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a light edit of the entire article - effort to differentiate between the brand name of the logo and the parent company, as well as correcting the plural for the sugarcoated confections - unsure whether the edit regarding the peanut variety (noted in the beginning of the sentence) made a transition to having the shell coating or whether two varieties with peanut resulted in the development of the peanut type — please correct if determined to be the latter |
a little cleanup |
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In 1990 at New York's Erie County Fair, the company exhibited a life-size fiberglass cow covered with 66,000 M&M candies—each adhered by hand with the "m" logo on each candy facing outward. According to a website run by the cow's designer, Michael Adams, the stunt earned M&M Mars $1 million in free publicity because it was reported on by ''[[Newsweek]]'' magazine, as well as the ''[[New York Post]]'', [[UPI]], [[WABC-TV]], and ''[[Live with Regis]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.behindthescenesmarketing.com/events-tshws-props/01_cow.html |title=Events – M&M Candy Cow |website=Behindthescenesmarketing.com |access-date=January 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110203033725/http://www.behindthescenesmarketing.com/events-tshws-props/01_cow.html |archive-date=February 3, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
In 1995, the company ran M&M's Color Campaign, a contest in which participants were given the choice of selecting purple, blue, or pink as the color of a new variety of the confection. The announcement of the winning color (blue) was carried on most of the network television news programs, as well as the talk shows of [[David Letterman]] and [[Jay Leno]].<ref name="Luther2001"/> As part of the contest results, the company had the [[Empire State Building]] lighted in blue.<ref name="Luther2001"/> Although the financial details of these deals were not disclosed and neither was the effect of the campaign on sales, one marketing book estimated that the company "collected millions" in free publicity and that the campaign "certainly" resulted in an increasing of brand awareness.<ref name="Luther2001">{{cite book| first= William M.| last= Luther| title=The Marketing Plan: How to Prepare and Implement it|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mX9sCsIqMf8C&pg=PA192|year=2001|publisher=[[AMACOM]]|isbn=978-0-8144-2615-9|page=192|edition=3rd|access-date=January 30, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627135131/http://books.google.com/books?id=mX9sCsIqMf8C&pg=PA192 |archive-date=June 27, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>
In 1996, Mars produced Christmas-themed advertisement for the confections in which the Red and Yellow characters run into [[Santa Claus]] on [[Christmas Eve]]. Similarly to competitor Hershey's [[Christmas Bells (advertisement)|own Christmas-themed commercial]]. The commercial proved immensely successful and has re-aired every December since, becoming their longest-running television commercial.
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In 2007, the company introduced a limited-edition raspberry flavor called "M&M's Razzberry Chocolate Candies".
Also in 2007, the company produced a 50-feet tall, smiling Lady Liberty M&M statue to kick off a campaign encouraging Americans to create their own M&M characters at mms.com. The website allows for people to log in, in order to create their own character from scratch, choosing features such as the color, shape, hair, and accessories.
In 2008, two limited-edition varieties of the confection were introduced, "Wildly Cherry" and, as a marketing tie-in with the film ''[[Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull]]'', "Mint Crisp".
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About the time the pretzel variety came out, the wrapper designs in the United States were redone from the design used from 2004 to early 2010.<ref name="PretzelAnnouncement"/>
In 2012, two new dark chocolate flavors were released, Raspberry and Mint. Also that year, a white chocolate flavor was released for the Easter season. Onward from May 30, 2012, launching from [[Macau]] was planned. In 2012, the peanut variety was produced in the UK in a limited-edition "Red, White, and Blues only" package, in connection with the country's Diamond Jubilee and [[2012 Summer Olympics]]. The "M" remains white on the white candies. The commercial advertising for this promotional campaign had Yellow donning various outfits of British stereotypes to try to get into the limited-edition package. Similarly, to promote the [[2014 FIFA World Cup]] in the UK, the peanut variety would be produced in a package that contained only green, yellow, and blue confections, to reflect the colors of the flag of Brazil; these were dubbed as limited-edition "Brazilian M&
In 2013, the company launched the "Better with M" campaign that included cause-related marketing. The campaign worked with [[Habitat for Humanity]] and encouraged fans to use a Facebook app to volunteer at the various sites where the homes were being built.<ref name="csn">{{cite web|url=http://www.csnews.com/mm%E2%80%99s-launching-better-m-marketing-campaign?sort_by=search_api_relevance|title=M&M'S Launching 'Better With M' Marketing Campaign| website= csnews.com| access-date=March 22, 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170510214401/http://www.csnews.com/mm%E2%80%99s-launching-better-m-marketing-campaign?sort_by=search_api_relevance|archive-date=May 10, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> The advertising campaign was one of the largest that Mars had ever executed.<ref name="csn"/> The 2013 "America Better With M" initiative sought to provide money directly to Habitat for Humanity through offering limited versions of the candy in red, white, and blue.
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