More POWER to you

How we helped the world’s leading chocolate & confectionary company motivate its sales team in a clutter-breaking manner.

Background

Mars Inc. has always been recognized for its excellent people practices, and is a regular on several employer surveys such as the Great Place to Work® Awards.

In 2015, Mars India (the Indian subsidiary of Mars Inc.) was looking at exciting ways to motivate its sales force and reward their performance. The result was a sales incentive program, STAR (Sales Talent Assessment & Recognition).

Mars was looking for a partner to help launch the initiative, and get their sales team spread across the country to participate actively in the program.

Business Challenge

In today’s workplaces, associates often receive a significant volume of internal communication every day in multiple formats (email, paper-based, SMS/Whatsapp updates, etc.), from various departments. As such, an unimaginative piece of internal communication can go unnoticed.

Considering the strategic importance of STAR to Mars India – to motivate sales associates and boost sales results – it was imperative that the communication break through the clutter and get noticed.

Client Brief

The client wanted the campaign to

• be noticed by sales force across age groups, geographies and levels
• generate positive word-of-mouth in order to create a multiplier effect, and
• lead to high participation rates, ultimately leading to growth in sales

Approach & Concept

The logo design for STAR was a high-energy depiction of an empowered sales force. Minor aspects were incorporated to send out relevant messages (a) people wearing different kinds of clothes (business suits, Indian attire, simple shirts, etc.) to indicate that the program held relevance across levels in the sales team, and (b) the use of different colours to depict the diversity in Mars India’s sales force.

For the actual campaign, we created a set of four super-heroes, symbolizing the kind of impact Mars sales associates have in the market. Through a series of teasers, posters and mailers, sales associates were drawn into the initiative. The look and feel of the communication was radically different from most other Mars India internal communication.

Results

The campaign generated strong word-of-mouth within the client organization and helped the HR and Sales teams at Mars India position themselves as highly associate-focused functions. Moreover, the campaign motivated the sales team to perform better and ultimately be one of the ‘STAR’s at Mars India.