After being inspired after watching an interview with Andrew Clarke, CMO of Mars, here’s a creative way Mars (the parent company of Wrigley, which is the parent company of Lifesavers) could use social media to save children’s lives AND improve their brand in the eyes of both healthcare and parents.
Take childhood choking, which results in 15000 ER visits per year (the highest percentage of which is due to hard candy) and a problem which results in 1 child dying every five days.
Now, take the American Academy of Pediatrics advice to avoid all hard candy for ages under 5.
Finally, take the hard candy product ” “Lifesavers” a subsidiary of Mars, which has the urban myth (untrue) that the hole was included to prevent choking after the death of a child.
What do you get if you mix them all together?
One great social media marketing campaign to help parents prevent childhood choking!
Just think about it.
Lifesavers (and by default, Wrigley and Mars) being the focal point of a national anti-choking campaign:
- “Lifesavers want you as a customer for life, along life, just not before 5”.
- “How Lifesavers Saves Lives” (compatible with Andrew Clarke, CMO of Mars “From a creative standpoint how can we take a global insight and change it into a universal truth” Every mother in the world is concerned about childhood choking; help them)
- “Lifesavers’ Lifesaving ways to cut a hotdog for your toddler under 5”
- “The hole in Lifesavers won’t prevent choking, but not eating hard candy before five will”
- “Cracking Urban Myths a series….”
- (There may even be a way to tie this in to pet choking, in line with the Mars pet food business most common cause of pet choking are empty bags)
The list of simple marketing ideas for this is endless, many of which can be done with a simple photo or video. Conceptually the issue is easy to understand: small child, small teeth, small trachea = obstruction, choking, death/anoxic brain injury in 3-5 minutes. Most of this wouldn’t need to be on TV but instead by channels such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.
The business idea also goes way beyond simple marketing.
Consider that the Sugar Industry is in the cross hairs of healthcare, and there is a risk, like it or not, of sugar becoming the “new cigarette” – the risk factor for the national obesity epidemic.
Well, here is a golden opportunity for a candy company to engage with the pediatric community in addressing a common goal – to prevent childhood choking. This certainly won’t solve all of the tension between Big Sugar and Healthcare, but it does establish a way in which they can work together. ( I do recognize that Mars is much more than a “candy” company – this would be a way to help other people recognize it to.)
Now it may seem counterintuitive to create an advertising campaign to NOT use your product, but this is the beauty of it – this is what gives it its authenticity.
(Heck, just imagine if instead of a Snickers Super Bowl commercial you had a Lifesavers Lifesaving Choking Super Bowl Commercial to NOT use a product (under 5) … now that would be something! Your commercial could save a child’s life that night! I would start with pulling away an empty M& Ms bag from a small kitten to prevent choking, run through 3-4 similar scene cute scenes with other Mars products, and eventually end with pulling Lifesavers out of a kids hands, but cutting up hotdogs and food for a child. )
Also, not only is this compatible with Mars’s Corporate 5 Principles, it’s also compatible with the mission of several of Mars and Wrigley’s large customers, such as Walmart and CVS, who are right now blurring the lines between healthcare and retail.
Look, it’s rare one has a confluence of a product name, a product story, and a company mission aligned with a clear public good, but with Lifesavers and childhood choking, there is an obvious one.
Use it.
(Note: this blog is somewhat personal. I have seen over 100,00 patients, and there are few things I found worse than seeing a child choking. Also, I had the good fortune to give my Mom a life-saving Heimlich recently on Christmas -Eve. )