Top 10 power brands

While Starburst and Skittles have their fans, M&Ms candies are at the core of Masterfoods’ success. The universally loved M&Ms brand characters and the famous slogan, “The milk chocolate melts in your mouth — not in your hand,” debuted in TV ads in 1954. Reinforcing brand awareness, the characters appeared on packaging in 1972. In the 1980s, the company expanded internationally, primarily in Europe. The candies became so popular with consumers, the first space shuttle astronauts chose to have M&M’s onboard. Utilizing the M&M's characters in 1996, Mars’ ad campaign catapulted to the No. 1 position, as rated by <I>USA Today.</I> The characters became a hit with consumers, too — surpassing even the popularity of Mickey Mouse and Bart Simpson, according to Marketing Evaluation Inc.

M&M’s branding succeeds because the company uses humor and fun to get us to identify with one of their charming Brand Spokescandies — winners of the Favorite Ad Icons and Slogans contest sponsored the American Assn. of Advertising Agencies last November. Taking a bow were Red, the leader of the pack (or so he thinks); Yellow, the optimist who sees the good in everything; Crispy (he’s orange), who longs to be on the endangered species list; Blue, a most confident fellow who likes the ladies, particularly Green, the resident femme fatale. Introduced in 1997, this multifaceted ’90s woman has starred in a number of commercials, and she’s toured the U.S. promoting her autobiography, “I Melt for No One.”

In early 1998, the characters proclaimed themselves the “Official Spokescandies of the New Millennium,” a logical and clever connection since “MM” in Roman numerals means 2000. Consumers around the world logged onto M&M’s new global website in 2002, and voted in M&M's Global Color Vote, the largest promotion in the brand’s 63-year history. Candy lovers from more than 200 countries participated. With purple, pink and aqua on the ballot, fans used their phones, logged onto mms.com, sent in mail and visited kiosks worldwide to cast their votes. Purple won, with 41 percent of the vote.

But there have been dark times too. On New Year’s Eve 2004, Red and Yellow were partying with the world’s oldest teenager, Dick Clark, and lost their color. The return of their colors two months later was celebrated in Los Angeles, where voices cheered and exclaimed, “Chocolate is better in color.”

Oreo: Take ownership of your cookie

In the enviable position of being the No. 1 selling cookie in America since its introduction in 1912, the Oreo, made by Nabisco, East Hanover, N.J., a brand of Kraft Foods, was a true innovation — two chocolate disks with a crème filling in between. Among the first “interactive” foods, Oreos allow, in fact encourage, consumers to be creative when eating them. From dunking them in milk, twisting them apart, eating the creme first or slowly nibbling or quickly gobbling a handful, consumers can take ownership and make eating Oreos into a very individual creative experience.

At the same time, Oreo has nurtured the idea of sharing — sharing a moment to connect with your grandpa, your dad, your best friend. For 93 years, the unique combination of textures and flavors of Oreo appeals to all ages, and the cookie has remained remarkably unchanged for 90 years. An Oreo cookie is 29 percent creme, 71 percent cookie. We’re told that in order to keep up with demand, the annual Oreo cookie recipe calls for 18 million pounds of cocoa and 47 million pounds of creme filling.

How did the Oreo get its mysterious name? The people at Nabisco aren't quite sure, but there are four theories. It might derive from the word “or” (meaning gold in French – a color used on early packaging designs). Others claim it comes from the Greek word "Oreo" which means mountain or hill, since the first test batches of cookies were shaped like a baseball mound. Some say the name came about because it just seemed like a nice, melodic combination of sounds with just a few catchy letters and it was easy to pronounce. My favorite theory is that Oreo is a combination of the "re" from "cream" and sandwiching it between the two "o"s in "chocolate" — just like the cookie.

If you think an Oreo is just food, you are mistaken. Preschoolers are encouraged to learn to count as 10 little Oreos are dunked, nibbled and stacked one by one … until there are none (courtesy of “The Oreo Cookie Counting Book” by Sarah Albee). A number of school systems employ Oreo Trivia to teach math. Questions include: If an Oreo cookie is 8 mm in height, how tall is a stack of 10 Oreos? 20 Oreos? All 51 Oreos (there are 51 in the standard 20-oz pack)? Or, if an Oreo cookie has a width of 1.75 inches, what length would we cover if we put all 51 cookies, side by side?

Today, Kraft markets many varieties of Oreo cookies, including Chocolate Creme Oreo, Reduced Fat Oreo, Fudge Covered Oreo, Fudge Mint Covered Oreo, Double Delight Oreo with Peanut Butter 'n Chocolate Creme, Double Delight Oreo with Mint 'n Crème, Double Delight Oreo Coffee 'n Crème, Candy Cane Crème, and Mini Oreo sandwich cookies. Nabisco was insistent that the mini cookies, measuring an inch in diameter and weighing just 1 oz., were exact replicas of regularly sized Oreos, including their ability to be twisted apart. Oreos are used as an ingredient in other foods, and batter-fried Oreos are popular carnival and amusement park foods.

Oreo worldwide is so popular that if every Oreo cookie ever made (more than 490 billion) were stacked on top of each other, the pile would reach to the moon and back more than six times. It was the best selling cookie of the 20th century … it would be difficult at this point to say what might unseat it in this 21st century.