How an agile community approach supported the transition from Uncle Ben’s to Ben’s Original

Katie Kaylor and Patricia van der Hart

With the acceleration of the Black Lives Matter movement, Mars Food knew it was time to evolve the long-established brand, Uncle Ben’s, to reflect its ambition to promote equity and inclusion, especially given the racial inequities associated with the name and imagery of the brand.

Business issue

In the summer of 2020, a myriad of racial injustices were thrown into the global spotlight thanks to the acceleration of the Black Lives Matter movement. Mars Food, already being aware of this movement, decided that it was time to evolve the long-established brand, Uncle Ben’s, to reflect its ambition to promote equity and inclusion. However, doing so risked destabilising a brand with long-standing equity, which could negatively impact sales. As such, Mars Food needed to define a new brand platform that would mitigate this risk.

Research objectives

Given the racial inequities that were associated with the name...

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