Hershey supplied chocolate to Mars for approximately two decades, starting in the early 1920s and ending in the 1940s, with the partnership formally dissolving after WWII around 1948.
The Mars Milky Way bar was introduced in 1923 and used Hershey chocolate for many other products.
M&M's chocolates (Which melt in your mouth, not in your hands") were initially made with Hershey chocolate. This provided Mars with a reliable supply of cocoa in their partnership and alliance.
With research and planning Mars aimed to produce their own chocolate-covered snacks rather than relying on Hershey's, successfully launching their own production.
Under Product and product differentiation, Hershey had focused on solid milk chocolate, think bars and kisses while Mars expanded in chocolate-covered bars and snacks, leading to distinct, competing product lines.
Under Planning, candy is widely considered recession-resistant (or "recession-proof") because it serves as an affordable indulgence; it offers buyers or "People" a small, cheap treat during poor economic times. Historically, sales remain stable or grow during downturns.
As of today, Hershey and Mars remain distinct , major competitors, who were once "partners."
I like Marketing. I like Promotion, one of my nine P's of Marketing
I use my 9P's to illustrate Marketing examples in the classroom, in court as an expert witness, in seminars and to solve Marketing problems and to find opportunities.
My 9P's of Marketing do include these important concepts, practices and components:
- Planning and Research.
- Mars and Hershey have different marketing and product lines.
- Finding copy points is part of the creative and promotional planning.
- Planning for marketing activities, objectives, strategies and tactics. Viewership, revenue, sales. All sales, whether in services, candy, fashion, sports, amusement parks, hotels, resorts, autos, fast food, retail sales or tires, refreshments or cereal, as three examples.
- From the founder of Intuit, Scott Cook, said: " A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is -- (maybe from Marketing Research never was is my comment) it is what consumers (“People” in the 9P’s) tell each other it is.
- People (Segmentation and Targeting)
- Consumers and users, as in shoppers. Fashion consumers. Add travelers. Chocolate and candy lovers.
- In my 9P's, I stress that firms need to look and analyze potential, new, existing and repeat customers and users.
- Product and Services, includes airports, sports teams, people and celebrities too. I teach that perfection resides in quality, not quantity.
- Place (Distribution), includes retail and online. How about locations of grocery and warehouse stores, airports, team stadiums, amusement parks and resorts?
- Price or Pricing, many contingency plans needed.
- Promotion:
- There are eight (8) major, strategic components or communication elements which are personal and non-personal communication activities.
- The activities that communicate the merits of the overall product include:
- Personal Selling/ Sales Force: Sales persons
- Listen more than you talk. People who listen more, learn more, plus helps you position your service/product/solution or offering.
- Advertising: Like Super Bowl advertising in February for Super Bowl. Think about this expression "It is only creative if the product or service sells." I wanted to add "It is only good media spending if it sells."
- Sales Promotion, advertising mascots can fit here, too. Signage would fit here.
- Collateral Materials
- Direct Marketing (also referred to as Action or Direct Response Advertising)
- Interactive/Internet/Web, Digital Media, Social Media:
- Events and Experiences, sampling
- Public Relations/PR
- One stop shopping is more important than ever.
- Partners/Alliances, can be one of the most powerful of the 9P's if researched, performed and handled well.
- There should be moving forward towards shared goals or goals.
- Presentation:
- The act or acts of strategically presenting any of the different 9P’s© and/or components to your customers, suppliers, wholesalers, retailers, sales force, marketing intermediaries, clients, employees, partners, and/or others.
Presentation aspects may be signs, symbols or images that represent something; a descriptive or persuasive account (as a sales person of the product or service). Something set forth for the attention of mind of your targets ("People") and media audiences. I've added "culture," too. I'm adding "culture," too.
- Passion, including consumers and employees. Think about the lines sometimes of consumers waiting for a new Apple product
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said “ To put your ideas into action is the most difficult thing in the world." But Nike says "Just do it."
The Nine P's/9P's of Marketing help identify marketing problems in a number of strategic areas and help develop profitable marketing’s objectives, strategies, tactics and solutions. The 9P's are insightful. The nine P's were created for the digital age.
Or for more fun, marketing strategies/tactics and facts: Go to Marketing Trivia with more than 75+ stimulating questions and answers at Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC.



