Riding the trend of brands using longer-format creative, Mars’ M&M’s brand today unveiled a new digitally based video series that plays off of the NASCAR-themed movie “Days of Thunder” and the driver it sponsors, Kyle Busch. The video series, which was shot a few months ago at Charlotte Motor Speedway, recreates old scenes from the movie with Busch as the star and intersperses the Crispy M&Ms brand throughout. The spots, which will also include behind-the-scenes interviews and a blooper reel, will run on M&M’s YouTube page and be supported by display advertising on NASCAR.com plus shoutouts on the social media pages of NASCAR, Mars, Busch and that of his team, Joe Gibbs Racing. Mars, which has had an official relationship with NASCAR for 25 years and is pushing the Crispy M&Ms brand on Busch’s No. 18 Toyota Camry all season long, decided to undertake the campaign in part because “Days of Thunder” is Busch’s favorite movie, and the movie’s debut also came 25 years ago. Other coincidences that prompted this campaign include the fact that one of the characters from the movie, Rowdy Burns, shares a nickname with Busch, who goes by "Rowdy." This is the first time in Mars’ history that it has dedicated an entire year’s worth of marketing in NASCAR to one new brand. On that note, Mars Chocolate VP/Sponsorships & Sports Marketing William Clements said of why the brand undertook the video series, “In the past, we may have had brands that had a couple special paint schemes. But this year, the commitment and investment for Crispy M&M’s is so significant that we want to use every aspect the brand has and put that forth digitally and through every other marketing program we have in the organization.”
EXTRA CRISPY: Clements told THE DAILY that the relaunch of the Crispy M&Ms brand, which originally came out 10 years ago but was then discontinued, was “the No. 1 most successful relaunch” in Mars' history and the brand has “exceeded all of our numbers.” Clements, who cited data as showing that M&M’s is the fourth-most recognized brand in NASCAR, added, “The marketing program was a true 360 marketing campaign. And using NASCAR for an entire year -- putting that money behind a new brand launch -- it had to play a role in the success.” He added that while it would be impossible to figure out precise numbers in terms of the role the NASCAR sponsorship played in the relaunch’s success, “we know that the Crispy M&M’s car is very well recognized with NASCAR fans." Clements: "Our customers are putting up displays around all the race markets; and after the race has left that town, that product has sold; we know that consumers are not just trying the product but going back again to repurchase it -- so everything is working extremely well for Crispy M&M’s.” Clements added the brand does “have new promotional campaigns coming out for next year that we’re going to tie into our NASCAR programs, so we’ll be running some of those cars.” However, paint scheme-wise, it has yet to be determined which brand will receive the most attention on the car.
