“ “if an enterprise wants to keep a young heart, it must always be with young people.”—— Dong Hong, vice president of R & D of Mars Wrigley in China ”You know what? With the development of human history, there is no food that has been accepted by people all over the world as quickly as candy and chocolate.Europe and the United States, which love “sweetness” most, have also demonstrated the magic of candy and chocolate in films. In Charlie and the chocolate factory, the chocolate waterfall, the river flowing with brown syrup, the gum grass, the milk sugar mountain… Hide the dialogue between desire and soul; “Deep love chocolate” sets the focus of the heroine when making chocolate, and deduces a romantic love storyNot to mention “life is like chocolate” mentioned by Forrest Gump, and “love and hate with chocolate” described by Haruki Murakami in his book, and even a British writer once wrote, “It doesn’t matter that William I ascended the throne in 1066 and William II in 1087. These events have no impact on our lives… However, Mars chocolate bar in 1932, malt sugar in 1936, and cocoa beans in 1937 – these dates are historical milestones and will be imprinted on the memory of every child in this country.”It is enough to prove that candy chocolate has never lost people’s love for thousands of years. Not only in Europe and America, the candy and chocolate industry has always been one of the pillar snack industries in China and a driving category in the food industry. Of course, with the upgrading of consumption, the demand of Chinese consumers for sweets and chocolates has gradually increased in recent years, such as sugar reduction, entertainment and socialization of packaging, size and functionality of packaging, etc.Under such a trend, if the core needs and demands of consumers are not met and matched, and the “express train” of innovation and expansion is not taken, then in this “sweet” war, it may soon fall behind.Among them, Mars, a century old enterprise, adheres to the vision of “the future begins with the present”. It has not only maintained the brand attitude of deeply cultivating the industry, but also continued to change and innovate with the iteration of the times and consumers, and gradually grew into an international giant in the candy industry and food industry. In today’s Chinese market, with a history of one hundred years, it still maintains a young atmosphere, and constantly introduces products that meet the needs of consumers – Defu 0 sugar black and clever, and jointly create a stem with consumers – tranquil M & M’s, entering the biscuit and ice cream market, green arrow herbal Qingrun buccal tabletsDefu 0 sugar black QiaoDove silk slide rollOn July 26, at the fourth Isee global food innovation award ceremony held in Hangzhou, Mars won the business category of the fourth Isee Innovation Award – excellent business practice and the grand prize of the whole venue with the business case of “vision as the anchor, innovative thinking to promote sustainable development in all directions”. In addition, its green arrow herb Qingrun buccal sugar also won the comprehensive innovation award of the product category.Green arrow herb Qingrun buccal tablet sugarMany awards have been won. Behind the innovation of MarsDong Hong: consumers’ ultimate satisfaction is one of Mars’ ultimate goals. Therefore, as long as consumers have demand, we will try from the perspective of innovation.In the process of trying, we will think about how many business opportunities there are in this category, such as ice cream. The demand of Chinese consumers for ice cream is still relatively large and there are very large business opportunities, so we will pay close attention to ice cream. After that, if we continue to find such business opportunities, we will certainly increase our investment in the Chinese market. At the same time, we will also test our ideas through some projects, such as the business opportunities just mentioned. Our brands of dove, Snickers and medissa have launched ice cream products in the Chinese market and received good market feedback.Ling Ting: a large part of the carrier of every brand’s link with consumers is products. In the past, it was an innovation centered on the supply