Marketing Strategy and SWOT analysis of Snickers

As most of you have heard, Snickers is one of the most popular chocolate brands in our society. Originally, it was founded in 1930 as one of the branches of Mars co. Now they are headquartered in McLean, Virginia. The original Snickers bar consists of nougat topped with caramel and peanuts that are enrobed in milk chocolate. Is this secret of success around the world? Let’s find out the details of Snickers’ Marketing Strategy and look deeply into their Swot analysis.

Snickers Vision Statement

“Our Leaders Vision for A Better World Every day, our leaders do their best to embody and act upon the principle-based behaviors that set the tone for how we do business.”

Actually, this is the vision statement of Mars co. but it’s also related to Snickers. From this statement I can say that they’re thinking about tomorrow, about the future, but not like fantasy writers, their ideas treat more to an average person, who thinks about his future’s everyday life.

Obviously, I can say that they think they are the leaders of something big like they’re the leaders of the rebellion, who are fighting against evil and are bringing justice and peace to the world. Again, by selling their products, they are giving a small amount of happiness to the customer, it’s like they’re taking care of them.

Snickers’ Mission Statement

“Our objective as a company is to create a mutuality of benefits for all of our stakeholders through our operations. We strive to do this by putting our Principles into action every day to make a difference to people and the planet through our performance.”

From this article it’s obvious to say that they are trying to be honest in everything, in deals, with their suppliers, with their employees, and I think that’s the best way to achieve your goals and purposes.

Snickers’ Branding Decisions

After talking about mission and vision statements, let’s start the discussion about branding directions.

What do we see here? Look at the letters’ design. They are big, and simple and we can see some enthusiasm in these words. Let’s continue, look at the background, does it seem like the letters are flying through the red atmosphere? Yes, the design is made like the comics, to let us understand that Snickers is in the center of everything, in the center of disasters, in the center of rescue operations. These all are benefits of Hero brand archetype.

Now, you may ask, what does Hero brand archetype represent?

• Desire: show yourself with the help of brave and difficult actions.
• Goal: show the mastery in a way that improves the world.
• Strategy: become as strong, competent, and powerful as you can be in general.

Now, let’s consider the messaging stages of Hero brand archetype.

1. The first level of messaging contains this type of situations: Someone is getting bullied and that person needs your help.
2. Here is the morale of the second part of messaging: The development of boundaries, competence, mastery, expressed through achievement, motivated or tested through competition
3. The third stage consists of these words: as a soldier, doing your duty for your country, organization, community, or family
4. And finally the last phase of messaging: Using your strength, competence, and courage for something that makes a difference to you and to the world

The following brand archetype can be a good identity for your brand if:

• You have an invention or innovation that will have a huge impact on society.
• Your product helps people to overcome themselves.
• You have a clear opposer or competitor you want to kick out.
• You are the losing side and want to contend the competition.

Brand Archetypes. Why we need them in practice?

Being a leader in the industry also requires proper branding and messaging tactics. Here I want to mention the importance of the branding based on the archetypes. Nike says “Just do it”. What do they want to tell us? They just emphasize the inner heroes inside of us. Here it is, famous brands like Nike and their rivals Adidas have adopted branding tactics based on archetypes.

And it’s up to you to dive in and learn better the following directions. We have written a book “8 steps to a complete archetypal branding” that shows you clear ways to reach your target and conquer their hearts immediately.  Just try archetypal branding on any of the brands you are working on.

Now let’s take a look at SWOT analysis of Snickers

Strengths:

1. Under operating by Mars, Inc., Snickers produces the best selling chocolate bars in the world

1. Snickers is well known for its products’ extraordinary taste and nice packaging.
2. They research buyers’ desires. Also, they are trying to find the best way in everything, find the best solution. For instance, they are always trying to saturate clients’ needs.
3. You have definitely heard Snickers’ famous slogan:

“You’re not you when you are hungry”

The slogan is one of the most important parts of branding. You can notice it here, most people know Snickers because of their slogan, and these simple words push them forward up today

Weaknesses:

1. For today’s growing generation, Snickers’ is considered as unhealthy food, due to its high-calorie value. 
2. The brand has a very limited assortment of products, that makes a risk of becoming an underdog in the market.
3. Snickers’ original peanut flavor isn’t popular in many markets, and many people don’t like its taste.
4. Not everyone likes its taste, for example, a very big amount of older people don’t like too sweet candies, and Snickers is one of them.

