Mars Wrigley skips Super Bowl after a 12-year streak

Mars Wrigley is the latest longtime Super Bowl advertiser planning to sit on the sidelines for the 2022 game. The candy marketer does not plan to advertise brands such as M&M’s, Skittles or Snickers during next month’s game, the company confirmed to Ad Age. Each of those brands has appeared in numerous Super Bowl commercials. Since 2010, one or more of the three major candy brands had an in-game Super Bowl ad. Now, Mars Wrigley, an NFL sponsor, instead plans to focus on promotions and other marketing rather than spending millions on in-game buys. “Mars Wrigley continues to focus on delivering better moments and more smiles to fans across the country, and the Super Bowl has provided a powerful way to reach our audience for many years,” the company shared in a statement. “In 2022, we’re excited to unveil how we’ll show up in new, big ways for our fans.” Get the latest Ad Age Super Bowl 2022 news here. Mars Wrigley joins Tide, which previously confirmed it was skipping the Super Bowl in 2022 after running ads in four of the last five years. Last year's game saw Super Bowl stalwarts like Budweiser, Coke and Pepsi sit on the sidelines, making room for an unprecedented amount of first-time advertisers. Mars Wrigley’s current marketing tied to the NFL includes the “Snickers Rookie Mistake of the Year.” Fans are being asked to share rookie mistakes, and then Snickers will pick one mistake at the end of the regular season, with the fan winning two tickets to the 2022 Super Bowl. Rookie Mistake? Maybe you just need a SNICKERS. Head to https://t.co/Gnaw9KL7VB and share your Rookie Mistake for a chance to win tickets to Super Bowl LVI. #SNICKERSRookieMistake pic.twitter.com/4hFKjq0Pku— SNICKERS (@SNICKERS) September 10, 2021 On Wednesday, another snack marketer—Kellogg Co.’s Pringles—announced it would return to the Super Bowl with its fifth consecutive commercial. Mars Wrigley's recent run In 2021, M&M’s got the spotlight within the Mars Wrigley portfolio, with a “Come Together” ad starring Dan Levy that came from BBDO New York. Snickers last appeared in 2020, with an ad from BBDO New York. Skittles made its most recent Super Bowl appearance in 2017, when both it and Snickers ran in-game ads. The Skittles “Romance” commercial came from Adam & Eve/DDB, while Snickers went with a live “Old West” plot from BBDO. RSVP for Ad Age’s Super Bowl event on Feb. 8 at AdAge.com/InDepthSuperBowl. Skittles later went on to promote itself outside of the Super Bowl with efforts such as 2018's commercial made for one person starring David Schwimmer, and a Broadway musical starring Michael C. Hall in 2019. Overall, recent Super Bowl ads from Mars Wrigley tended to feature celebrities and were hits with audiences. The marketer's 12-year run began in 2010, when Snickers returned with its first Super Bowl commercial since 2007 and featured Betty White in a football game that kicked off the chocolate bar brand's “You're not you when you're hungry” campaign. Read: Behind Betty White's Snickers Super Bowl commercial

Mars Wrigley skips Super Bowl after a 12-year streak

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