Mars Global Partnership Director Heather Stuckey talks media, creative and consumer behaviours in the latest episode of MAD//Fest’s partner podcast, Shiny New Object. Host and Automated Creative Founder Tom Ollerton explains.

Mars is known for its iconic brands and powerful stories and Heather’s aim is to make content that’s meaningful, whether it makes people laugh, cry or is in some way useful. She goes into detail about the tale of rapper Lil Nas X’s rise to fame to illustrate her point. 

He tapped into platform specific behaviours, and created content that spoke to what the audiences wanted to see and share, rather than what he might have wanted to specifically promote. As Heather explains, “he knew what he needed to do, the type of content he needed to create to appeal to his audience”. He marketed his song in a way that fit with his audience’s life. 

This is what Mars looks to do with its content – Heather gives the example of Dreamies Cat Treats’ influencer-focused campaign on TikTok, which followed pre existing consumer behaviour on the platform to create relevant content (in this case, shaking cat treats). 

Heather’s Shiny New Object is “Unlocking value at the intersection of media and content”. There are a number of questions she asks herself to make sure Mars does this, such as: How do we move at the speed of emerging media? How do we continue to be as effective telling these stories across a number of different platforms, and drive value with our consumers?

For more on Heather’s views on media and content, as well as her passion for being curious, listen to the podcast in full here. 

Subscribe to the ‘Shiny New Object’ Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and Soundcloud.