chain, and the factory did what it could. But today is consumer centric, and consumers can do whatever they need. When it comes to innovation, we have to mention the criticisms of large companies on the speed of innovation. What breakthrough has Mars made?Dong Hong: Mars is still learning and groping step by step. On the one hand, the current industry partners are some experts we need to learn from, and we need to learn from them how to do this. If you have the right attitude, you can learn new things.On the other hand, large companies have their own business operation mode. In the process of transformation from one mode to another, we need to constantly explore how to achieve stable and continuous business opportunities.In this process, we will find that large enterprises have the advantages of large enterprises. For example, a large and stable supply chain is a strong backing for product quality and supply capacity. Since this is an advantage, we should not lose it. Then we need to think about how to increase the ability of flexible supply chain in terms of advantages, so that we can accurately grasp the needs of consumers in the first time and further support the iteration of product innovation.Digitization is an important strategy that large companies need to do quickly. Just now, it was mentioned that the speed of launching our new products has been improved, which is attributed to the digitization. In the past, it took us several months to get some new consumer demands. Now we can get the latest consumer demands in a more timely manner, which is very helpful to innovation development and iteration.Mars will also expand innovation with partners and cooperate with suppliers and scientific research institutions. Unlike previous internal innovation, we will share and make open innovation. In fact, external partners are very willing to cooperate with enterprises like ours, which will increase the sources of innovation.In addition, the rapid development of China’s digital platform and the cooperation with large platforms are accelerating the incubation of products, which is also an important channel for accelerating.Ling listen: This shows that Mars is becoming more and more open. Any innovation is made step by step. There is no so-called success in one move. A hundred year old enterprise has also come step by step.“Effective supply” of brand innovation:keepThe second is external. The speed of new products made by large international companies like Mars has been criticized all the time. For us, Mars is now considering, on the one hand, using digital tools to get close to consumers and timely insight into market demand; On the other hand, the iteration of new products will be transferred to the online, and young consumers and KOL will be invited to taste and evaluate the products together. Through their opinions, the products will be made better and become new products accepted and loved by more and more consumers. This time is the process from online to offline. Through flexible supply chain, rapid response is also the process that Mars actively brings consumer ideas into product innovation.In addition, we will also actively communicate with consumers. For example, when dove launches the new dove 0 sugar black chocolate, consumers’ evaluation and sharing of the product will become the direction of improvement in the later stage of the product.Ling Ting: the closer you are to consumers, the more you can really hear their voices. In turn, if you iterate the products quickly, the success rate of the products will be higher. In this part, will there be some differences between the world and China?Dong Hong: in terms of direction, Mars is positioning global brands and global products. But in terms of specific innovation, consumers are the object of innovation, and ultimately to meet the needs of local consumers. Therefore, the final manifestation of product innovation is localization.Long term survival law:Unleash the infinite power of sustainable developmentLing Ting: Mars has also won the excellent business practice award this time. I noticed that the theme of this award is “vision as anchor, innovative thinking to promote sustainable development in an all-round way”. Has Mars always