By Andy Pharoah
In today’s world, we all expect more: from ourselves, from our employers, and from the products and services we buy. We’re also savvy consumers with a conscience. We want to understand more than just what a product does and how much it costs. We want to understand the why behind our buying: the broader, longer-term impacts our purchasing decisions will have on our Earth and our global community. Today, our actions as consumers are about much more than just products and price points. They’re about principles.
At Mars, we have very clear metrics helping us achieve growth we’re proud of — growth that has a positive impact on people, the planet and our business. We know we can accomplish our goals more quickly by building a coalition to drive change. This starts with clarity of purpose. That motivation helped us crystalize and articulate the Purpose that’s already guided us through the past 100 years: The world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today.
If companies want to be successful in the long term, it’s imperative to represent more than a narrow range of products and services. We must be unambiguous about what we stand for — how we intend to live and lead, today and every day. With the challenges facing our world — climate change, poverty, hunger and human rights issues, to name just a few — it’s time for businesses and organizations around the globe to stand up and be counted.
Articulating our Mars corporate Purpose gives all our 130,000+ plus Associates in more than 80 countries around the world a touchstone to remind us who we are and where we’re going. It also gives us an opportunity to modernize the look and feel of our Mars brand with a refreshed visual identity. Take a look at our new logo and other visuals in places like Mars.com, in our advertising, and on social media channels. These updates to the Mars corporate brand and identity serve as a daily reminder of our Purpose, and the lens through which all our business decisions will be made as we create a better world — together.
The world we want tomorrow is also about an organization that’s thriving and growing everywhere we do business — from the cocoa farms in Cote d’Ivoire, to our manufacturing facilities in places like Greenville, Mississippi, to all of our approximately 400 locations around the globe. Our Sustainable in a Generation Plan is an excellent model of how we’re holding ourselves accountable for creating this better world, and how we’re conducting business today to improve all of our tomorrows.
It’s no longer enough for us to expect more. It’s time to do more. It’s imperative that businesses, governments and organizations build coalitions strong enough to catalyze meaningful change. Because when people and organizations partner with one another and articulate how we intend to live and work now, we’re one step closer to the world we all want tomorrow. Let’s get closer to that future together, starting today.
