How can Mars ITR underline the group’s leadership credentials in the category in terms of global size and reach?

There are two things in my new role that I want to focus on. One is ensuring that Mars share of voice is proportional to its perception as a power supplier in the channel. We leverage M&M’s as the biggest chocolate brand in the world and with that comes responsibility. We need to be present, to be there in the market. I want myself and our team to represent Mars a bit more vocally than perhaps we have in the past. I want our partners to know that we are here, we are present, we are committed and we believe strongly in the channel.

Then there’s the category point of view. The recovery of confectionery is going ahead of expectations but maybe slower than other categories. That may be because impulse is under pressure and we are seeing more planned purchases in this phase.

With that in mind we want to show category leadership in two main ways. We want to drive a differentiated experience, not just a differentiated portfolio. That means newness, exclusivity, constant differentiation versus domestic markets on the shop floor, not just in the portfolio. That is something we always need to challenge. Our agility comes from our scale, and we need to use that.

Our focus will be clearly on bringing that differentiated experience on the shop floor. How do we leverage the M&M’s eco-system, that network of major cities across the world, and connect those to an immersive experience in the airport? That is where we want to challenge ourselves in the future. How can we bring that leadership to drive category conversion?

We also want to be more externally focused, check our market share and how we are performing versus the competition more often. We want to be the number one player in driving category growth. During this year, our share is performing very well so we are going on the right track. I am focusing on getting the basics right at the moment but we will be more externally focused on ensuring that we are competing very well with our competitive set.

Connecting what M&M’s does powerfully in domestic to travel retail seems a clear opportunity, doesn’t it?

Exactly. We know that the channel is a billboard for brands. Awareness of M&M’s is not an issue and so those billboards need to work to drive category conversion and bring in that immersive experience.

So how can we ensure that in a very smooth, logical way, M&M’s immerses itself into the experience that you are having? If you are having screen time, and sitting at home, how can M&M’s immerse itself into that moment? And if you are having a tourist experience in London, you visit the M&M’s store and are flying back out, how can part of that immersion be something at Heathrow? It is extremely exciting.

And all along the way, there will be digital assets that support driving that awareness, build the brand presence and communicate the brand purpose across that full journey. The question is how do we leverage digital engagement within ITR, in order to make that that happen? That is something that we are engaging with.

I hope in the future we will be connecting some of our global trade partners with our digital commerce team and our on-demand delivery team, the real experts globally in this space.

As well as ensuring that Mars is present within the channel, one of the responsibilities that I have is that Mars Travel Retail is very present within Mars Wrigley as a global group. Often we have a lot of asks about how we can win in the channel by leveraging the power of the group. We can also flip that and be clearer about what we contribute back to Mars Wrigley via the beautiful channel that we are working in. That’s a challenge, to communicate back to an organisation of 130,000 people about the contribution that this channel can make to the brands they work with.

Put in context, the Halloween business in the US is six or seven times larger than our total annual airport business. So we cannot compete internally on scale but we can show what we do on presence, on immersion, on connectedness within the global eco-system. It is exciting and is quite new for us, to articulate the role of our channel and celebrate its uniqueness and contribution where appropriate. But also to celebrate how similar we are to other markets too, which is how we gain traction internally. The channel is viewed positively internally, we just need to be clear about its contribution so we can get people excited about what we can do with our brands.

You highlighted how Mars ITR will speak with a louder voice; does this also mean more investment with your retail partners?

Potentially yes as long as the outcome of those investments is market share growth for us. It has to be effective, whether short or longer term.

We are having these conversations with our customers around market share. And we are evolving our capability and discussions around those perspectives. I like the analogy of the rugby team that might at the end of the game celebrate that they executed their game plan perfectly. Congratulations, but you still lost 25-5.

We want to execute our game plan but also to win the match. That’s what the external focus for us is now. We have always had great plans, we have always done exciting stuff and we have executed and celebrated. But we didn’t always know if we won the game. I want us to get our heads into that. It is a subtle shift but a significant one for us.

What factors do you see driving a return to growth within confectionery & food in particular?

At Mars we believe that 70% of our sales growth will come from category growth. So our role will always be to drive the category. The encouragement that we are working with the retailers on, and hopefully the airports in future, is about building the total category.

Our strategy is always embedded in how we satisfy consumer moments and specific shopper missions around recharging, rewarding, connecting and celebrating. What we would love to explore in the future is how we drive the category and actually segment those missions on the shop floor.

We are building something that we are calling engine two. And our engine two strategy is all about how we drive conversion outside of the traditional duty free store. We are investigating unattended retail, leveraging the global capability that Mars has in the area of smart vending. That is big for us.

We are also looking closely at the evolution of food & beverage and importantly of airport convenience. We are working closely with the likes of WHSmith to build a category vision and work with them, respectful of the fact that they are playing a very specific role in the airside space. That is also going to be a big pillar for us.

What are you expecting of the new consumer post-pandemic and how is the company adapting?

On the one hand we have a lot of expectations about how the consumer has changed while on the other we are doing similar promotions to before and they are working very well. We don’t yet know what the long-term change on consumer needs and consumer behaviour will be. As the passenger mix evolves over time, we will see where that goes too.

What we do see is that the average transaction value is up. So what we are doing on the shop floor seems to be working and consumers do want to buy. As travel, normalises again, that is where their real needs will become clearer. We expect it will be around the entertainment space and how we drive disruption.

How do we give them some newness that will attract them into the category, while understanding that they have fluid lives, and that there is more snacking on the go and treating on the go? So all of those capabilities that we were focusing on before will come back, but maybe our lens on them needs to evolve.

At the same time, all of our trade spend to drive volume and drive growth needs to be effective. What we are trying to understand more is where do we promote for example, where promotion has an incremental effectiveness? But we must also be agile and sometimes quite bold and brave on not promoting where we don’t need to.

We see some dynamics as travellers are returning, where the incrementality of promotions in certain geographies on some of our bigger brands and SKUs is limited compared to where it used to be.

In an inflationary environment, consumers are coming to terms with the fact that RSPs will go up a little, and if they want to buy a gift, maybe they are not looking for a promotion as much as they used to. We don’t want to be silly in where we take out promotions. But we also want to test and learn what the new dynamics are. What that would give us is the opportunity to direct our promotional effectiveness to where we really have the most incrementality.

Besides that, some of the innovations and limited editions that we have brought in this year do drive trial, and therefore basket size, but also can have a big impact on the core portfolio as well. For example, if we can integrate newness into a promotion, and do that at the pack group level, it gives us the scale to really drive the average basket size. I feel that from the trade, there is a willingness to try new things and learn as consumer dynamics are evolving.