Premium M&Ms take a new approach to ad treatment

MCLEAN, Va. Mars has been working on a new set of TV ads to pump up the buzz about its new M&M’s Premium Chocolate Candies. Recycling the M&M’s characters who spring to life in the TV ads, with the Premiums presence, the new ads bump up the attitude of the characters and turn up the sexiness of the brand.

To initiate M&M’s into the premium chocolate market, the company said that is had to beef up the size of its regular M&Ms and get rid of the shells. M&M’s Premium candies have just a shiny, marble-ized top-coat that comes in different metallic finishes, such as raspberry red, mint green or blue, to match the each different flavor.

Ryan Bowling, a spokesman for Mars Snackfood U.S., told the public, “We’ve actually changed the recipe of M&M’s as America and the world knows it. This is a whole new recipe, both visually and to its taste, as well.”

New, spunky TV spots will air beginning next week on major networks such as AMC and the food Network. In one commercial, the green premium M&M character who represents the triple chocolate flavor, struts around the set enjoying one of the chocolate candies while a female voice coos about the great taste of M&M’s Premiums.

M&M’s Premiums are already on store shelves, distributed to outlets where M&M’s are sold, including convenience stores, supermarkets and mass chains like Target and Wal-Mart. A 6-oz. upright carton retails for about $3.99.