Reese’s Pieces, E.T.

s Pieces, E.T. Between Seinfeld and E.T., M&Ms has really missed some huge marketing opportunities (not that the company is exactly hurting). The rumor is that Mars, Inc., just didn’t think this was a worthwhile movie on which to spend their advertising dollars, but no one has ever substantiated that fact. Whatever the reason is, it was a big mistake—Mars’ competitor, Hershey, snapped up the opportunity to promote Reese’s Pieces. Hershey agreed to spend $1 million promoting E.T. in exchange for the rights to use E.T. in its ads. The payoff was huge—the delightful little peanut butter candies (can you tell I like Reese’s Pieces?) saw a reported 65% jump in profits just two weeks after the movie’s premiere [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfAzUAxWELU[/youtube]