Opportunities:

1. Even though Snickers’ products are officially being sold in 40 countries, there is much more space to expand. For instance, the brand’s products are less popular in Asian countries.
2. Snickers’ products aren’t so popular in small cities. They have to create some new supplying ways to saturate the growing demands.
3. Even though in some countries the brand’s assortment contains three or more types of chocolate, that isn’t enough for clients. They have to widen it.

Threats:

1. There is strong competition in the chocolate market. For example, most people prefer other manufacturers’ products such as Nestle, Cadbury.
2. As I mentioned before Snickers’ bars are rather unhealthy or healthy. Today many people are taking care of their bodies and don’t consider buying such unhealthy food.As a solution, the brand can make bars including more healthy ingredients, and at the same time save the originality of the product.
3. During the decrease in sales, supermarkets began to make their own assortments of chocolate bars

Ok, let’s finally reveal target segment of Snickers.

To understand their target segment, let’s take a look at one of the most famous commercials.

The commercial begins with a group of people making a rap battle between each other. 

One of the participants is Elton John. He starts singing pop music and surprises everyone. Then one of the group members(probably his friend) offers him a Snickers bar. He bites it and gets back to his regular body. After, he beats his opponent and celebrates it. And traditionally at the end, the commercial says: “You are not you when you are hungry”.

By all means, I can say this kind of behavior is typical to people, who belong to breakout target segment.

Let me explain what is Breakout target segment.

Lifestyle and values:

It’s time to talk about lifestyle and values. As usual, these people want to be recognized and respected by others, be in front of everyone. Their property is very important for them, so they are trying to get rich at the same time, therefore have the status of a successful person. They like to show their achievements by wearing expensive clothes, driving luxury cars. At the same time they can easily buy precious things just for the sake of it. They don’t care about what they are eating, they are just enjoying life. But the most important thing of their life is their future, so they worry about it. They are kind of selfish and they think money takes it all.

Shopping:

They are following trends, this means as soon as something loses its hype, they throw it away. These people aren’t brand loyal, for instance they can buy something with not so famous brand name and just enjoy it. People with this kind of benefit prefer something with good quality, but they can’t afford premium brands. As I mentioned before, they don’t care about the environment, this means they prefer to pay less to buy artificial food, rather buy something more healthy and eco friendly for just a bit more money.

Tips:

• They are TV fans. They rely on TV as the main source of information.
• Breakout people use media just for entertainment and fun. Usually, they turn on the TV by coming home. While the TV is turned on, they are doing some other stuff instead of watching it. They mainly watch sports, shows, music and movie channels. 
• As average press readers, they check out only the most interesting parts, such as cars & motorcycles, star gossips, horoscopes, Instagram stories & posts, Youtube videos.
• They are “professional” radio listeners. They often prefer radio stations with party songs

16 Personalities (why do you need them in your business?)

Breakouts are characterized by illegal behavior, they are quite cunning and ambitious, they achieve what they want in every way. Breakouts like to solve their problems by detours (acquaintances, threats). In society they like to differ with their abilities and security.

How to target Breakouts and increase your products’ sales? They are usually the buyers of spy related products, technologies, as well as medicine. To find out more about Breakouts and other personalities click here to get “16 Personalities” e-book which will provide you with the full guide about different types of customers.

7 interesting facts about Snickers.

• Did you know that Snickers was named after a horse? Yes that’s true. The Snickers was named after one of Frank Mars’ favorite horses. But in United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Ireland it was selling under the name “Marathon” until 1990.
• Double Snickers. Between 1933 and 1935 it was selling as “double Snickers”. It means there were 2 bars in one pack.
• Peanuts are one of the main ingredients of Snickers bars. About 100 tons of peanuts are used to make the daily amount of bars(15 million).
• The pattern on the bottom of the bar. That pattern has a long history. That weave comes from the Mars’ factory conveyor, where the bar was cooling down
• Shrek designed bars. In 2007, when the 3rd part of Shrek released, Snickers introduced the limited of bars with green nougat layer.
• 1984 Olympics sponsor. Snickers was the 1984 Olympics snack-food sponsor
• In 1991, during the 1st Gulf War, every American soldier was sent a frozen Snickers chocolate as a thanksgiving treat.

This is it, dear readers. I hope this article was helpful for you, and you can move forward in your marketing learning(or your brand developmentJ). If you liked this contribution, please check out our other blogs.