Mars

Three standout metrics

26,000

unique users reached

122,000

page views generated

81%

of candidates found employee-generated content helpful

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Where things got stuck

A global household name, Mars manufactures confectionery, food products and pet food. It also provides pet care services, and even has a food research arm. Advocating for sustainability, gender equality and human rights has earned Mars the title of one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies. But despite their strong reputation and global footprint, Mars’ employer brand was so strongly associated with their candy business that they struggled to attract candidates for their other divisions.

The challenges holding them back included:

Candidates were most familiar with Mars as a confectionary company, with low awareness of their leadership in other sectors.
Difficulty reaching talent through one of candidates’ preferred jobseeking channels (organic search).
Their employer brand didn’t leverage their history as a family-owned business, and the strategy needed a refresh for modern times.

With the ambition to be recognisedrecognized globally as game-changing thought leaders in all their verticals, plus bold growth plans for the business, Mars needed a modern approach to showcasing their employer brand.

The turning point

Mars decided to transform their employer branding strategy by putting their employees’ voices at the center. They implemented PageUp Employee Connections to create a content engine powered by real stories from their own people.

The shift began in three phases:

Activating employee advocacy

To capture diverse perspectives and stories across all their businesses, Mars created three levels for employee advocacy: Associate, Ambassador and Senior Leader.
Amplifying real voices, and real answers

Using PageUp’s Employee Connections platform, Mars created a discussion forum for curious candidates to ask questions to real Mars employees, driving employee-generated content.
Scaling with search engine optimisationoptimization

Mars leveraged the employee-generated content to boost SEO performance and create a steady stream of recruitment marketing material.

The solution in action

Mars transformed their talent attraction by turning employees into storytellers through PageUp’s AI-powered platform.

Key initiatives included:

Always-on discussion platform

Candidates could ask questions and get real answers from Mars employees, creating a library of authentic stories covering day-to-day responsibilities, company culture, and career advice, relevant to each business unit and career level.
Search engine optimisationoptimization

PageUp’s discussion platform helped Mars generate so much relevant content that the site now ranks first for searches like “Mars career advice” above Glassdoor and Mars’ own embedded careers site, driving 14% of platform traffic from organic search.
Multi-channel content repurposing

Popular discussions and answers were distributed across social media and candidate nurturing campaigns with one-click sharing, extending reach beyond the discussion site.
Data-driven content strategy

Mars tracked trending candidate questions to understand what information mattered most to talent, allowing them to focus content creation on real candidate needs rather than assumptions.
Role-specific insights

Employees shared relevant details about specific positions and departments in each of Mars’ business units, closing an information gap that 57% of candidates say exists on most employers’ careers sites.

The impact

Hard ROI

First position ranking for popular Google searches such as ‘Mars career advice’
26,000+ unique users reached across all markets
122,000+ page views generated since 2019 launch
2,278+ views on most popular discussion thread

Soft ROI

Breadth of Mars’ specialisms and activities are highlighted, repositioning the employer brand across all talent markets
Employees feel heard through three advocacy channels, giving candidates authentic answers and creating a steady stream of genuine content that builds trust and improves SEO
Granular, employee-generated content covers a huge range of topics, closing the information gap most jobseekers say exists on employers’ career sites
Employee-generated content can feed social media and recruitment marketing efforts