been an important promoter of sustainable development? A few years ago, Mars put forward the “sustainable development plan for one generation”. Would you like to share the meaning of this sentence and the practice behind it?Dong Hong: Mars has always adhered to five principles: quality, responsibility, reciprocity, efficiency and autonomy. Under such principles, Mars has a very clear vision: “the future starts from the present”, which coincides with the sustainable development advocated by ESG.Among them, reciprocity is one of the five most important principles. We believe that the benefits that can be shared can go far. This is the core of reciprocity. In the business activities under the guidance of reciprocity, Mars has created “reciprocity economics” and is also promoting the development of reciprocity economics with relevant enterprises and industries.Under the development of reciprocal economics, Mars launched the “one generation sustainable development plan”, which can be expressed in various forms, but its purpose is to promote the development of sustainable and reciprocal economics. Under such a framework, we will encourage more diversified and inclusive economies.Take the Chinese market as an example. In recent years, we have launched the small town youth program in China. If young people in remote cities want to learn sales and may want to start their own business in the future, we will provide sales training and lead them to our company to see how sales are done. Our goal is to provide sales knowledge training to 100000 young people in small towns by 2025. We hope thatIn the past two years, Mars has reduced nearly 1000 tons of plastic in China, which is a very difficult progress. But it is our ultimate goal to create a green world for the next generation. Plastic reduction is only one of the initial steps.Mars has reduced nearly 1000 tons of plastic in ChinaMars believes that through effective recycling, packaging will no longer be garbage that pollutes the environment.M & M’s launches degradable composite paper packagingLingting: I think this is also a good example for the industry. We have also observed that in addition to low-carbon, Mars’ sustainability also emphasizes diversified human values, especially on women’s care. How Does Mars understand and practice this part?Dong Hong: we have just talked about enterprises, partners and suppliers, but we haven’t talked about the core of our services, that is, consumers.The current generation Z is the indigenous people of the Internet. Although their personality is very distinct, they have a more inclusive concept of life. In this process, they hope that their favorite brands can speak on their own behalf. For example, dove is very popular with female consumers. We use dove to represent hundreds of millions of female consumers behind us to tell the majority of women: what kind of life should be controlled by themselves and their own life should be their own.Dove’s happy big film goodbye Ferris wheelTo sum up, what kind of personality consumers want, the brands they like will help them to speak for them. This is also a thing we are doing for consumers.Ling Ting: why sustainable development has been attached great importance in the past two years, a large part of the reason is that the young people we are facing, that is, the post-90s generation or generation Z, actually attach great importance to sustainable development, so they will also choose products with such thinking. Under the trend of more and more attention to sustainability, what changes have taken place behind Mars’ observation? What impact do you think ESG performance will have on the operation and development of an enterprise?Dong Hong: ESG is not a new topic in fact, but under the continuous impact of the epidemic, it has indeed become the focus of attention of consumers and all levels of society.The core of ESG is the enterprise, that is, in terms of sustainable development, it has higher requirements for the enterprise. It is hoped that the enterprise will make greater contributions and drive the whole society to see not only the present but also the future. Then ESG hopes that enterprises can see the impact on society and the world, have a great expectation