• Ad Age, Tuesday, July 11, 2006 12:30 PM

A sales decline at Snickers, one of America's most popular candy bars, has cost a leading executive at parent company Mars Inc. his job. The confectioner this week dismissed Martyn Wilks, a 20-year Mars veteran who for the past 18 months had served as president of the company's snack food unit, which generates most of the company's profit. Wilks' ouster was the latest move in a series of changes instituted by Mars North America President Bob Gamgort, who is now taking the reins to repair Mars' ailing confection portfolio. "Mars didn't hit its sales and profit goals last year and, indicative of Bob's style, he wants to get a handle on what's working and what's not in the candy division, the company's primary profit center," said one Mars insider. The day after he fired Wilks, Gamgort issued a company-wide statement in which he said, "We need to move faster and more decisively if we're going to win in the marketplace and, as a result, I've decided to make a change in leadership." Though M&M's grew 2 percent to $509 million, the company's normally top-selling candy bar, Snickers, saw sales plunge 11 percent to $246 million in food, drug and mass outlets excluding Wal-Mart for the 52 weeks ended May 21. Other Mars products were also in decline: Starburst sales down 7 percent to $92 million, Skittles with a decrease of 3 percent to $74 million, Twix down 7 percent to $65 million and Combos declining 13 percent to $25 million.

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