Major rebrand for Mars as it focuses on purpose marketing

Mars has placed its mission statement centre stage in a major new rebrand.

Focusing on purpose marketing, its 'Tomorrow Starts Today' campaign embodies the company's commitment to make a difference in the world. Purpose Marketing is becoming a real talking point across all sectors. As Thomas Barta put it; "The first rule of brand purpose is do no harm." But there is also still a feeling amongst some that "purpose marketing" can come across as contrived, in the way perhaps that the Gillette We Believe: "Be The Best A Man Can Be" received criticism in some quarters.

But it feels that Mars, which owns a wide range of brands including Snickers, Uncle Ben's, Dolmio, Wrigley, Whiskas and CocoaVia, has got things pretty right with this work. They are placing greater emphasis on issues such as climate change and worker conditions. In doing so, Mars is looking more closely at its supply chains, made up of approximately one million people around the world.

In order to reflect the diversity of its brands, Mars has created new identities for Mars Food, Mars Petcare and Mars Wrigley Confectionery.

In the same way that Weight Watchers rebranded itself to WW, Mars also wants to distance itself from its legacy and concentrate on its vision for the future of the brand. The company hopes this new identity will form a more cohesive brand. While the move towards purpose marketing places it on a par with the likes of Unilever and P&G.

Speaking about the rebrand, Mars CEO Grant Reid said: "We're a large company, and with that scale comes both the responsibility and the opportunity to have a positive impact. Our culture encourages Mars Associates to consider every business decision through the lens of whether it is helping establish the tomorrow we want to create."

One of our main clients worked with Mars on this rebrand and works with many other big names to produce rebrands of this type. We are finding here at that Stopgap that a lot of clients are starting to think about "purpose marketing" and that we have a lot of clients looking for candidates with experience of it.

Are you looking for marketing and strategy people who are working at the forefront of rebrands like this and have a real understanding of "purpose marketing" why not brief us?