS®, KITEKAT®, BANFIELD® Pet Hospital and NUTRO®; Chocolate – M&M'S®, SNICKERS®, DOVE®, GALAXY®, MARS®, MILKY WAY® and TWIX®; Wrigley – DOUBLEMINT®, EXTRA®, ORBIT® and 5™ chewing gums, SKITTLES® and STARBURST® candies, and ALTOIDS® AND LIFESAVERS® mints.  Food – UNCLE BEN'S®, DOLMIO®, EBLY®, MASTERFOODS®, SEEDS OF CHANGE® and ROYCO®; Drinks – ALTERRA COFFEE ROASTERS™, THE BRIGHT TEA COMPANY™, KLIX® and FLAVIA®; Symbioscience – COCOAVIA™ and WISDOM PANEL™.

For more information, please visit www.mars.com.  Follow us: facebook.com/mars, twitter.com/marsglobal, youtube.com/mars, linkedin.com/company/mars.  

SOURCE Mars Chocolate North America