Brand loyalty is the main objective of this strategy. Direct consumer relationships are important, and Mars wanted to be able to create and strengthen that community. Consumers are more loyal to brands that feel personal and relatable, and that can also maintain market relevance and cater to the growing demographic of the younger generation. Mars also wanted to prioritize ethical and societal values throughout this strategy.
To help realize these ambitions, we formulated the plan, architecture and governance of an affordable, scalable, global D2C platform for all of Mars’ brands. It couldn’t be cookie-cutter and applied widely, it needed to be a composable solution to the actual problems and needs of each brand. It was also made scalable and manageable, which speaks to the maturity of the framework and strategy. We chose a value-oriented incremental delivery approach to foster strong collaboration and ensure the longevity of the strategy.
As we attempt a company-wide digital transformation, composable is perfect for delivering bite-sized capabilities that can be flexed or reconfigured depending on the needs of the wider business or individual brand. While we initiated it with a D2C mindset, this approach can be applied to any business model looking to get closer to the consumer, faster. This model should also inspire other organizations to accelerate their own journeys to great experiences through composable.
- Shubham Mehrish, VP Digital and Platforms, Mars
What is Digital Re-imagine?
The first of many brand initiatives, as mentioned, was with M&M’S. A new vision was launched, “Digital Re-imagine," with a deeply personal and celebratory perspective. It aimed to first and foremost deepen relationships with and between consumers. It presented a new brand purpose, a new cast of characters, and an evolved visual identity. This formed the foundation of a brand platform creating a world where everyone feels they belong, an important aspect of the experience. New features included a gifting program, with the intention to celebrate everyday moments and establish M&M’S as part of the culture.
This initiative had great potential to realize Mars’ omnichannel vision and we are currently developing the retail experience that will fulfill that potential. This goal required a MACH approach to marry a buy-and-build philosophy and focus on how to highlight each brand’s uniqueness.
For the M&M’S brand in particular, Mars and Valtech built some unique pieces of architecture, such as the “Design Your Own” program that allows consumers to create customized M&M’S, among other new features. Most of the user journey is all about personalizing M&M’S, which made this unique configurator experience an important piece that Mars wanted to own and make as frictionless as possible. In other less unique areas, such as content management and ecommerce engine, they found off-the-shelf software – Amplience and commercetools respectively – making their own investments in innovation to support the project.
