Mars Pure Dark

Pure Dark, a new brand and retail experience, enabled Mars to expand their revenue by tapping into the $4 billion premium chocolate market.

When Mars, a major candy company, came to Nottingham Spirk, they were leaders in mass market chocolate with well-known brands such as M&M’s and Snickers. Despite their success in large-scale cocoa production, they recognized the need for an open innovation partner to work with them to address the high-end chocolate market.

Our consumer insights team began by gathering consumer research to discover the unmet needs of chocolate lovers. In response to customer insights and after a careful industry analysis, we collaborated with Mars to create the Pure Dark name, and design a distinctive product line along with unique packaging and point of sale displays, as well as a memorable retail experience. Our insights, product design, and prototyping teams worked closely with Mars’ branding and promotions agencies to create a retail environment that was immersive, interactive, and delivered a heightened sensory experience.

Mars leveraged our open innovation network to create and source packaging materials and to quickly create a new small-scale supply chain, which would have been challenging inside Mars. We worked with Mars in many aspects, from finding a medical supply company that could create an airtight seal for the parchment packaging, to designing modular mobile display components.