Last week, I shared the colorful (no pun intended) story behind M&M’s.
But there’s more to the story of M&M’s, as it led to the creation of a similar (yet different) candy from Mars’s rival, Hershey – Reese’s Pieces.
Did you ever wonder how Reese’s Pieces came to be?
Maybe not – but the story behind the famous peanut butter candy is one that shows the power of creativity, experimentation – and luck!
Though Reese’s Pieces first hit the market in 1979, their story really begins in the 1950s, when Hershey introduced a new chocolate to the market in 1954 – called Hershey-Ets.
They were small football-shaped pieces of chocolate surrounded by a thin candy shell. The football shape helped distinguish Hershey-Ets from its main competitor (guess who!), but problems with the shell forced Hershey to change the shape to a round lentil, similar to M&M’s, in 1960.
But Hershey-Ets were no match for M&M’s, and they were removed from the standard product line in the mid-1970s.
But through the process of creating Hershey-Ets, the team at Hershey had acquired special equipment and expertise in candy coating.
So they decided to try another experiment – and set out to create a product similar to the Hershey-Ets, but with a peanut butter center.
Creating a new candy proved difficult. Experiment after experiment failed as they tried to perfect the peanut butter center. They eventually brought in scientists who developed ‘penuche’ – a peanut butter-flavoured sugar filling with the consistency of chocolate.
They struggled to get a smooth consistency for the penuche, and then had to conduct experiments to find the ideal thickness of the outside candy shell. They wanted to capitalize on their popular Reese brand, and manufacture the candy in the Reese colors of orange and brown, but struggled to get the right hue of orange.
But they persisted, and in 1979 introduced their new product – Reese’s Pieces – to four test markets. Sales started off well, and Hershey chose to launch Reese’s Pieces nationally in 1980.
But Reese’s Pieces weren’t performing as well as they hoped, and they needed to find a way to market the product.
Then Hollywood came calling.
Universal Studios wanted to use Reese’s Pieces in their new film about ‘a space creature who befriends a little boy.’ The producers explained that the creature would be lured into the little boy’s house by a trail of Reese’s Pieces. Although they had never done anything like this before, Hershey exec Jack Dowd agreed to back up the movie – called E.T. – with $1 million worth of promotions. In return, Hershey would be able to use E.T. for its own advertising.
Without a script or idea of what the creature would look like, Dowd returned to Hershey to tell the staff about the deal. Earl Spangler, then-President of Hershey was skeptical. His concerns were not abated a few weeks later when Universal sent a picture of E.T. to use on the promotional materials.
“That’s the ugliest creature I have ever seen,” Spangler told Dowd.
Dowd and the team at Hershey carried on – printing posters and stickers proclaiming Reese’s Pieces as ‘E.T.'s Favorite Candy’ and making sure there was enough product in the pipeline for the demand they hoped the film would generate.
And that ‘ugly creature’ saved Reese’s Pieces.
E.T. was released in December 1982 and was a smash – setting all-time box office records. And sales of Reese’s Pieces took off, tripling within two weeks of the film’s release.
“It was the biggest marketing coup in history,” Dowd recalled. “We got immediate recognition for our product, the kind of recognition we would normally have to pay 15 or 20 million bucks for. It ended up as a cheap ride.”
Interestingly, Mars had been offered the movie deal first for M&M’s.
They passed.
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How Can I Help?
Do you know someone who needs help strengthening their communication skills? They want to be a better writer/public speaker/storyteller but don’t know how?
Or maybe you know someone who needs more creativity and innovation in their team or company?
Send them my way!
Get in touch to find out more about my creativity and communication workshops for teams and my 1:1 coaching services for leaders.
And now, I am off to watch E.T. again. And find some Reese’s Pieces…
Until next time!
-Beth