I always find food tie-in promotions for movies to be interesting. More often than not, the food has nothing to do with the movie, so there seems to be a branding disconnect. I think that's the case with Mars' new M&M's Mint Crisps which will be available as a limited edition this spring to promote the next movie in the Indiana Jones franchise, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
M&M's Mint Crisps aren't the first limited edition M&M's brand extension that Mars has created to tie into a movie. Just last year the company released M&M's Pirate Pearls (white chocolate M&M's), which seemed to tie in better with the Pirates of the Caribbean movie. In fact, Mars released a line of M&M's branded candies tied into the Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise. So far, I've only heard about M&M's Mint Crisps being tied into the fourth Indiana Jones movie.
M&M's brand extensions don't just stop at movie tie-ins. The Candy Addict reports that Mars has two other M&M's products ready to launch in 2008 - All Green M&M's (taking advantage of the green M&M's 'promise,' I like the tagline, "The new color of love") and Limited Edition Wildly Cherry M&M's.
Remember when there were only black, brown, yellow, orange and green M&M's? Now M&M's are available in nearly as many colors as a Pantone color chart and just as many flavors (okay, I'm exaggerating).
Throughout all the brand extensions of M&M's consumers have seen in the marketplace over the past 10 to 20 years, the market doesn't seem to be oversaturated with the M&M's brand. Is that simply because people always want more chocolate and are willing to accept brand extensions in the candy category more than they might in other categories? Or is Mars doing something right with their brand extensions that creates a balance that doesn't dilute the brand overall?
What do you think?
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