134 / 154
THE MARKET
Whether it’s the simple pleasure of savouring the
world’s best-loved chocolate and confectionery,
the warmth that a healthy and contented pet brings
to your family, or the rewards that come from
creating fantastic tastes in your own home, Mars is
the company behind many of the enduring brands
Australians have come to know and trust.
With a turnover exceeding $1
billion, Mars is one of Australia’s
leading
consumer
brands
companies, supplying local and
export customers with high quality
Food, Petcare, and Snackfood
brands.
These brands include
PEDIGREE®andWHISKAS®(theworld’s leading
brands of food for dogs and cats respectively),
“M&M’s”®and SNICKERS® (two of the world’s
top chocolate confectionery brands),
STARBURST® and SKITTLES® (two of the
world’s top sugar confectionery brands) and the
MASTERFOODS®, DOLMIO® and KAN
TONG® food brands.
Although most sales are local, Mars Australia
exports tomore than 30 countries around theworld.
BRAND VALUES
Anyone joiningMars quickly finds they are part of
one of the world’smost successful privately owned
companies and beginning a career where they really
are free to grow, both personally and professionally.
The organisation encourages innovation and
initiative, recognises endeavour and achievement
and really believes
that great brands
and great people
make a great
business.
Mars holds special values about the company
and the way it should be run. These values – the
Five Principles – set Mars apart from others,
requiring that it thinks and acts differently towards
its associates, brands and its business. These
principles have always been demanding and are an
essential part of the Mars heritage. Mars
believes they are the real reason for its
success; keeping the company true
to itself at times of growth and
guiding it reliably when it is
challenged.
The Five Principles of Mars are:
The
Quality
Principle
The consumer is our boss, quality is our
work and value for money is our goal.
The
Responsibility
Principle
As individuals, we demand total
responsibility from ourselves; as
associates, we support the
responsibilities of others.
The
Mutuality
Principle
A mutual benefit is a shared
benefit; a shared benefit will endure.
The
Efficiency
Principle
We use resources to the full, waste nothing and do
only what we can do best.
The
Freedom
Principle
We need freedom to shape our
future; we need profit to remain
free.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Over its history
Mars’ brands have
been the recipients of
numerous awards for
creative and innovative brand
communications.
The company itself has
traditionally maintained a lower
profile, however is distinctive in
its reputation as an employer of
choice, an efficientmanufacturer,
and a community leader in
sustainable business practices.
This is reflected in awards
such as the Premier of
Victoria’s Sustainability
Awards in which the
business has
been
a
finalist; the
EmployerofChoice -AustralianGovernment’sEqual
Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Award;
the Governor of Victoria Exporter of the Year, and
the recent induction of the company into the
Victorian StateManufacturingHall of Fame
(for sustainedmanufacturing excellence).
HISTORY
Founded in 1911, the company now
manufactures and markets a variety of
products under many of the worlds most
recognisable trademarks, inmore than one
hundred countries around the world. The
company’s global sales are over US$21
billion annually, a significant achievement
from a humble start when Frank C. Mars
started making and selling butter cream candies in
Tacoma, Washington, U.S.A. The company’s first
blockbuster product was
MILKYWAY®, invented
by FrankMars and his son
Forrest in 1923, and many
more of theworld’s leading
confectionery, food and petcare
products followed. Today Mars also has a
growing beverage and health and nutrition
businesses.
68
vo_068-069.p65
10/26/2007, 10:06 PM
2