What’s Wrong With This Picture?: Internet Prank didn’t come from Mars.
The stunt is old-hat by now: An e-mail chain letter posing as “market research” promises money, software, or free products to those who pass it on (September promo). But when the offer was chocolate, promo had to investigate.
Fictitious M&M/Mars marketing analyst Jeffrey Newieb (a cheesy anagram for “newbie,” no doubt) offers mailers a free case of M&Ms for every 2,000 people who get the e-mail. Why? Because M&M wants to be the candy of the millennium.
Thing is, Mars already played its millennium card in a national sweepstakes last year, seeding one bag of red M&Ms marked with “mm” (Roman numeral for 2000) instead of its traditional “m.” A 25-year-old New Yorker won the sweeps’ $2 million prize when he got the winning bag as part of lunch he ordered out. (The deliveryman was supposed to bring peanut M&Ms. We doubt the winner complained.)
It’s doubtful that a marketing professional is behind the e-mail stunt, or even a real candy fan: The writer placed M&M/Mars headquarters in Hershey, PA. (For the record, Mars is based in Hackettstown, NJ.) Mars got a number of calls from consumers, most of them warning the company about the fake e-mail, says spokeswoman Pat D’Amato. “That sends a positive message about what the brand means to people,” she says.
M&M’s `98 promo was its most successful ever, D’Amato adds. The company’s sales rose as much as 16 percent in segments tracked by Information Resources Inc., Chicago. Total M&M sales in food, drug, and mass hit $595 million for 52 weeks ended July 18, per IRI.
Back in the real world, Mars is reprising its Play for Peanuts football-themed sweeps for Snickers, tapping 25 NFL players via a deal with National Football League Players Inc., a marketing group representing 4,800 active and retired NFL players. The sweeps puts players’ names on 300 million candy bar wrappers; winning names are good for cash and free product. TLP, Dallas, and Wilton, CT, handles.
