Around 60,000 submissions were received.
Mars Wrigley has credited a generative AI-powered advertising push on Amazon Australia with boosting sales, awareness and relevance for its legacy chocolate brand, delivering a strong performance across both digital and offline channels.
Launched as part of the “For You Who Did That Thing You Did” campaign, the initiative marked the confectionery company’s first full-funnel campaign on the e-commerce platform.
The campaign, designed in collaboration with creative agency Thinkerbell, media agency EssenceMediacom and Amazon Ads’ Brand Innovation Lab, used Amazon’s generative AI to recognise everyday customer achievements, dubbed “Things”, and reward select users with a MARS Bar in their next Amazon delivery.
The campaign drew on first-party data from across the Amazon ecosystem, using AI models trained via Amazon Bedrock to personalise the experience.
Between August and October 2024, consumers were invited to log personal achievements, such as finishing a series on Prime Video or shopping from a local seller, and the AI determined if the effort qualified for a reward.
Around 60,000 submissions were received, with 30,000 judged worthy of a chocolate treat.
Mars Wrigley’s head of brand and content, Australia, Richard Weisinger, said the initiative was designed to align MARS Bar with the concept of “rewarding effort” in everyday life.
“One of the campaign’s greatest strengths was the ability to catch people at the moment of accomplishment and offer a simple, relevant reward,” said Weisinger.
“The use of generative AI gave us an entirely new way to engage audiences and immerse them in the brand story.”
Advertising ran across Amazon’s retail and media network, including homepage placements, Prime Video, email, online display and even delivery packaging, offering the brand broad reach with contextual precision.
The results were notable.
Sales of Mars products on Amazon rose 67% compared to the monthly average during the campaign, while offline product sales lifted 4.3%.
Brand awareness increased to 92%, with a 4.8% improvement in ad recall among core audiences. Engagement was particularly strong among Gen Z consumers, where ad recall hit 11.1%, and email open rates reached 57%.
Sixty per cent of brand store visitors were new to Mars Wrigley, spending an average of 73 seconds on-site.
Amazon Ads’ Chris Wilson said the campaign demonstrated how full-funnel advertising and AI could be combined to strengthen brand-consumer connections.
“Mars Wrigley's willingness to embrace emerging technologies exemplifies the kind of forward-thinking innovation our Brand Innovation Lab was designed to foster, an environment where marketers can take calculated risks, explore new storytelling approaches, and ultimately forge deeper connections with their audiences,” said Wilson.
“What made this campaign special was how thoughtfully the brand applied Amazon Bedrock's generative AI capabilities to evolve what a great customer experience can look like, in this case, celebrating the everyday moments that matter to our shared customers.
“By integrating this technology across multiple touchpoints and leveraging Amazon’s trillions of first-party shopping, browsing, and streaming signals that help brands connect to their relevant audiences, we created a seamless, personalised experience that resonated deeply with consumers and established authentic connections for the brand.”
Wilson said the campaign’s performance across both brand and sales metrics reinforced the commercial potential of Amazon’s marketing model.
“The strong results across brand metrics and sales performance demonstrate how brands can maximise Amazon's full-funnel approach to create meaningful connections at scale, making shopping more relevant, enjoyable, and even delicious for customers who now have a MARS Bar in their hands.”
Weisinger said the initiative has provided a template for future work, both locally and across global Mars Wrigley markets.
“This was one of our first real ventures into generative AI, and it laid a strong foundation,” he said.
“To stay relevant, we have to embrace emerging tools and tell our story in new ways. This campaign helped us do exactly that.”
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.