Morning Consult Brands: What's Ahead & Week in Review

Morning Consult Brands: What’s Ahead & Week in Review

Brands

Essential marketing and PR news & intel to start your day.

January 29, 2023

By Ellyn Briggs

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Welcome back to the Sunday edition of the Morning Consult Brands newsletter!

I’m not sure about you, but I would be perfectly fine if I never had to hear, read or write the word “spokescandies” again. However, unfortunately for me, it’s looking like that won’t be the case — at least between now and the Super Bowl on Feb. 12.

Mars Inc.’s M&M’s dominated marketing headlines this week, beginning with a Monday announcement that the brand was placing its famous candy characters on an “indefinite pause” and appointing comedian Maya Rudolph to take their place. On Thursday, M&M’s escalated the situation further, releasing an ad in which Rudolph detailed the brand’s plans to rename itself “Ma&Ya’s.” (Fun fact: The spot cites Morning Consult Brand Intelligence data!)

With each new exploit, the likelihood that this is all just an effort to generate buzz for M&M’s upcoming Super Bowl commercial increases.

In some ways, the move makes sense.

“Candy is a low-involvement product, and what those products need to generate sales is to be top of mind,” said Prashant Malaviya, professor of marketing at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. “By taking away the spokescandies and potentially bringing them back during the big game, they’re creating a reason for M&M’s to be involved in the news cycle for a significant period of time.”

But with a politically-charged controversy at the root of the situation — M&M’s Jan. 2022 redesign of the candy characters to be more diverse elicited outrage from conservative talking heads — the brand now risks alienating customers who supported the initial move, appearing insensitive and, perhaps most importantly, diluting the legitimacy of its stated purpose of “bringing people together.”

So, is all press really good press? Morning Consult fielded a new survey this week to find out:

Two-thirds of U.S. adults (68%) said brands with a large target audience are responsible for promoting diversity and inclusion. A nearly equal share (65%) said the same of brands that target children.
A majority of Americans (52%) are in favor of companies’ rebranding efforts to be modern and diverse. This figure is close to double that of the share of respondents who are unfavorable of such actions (28%).
More than 2 in 5 (42%) U.S. adults believe companies should stick with a branding change, such as updating a logo or refreshing the look of a mascot, even if it draws public pushback. Less than one-third (27%) said companies should reverse the branding decision in such an instance, and 31% had no opinion on the matter.

Of course, the jury is still technically out on M&M’s as its spoksecandy saga evolves. But, as it stands now, our data suggests that its walking back of an initially-popular move could be unpopular.

By this point, you might be experiencing the rare need for a break that doesn’t include candy. So take one with our weekly MCIQ quiz instead, where you can test your knowledge of the latest trends in sports, business, entertainment, politics and more.

Onto what’s next…

What’s Ahead

Tech earnings take center stage.

All eyes will be on the slew of major tech companies reporting quarterly results this week, including Spotify Technology SA and Meta Platforms Inc. on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. Alphabet Inc., Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. are also set to post earnings on Thursday. Apple Inc. is one of the only tech giants that hasn’t announced any significant headcount reductions in recent months, likely due to its modest approach to hiring during peak-pandemic years.

Cutback creep.

With 3M Co., IBM Corp. and SAP AG all announcing mass layoffs this week, it’s clear that cost-cutting mandates are now extending beyond the high-growth portion of the technology industry. Many publishers, including Vox Media Inc. and DotDash Meredith Inc., have also undergone layoffs in recent days. I’ll continue to keep a close eye on which brands are making workforce adjustments, why they’re doing it and how, if at all, these actions impact consumer perception.

Semafor talks e-commerce on Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

The media startup is convening key congressional leaders at District Winery to discuss the evolving regulatory and economic environments that direct-to-consumer brands face in the United States and abroad. U.S. retail sales fell 1.1% in December, marking the second consecutive month of decline as consumer spending slows amid ongoing inflation. A livestream link will be available for those who cannot attend in person.

The Association of National Advertisers hosts a webinar on the future of ad tech Thursday.

This one-hour virtual session will provide attendees with insight on how to adapt to the rapidly changing digital advertising landscape. After a week when the Interactive Advertising Bureau announced new privacy guidance and the U.S. Department of Justice sued to divest Google’s ads business, ANA’s webinar is a great opportunity to connect with other professionals and get questions answered.

Week in Review

Mars Inc.’s M&M’s released a new ad on Thursday featuring comedian Maya Rudolph, who announced that the brand is renaming itself to “Ma&Ya’s.” The spot comes just days after M&M’s placed its famous spokescandies on an “indefinite pause” and named Rudolph its “Chief of Fun” in what many industry experts believe is an effort to generate buzz for the brand’s upcoming Super Bowl ad. (Yahoo News)
Meta Platforms Inc. announced it plans to reinstate former president Donald Trump’s accounts on Facebook and Instagram “in the coming weeks.” The reinstatement, which comes two years after Trump was suspended from both platforms over posts related to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol,will subject Trump to a slew of newly Meta policies around restricting accounts of public figures during moments of civil unrest. (Axios)
Twitter Inc. introduced a new program, in partnership with ad tech companies DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science, that allows brands to analyze the content adjacent to any advertising on the platform and can adjust campaigns if offensive or inappropriate language is detected. In a statement, Twitter head of brand safety A.J. Brown said validating the context in which ads are served is “incredibly important” to the platform, which continues to grapple with declining ad revenue. (TechCrunch)
Walmart Inc. is raising its minimum wage from $12 to $14 nationwide as it attempts to retain store and warehouse employees amid a challenging hourly-worker labor market. The move by America’s largest employer could have a domino effect across the retail and service industries. (CNN)
The U.S. Department of Justice formally filed a lawsuit against Alphabet Inc.’s Google on Tuesday seeking to break up the tech giant’s digital advertising business, which has long held a dominant position because it operates on all three sides of the market — buying, selling and serving. The case, set to go to trial in September, marks the Department of Justice’s second antitrust action against Google in just over two years. (CNBC)
Amazon.com Inc. is launching a drug subscription service called RxPass that charges users a $5 monthly fee for access to generic medications shipped to their doorsteps. RxPass, the latest effort by the e-commerce giant to break into health care, will be exclusive to Prime members. (CNBC)

Stat of the Week

31%

The percentage of U.S. adults who said they believe the NCAA is “going in the right direction,” according to a Morning Consult survey conducted earlier this month. That’s more than the roughly 1 in 4 (23%) who expressed a belief that the collegiate sports body is headed down “the wrong track,” while 46% had no opinion. For more on Americans’ feelings toward the NCAA and its recently updated name, image and likeness (NIL) program, read my latest story, written with senior sports reporter Mark J. Burns, here: 18 Months Into the NIL Era, Athletes, Fans and Brands Are Mostly Happy. But Messiness Remains.