Senior Vice President of Technical Operations & QA - Capitsol, LIGAND PHARMACEUTICAL INC
Vincent: Need to keep our products relevant
"Sometimes we have to go in and make adjustments to the product." Mars Wrigley North America President Anton Vincent ...
About Vincent Antle
In a September 2024 interview, Vincent Antle discussed how Mars Wrigley North America approaches product adjustments and value. He stated that the company sometimes makes adjustments to products to maintain high quality and provide value across the price-value stream. Antle noted that he had recently visited the company's European plants, where he said employees are focused on quality, cost control, and managing the value spectrum for consumers. Antle also discussed the company's brand strategy, saying that it is the responsibility of executives to ensure that iconic brands remain relevant through high quality and marketing. He described Mars as a purpose-driven organization, stating that he does not see a conflict between purpose and profit, and that part of his long-term compensation is tied to making the world a better place as well as the company's economic model.
Transcript (12 segments)
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Richard0:05
Was taken lightly. The president of Mars Wrigley North America, sir, I know that you are not responsible for my Galaxy being 10% less, but shrinkflation is an issue. You've got no choice, you either put up the price or reduce the product?
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Vincent Antle0:29
Well, Richard, first of all, thank you for having me. One of the things that we're responsible for is making sure that we're taking all potential measures on our side of the business to be sure that we are providing value. And sometimes we have to make adjustments to the product to be sure that we can keep quality high and make sure that we're providing value across the price value stream. As a matter of fact, I was in our European plants last month. We have a tremendous manufacturing community and history in Europe, and look, they're fast at work making sure that first we have high quality, they're making sure that our costs are in control and that we're managing the value spectrum for our consumers.
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Richard1:11
The issue of price elasticity, if you will, we always thought, well with a Mars bar, people want to cheer up with a Mars bar. Particularly if it's a fried Mars bar. But we always thought that people would buy these things. Is there any suggestion that this has changed, the recession-proof nature of candy?
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Vincent Antle1:35
The beautiful thing about confection and treats and snacking in general, it is a pretty resistant space. As it relates to the indulgent side, as it relates to seasons, that's a period of permissibility. People give themselves permission to consume as well. People are first of all, they're enjoying them and it becomes a part of sort of how they allocate their calories across their entire nutritional intake.
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Richard2:09
As the head of Mars America, how difficult is it for you to choose between your children, all the various products? Because sometimes you have to get. Even if it doesn't sell brilliantly, there are some people who'll swear by a particular product that they've known as children and if you touch them, sir, we're beside you.
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Vincent Antle2:30
You know, we love all of our children but you know we're fortunate to have tremendous brands. We have 11 brands over $1 billion in terms of revenue and soon our ice cream business will be there by 2030. For us, it's making sure that those iconic brands like a Mars bar in the UK, or M&Ms, Snickers, and Twix, they're beautiful and provide different types of enjoyment across our household set and our consumer set as well. It's up to us to make sure that they're relevant and they're out there with high quality and with the types of marketing that will draw people in to make sure it's a continuous part of their consumption with the responsibility around it as well.
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Richard3:16
The ownership structure of a company is always fascinating, it's a privately owned company, it's a family. Whenever I have spoken to senior executives at Mars they say that helps because it's got a long-term focus on the business. They're not worried about a quarterly result. They can take the risk, or make the decisions with a vision of 10, 15, 20 years' time.
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Vincent Antle3:45
I would agree with that wholeheartedly. First of all, we're a purpose-driven organization, we don't think there's a conflict between purpose and profit. One drives the other. I think as senior executives we're aligned with the family with a compass. We operate on the five principles, but it allows us to have a very long-term view around how to execute against our purpose. And ensuring that the economic model supports that as well. You know, as a matter of fact, there's parts of that compass built around how do we make the world a better place? As one of the senior executives, part of my long-term compensation is making sure that I put just as much emphasis on how we make the world a better place as I am that our model continues to move forward.
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Richard4:41
A couple more questions before I let you go. It's fascinating to have you with us. How difficult are the debates about naming products, particularly when there have been different products, same product, different country and you want to stand it out. We saw it with Snickers, we have seen it with Twix. You want to standardize around one name, how difficult?
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Vincent Antle5:05
Like any other company, we do a tremendous amount of consumer research. Being a global company, we have to be sensitive to our regions and localities as well. It's important for us to understand the cultural context. I think we do a good job of listening to our consumers and putting in a name and vehicle behind that name and brand building in a consistent way.
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Richard5:28
I need to point out, for anybody who thinks otherwise, we did pay for these things. Now, the more horrible question for you, pick your poison, you could have one to go home with, are you going for the M&Ms or the Mars bar?
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Vincent Antle5:44
Well, it's hard to pick one, Richard. I would say they serve different purposes.