for the future, and learn a lot from it.Ling Ting: how to balance sustainable responsibility, value and business behavior? Many brands may not be able to achieve both. What experience can Mars share?Dong Hong: Mars is also in the process of learning. Transformation is not achieved overnight. It has indeed experienced some challenges and pains.As I have just introduced to you, we have a very clear corporate vision. Since we all agree thatAt the same time, Mars is willing to “lower its posture” to learn from young brands, learn how to maintain the agility of innovation and how to create together with users, and actively follow up the speed of China’s digital transformation, and use all means to open more channels and maintain unimpeded communication with young people.In a word, to keep a young heart, we should always learn from young people and grow up with them.“Lingting” is a brand-new column under foodaily that talks about leaders in the new food era. Here, foodaily will have in-depth talks with innovators, pioneers, pioneers and demonstrators who promote the development of the food industry, share all the risks and evolution of innovation behind the brand, and observe the business logic in the great changes in the industry. It includes two sub columns: the great founder and the power of leaders.Source: foodaily lingting (ID: foodaily_lingting), reprinted with authorization. Reprint authorization and media business cooperation: Amy (wechat: 13701559246); related reading Dialogue with Dong Hong, vice president of R & D of Mars Wrigley in China: there is no contradiction between centenary and youth玛氏小镇青年就创业扶植项目 这是在销售端，另外一个例子是在供应前端。在玛氏的产品中，花生是一个非常重要的原料，而花生是比较脆弱的农产品，花生中有两种酸：高油酸和亚油酸，其中亚油酸的氧化速度很快。所以为了品质保证，玛氏一直以来都选用的是国外进口的高油酸花生，但成本也相当的高。我们就想到，如果能够在本地种植，其实是互惠的，也可以给当地的农民提供更多的支持，所以玛氏已经在中国开展了十几年的本地高油酸花生的种植活动。玛氏箭牌中国高油酸花生可持续发展项目 我们得到利益的同时，当地农民学会了种植高油酸花生，高油酸花生的经济产出比普通花生要高很多，这也带动了一整批当地农民发家致富，这也是玛氏可持续发展计划中一个很好的例子。玲听：刚刚听到您说的小镇青年计划，这些人都是玛氏非常忠实的粉丝吗？算是KOC吗？董虹：不一定。我们更多地是去考虑想在销售方面创业的青年人，就去提供这样的机会，不是必须要为玛氏做什么。 玲听：Foodaily也一直在关注可持续发展，在整个发展历程，我们发现从最开始关注食品安全，再到营养，到现在不要以牺牲下一代人为代价去发展经济，所以我想再问一下，针对“一代人的可持续发展计划”，玛氏还有其他举措吗？董虹：基于整个社会和消费者的核心需求，玛氏从多个方面，包括环境改善、权益维护和福祉建设等多方面积极行动。除了刚刚讲的例子，还有一个很好的例子就是包装的可持续发展。过去两年间，玛氏在中国已经减少了近1000吨的塑料，这是非常不容易的进步，但为下一代打造出一个绿色的世界，是我们最终的目标，减塑只是其中一个起始的步伐。玛氏在中国已减少近1000吨塑料 玛氏相信通过有效循环，包装将不再是污染环境的垃圾。将来玛氏会更多地去使用可循环、可降解的包装，和各行各业的伙伴们一起逐步推进塑料的可循环发展，这些都是在尝试最终怎样才能形成可循环包装的产业链。M&M’s推出可降解复合纸包装 玲听：我觉得这对行业也是很好的示范作用。我们还观察到，除低碳外，玛氏的可持续还比较强调多元的人文价值观，尤其在女性关怀上，关于这部分，玛氏是怎么理解和实践的？董虹：刚刚谈到了企业、合作伙伴、供应商等，还没谈到我们的服务核心，就是消费者。现在的Z世代是互联网的原住民，他们虽个性很鲜明，但更多的是有一个更加包容的生活理念。在这个过程中，他们希望自己所喜欢的品牌能够代表自己去发声，比如德芙，深受女性消费者的欢迎，我们就借由德芙代表背后数亿级的女性消费者，来告诉广大女性：过什么样的生活应该由自己掌控，自己的生活自己做主。德芙愉悦大电影《再见摩天轮》 总结来说，消费者想要的个性是什么样的，他们喜欢的品牌就会帮助他去代言，这也是我们为消费者在做的一项事情。玲听：为什么近两年可持续发展非常受到重视，有很大一部分原因是因为当下我们所面临的这群年轻人，即90后或Z世代，其实非常看重可持续发展，所以他们也会带着这样的思维去选择产品。在可持续越来越受关注的趋势下，玛氏观察到背后发生了怎样的时代变化？您认为ESG表现会对一家企业的经营发展会造成一些怎样的影响？董虹：ESG其实不是一个新的课题，但在疫情持续不断的影响下，确实已成为广大消费者和社会各层所关注的点。ESG的核心就是企业，即在可持续发展上，对企业有了更高的要求，希望企业有更大的贡献，希望带动整个社会看到的不仅仅是现在，还能关注到未来。那么ESG希望企业能够看到对社会、对世界的影响，对未来有一个很大的期望，企业也能从中学习到很多东西。玲听：那如何将可持续的责任、价值和商业行为做平衡？很多品牌可能都没办法做到两全，玛氏有一些什么经验可以分享？董虹：玛氏也在学习的过程中，转型并不是一蹴而就的，确实还是经历了一些挑战和阵痛。就像刚刚跟大家介绍的，我们已经有了一个非常清晰的企业愿景，既然都认同“未来始于当下”，那为了打造一个未来的绿色世界，为了下一代能有一个健康良好的生长环境，那么企业今天应该做什么？ 我们必须在短期、长期内部的业务指标和外部社会福祉方面的指标达成一个平衡，所以需要慢慢摸索学习，但有时候它并不是对立的，是和谐的统一。比如当我们跟消费者说要推出一个可再回收利用的包装，你愿意使用吗？消费者愿意去尝试这些事情，他们可能还会告诉你，他们希望这件事情应该怎么去做，这就是一个互相学习、互相磨合的过程。 慢慢就会发现，这个过程会给大伙儿带来很多学习成长的机会，也会给企业带来很大的商业发展机会，这件事情就不是一个矛盾冲突的事情。百年和年轻，并不矛盾如何保持永远年轻的心？应该是一家百年企业最常被问到的问题。坐在行业巨头的宝座上，玛氏面对的并非一片坦途，因而在不断变化中革新自我。虽然董虹略有“自嘲”地说道，“大企业的转型、创新速度经常被诟病”。但面对新品牌林立的中国新消费浪潮、年轻消费者的多元需求，玛氏并没有固守自封，而是向行业伙伴、年轻人学习，做到迅速调整姿态。在整个采访中，董虹一直在提到两个关键词：“学习”、“人”。在玛氏的企业文化中，有一条是“以人为本”，这个“人”既指消费者，也指内部员工。“在玛氏，年轻人是很有发言权的一群人，在招聘中以及在加入公司后，他们是不是得到了学习成长，心声能不能被听到，年轻人都被特别看重。”董虹说道。年轻人的心声一直都是玛氏在持续理解学习的。而年轻消费者更不用提，倾听消费者的声音，是玛氏产品创新中关键的一环。为此，玛氏的年轻员工去链接更多外部，如合作伙伴、消费者、媒体互动等，带来更多年轻消费者的理念和声音。同时玛氏愿意“降低姿态”跟年轻的品牌取经，学习他们如何保持创新的敏捷性、如何与用户共创，同时也在积极跟进中国的数字化转型速度，用一切方法打开更多的渠道和年轻人保持畅通无阻的沟通。 总结一句话，要保持一颗年轻的心，就是要一直和年轻人学习，和他们一起成长。「玲听」，是Foodaily旗下一档对话新食品时代领军者的全新栏目。在这里，Foodaily将与推动食品行业发展的创新者、开拓者、领跑者与示范者展开深度对谈，分享品牌背后关于创新的一切冒险和进化，观察行业大变局中的生意逻辑。旗下包括两个子栏目：《了不起的创始人》和《领袖的力量》。来源：Foodaily玲听（ID：foodaily_lingting），转载已获得授权。转载授权及媒体商务合作：Amy（微信号：13701559246）；加入社群：Cherry（微信号：15262433826）。 相关阅读 食品人都“在看”