From Snickers To Skittles: Fabio Ruffet’s Rules for Iconic Brands

In an industry obsessed with reinvention, Mars takes a different view: icons don’t need to be reinvented but need to be protected, sharpened and kept culturally alive.

Fabio Ruffet sits at the centre of that philosophy. As vice president for brands and content at Mars Snacking, he oversees creativity across Europe and Central Eurasia, while acting as global brand steward for Twix, Orbit, Extra and, from this year, Galaxy. It is a role built less on disruption than on responsibility.

“My ambition is simple: to leave the brands stronger than we found them," he states. This is a goal shaped by his respect for the generations of marketers and creatives who built Mars’ portfolio.

“It’s humbling,” he continues. “We stand on the shoulders of giants — the innovators at Mars who created icons like M&M’S, Snickers, Skittles and Twix, along with some of the most memorable campaigns in advertising history that continue to drive long-term, quality growth."

Snickers has spent more than a decade refining the now-iconic 'You’re Not You When You’re Hungry' into one of advertising’s most consistent and elastic platforms, using humour and celebrity transformations. Skittles’ 'Taste the Rainbow' world remains defiantly weird but instantly recognisable that could only belong to that one brand. Meanwhile, M&M’S and Twix have built brand equity through persistent, distinctive assets: like the 'Spokescandies' for M&M's and the inseparable pairing of two bars in one as Twix' primary functional asset.

At Mars, consistency is not a constraint - it’s a competitive advantage, according to Ruffet. “Our assets are among the most distinctive in any category,” he explains. “The exciting challenge is keeping them relevant as consumer behaviour, media, and technology continue to shift.”

From agency to client

This emphasis on consistency and craft is not accidental. Ruffet’s creative sensibility is rooted in a childhood steeped in cinema and the kind of advertising that treated commercials like mini-films. Growing up in Argentina, he was surrounded by cinema and advertising at a time when commercials were treated as cultural events. “In the 1980s, cinema commercials were often exceptional. Sometimes even more engaging than the films themselves.”

Argentina’s prime-time television programme dedicated to showcasing the best advertising from around the world would become a formative influence for this marketer. Ruffet started agency-side, drawn to work like Dove’s 'Campaign for Real Beauty'.

"The one constant in my career is change. Moving abroad, switching categories, transitioning between client and agency roles — each shift offered new perspectives. I learned early on that curiosity, adaptability, and a willingness to acquire new skills are essential to succeed.

"I first wanted to work in advertising being in awe of Dove’s 'Campaign for Real Beauty'. Agencies were doubtful without agency experience in my CV, but eventually Euro RSCG gave me a chance. I started on small accounts and ended up doing a bit of everything: recording voiceovers, editing, overseeing animation, writing scripts—work outside my official remit, but that I enjoyed the most."

He eventually did move to Ogilvy, and realised his dream of working on Dove — which he calls his "long term goal" - and then Ford, collaborating with some of the best directors, cinematographers and photographers. Bacardi followed, giving him a client-side perspective into strategy and innovation, while staying creatively involved. “Today at Mars, I feel privileged to work for a company that values its associates in the way it does and supports them to realise their potential."

All these experiences, he says, have shaped how he judges work today. “I’m drawn to work that is simple, tells a clear story, and has a distinctive point of view. My response is instinctive. I either feel it or I don’t, and only then does the rational analysis follow.”

However creative the work, the objective is always clear. “Our campaigns may sometimes earn a place beyond advertising,” he says. “But their true purpose is to build brands and fuel quality growth.”

Craft, creativity, and culture

Ruffet’s instinct for great work - feeling it before analysing it - has been shaped by a parallel discipline that runs alongside his marketing career: photography. Not just as a hobby, but a practice. It’s where his respect for craft, composition and restraint was formed, and where he learned to tell a story in a single frame. A mindset that explains his enduring belief in out-of-home, where there’s nowhere to hide. "That’s why out-of-home remains so powerful — you have just a moment to connect with a single image, and one of the last truly non-skippable channels."

His academic work in documentary photography, he adds, sharpened that sensibility further. Shooting on film, and spending hours in the darkroom, taught patience and deliberateness. “Shooting on film forces you to slow down and be deliberate. In business, that translates to pausing to understand context, human behaviour and nuance before acting.” In an industry optimised for speed, that belief in craft feels quietly subversive.

Meanwhile, Ruffet has little time for one of marketing’s most persistent arguments: long-term brand building versus short-term performance. “We don’t see it as a dichotomy,” he says. “Being a family-owned, privately-held [company] enables us to take a long-term view - not just thinking in quarters, but in generations.”

He points to connected work across all touch-points as the key: “Our best campaigns co-create with consumers and personalise at scale," he adds, citing the success of a Snickers Halloween film, on TikTok.

Let's Talk AI

For Ruffet, the competition isn’t other brands — it’s everything else people watch online. If they want to survive, their work has to match the cultural sharpness and quality of the content around it.

That shift demands new tools, platforms and skills. Storytelling in unconventional channels is only just beginning, and he wants to see it pushed further. "I’m curious about new tools, platforms, and skills. Our focus is to accelerate PESO (paid, earned, shared and owned) ideas that leverage each touchpoint natively, yet becoming stronger than the sum of the parts. We want to make ideas that can survive and thrive in the jungle, not just the zoo."

Which brings him to AI. "AI is both underestimated by marketers at times, and occasionally over hyped too," he states. For him, some of the grand forecasts - especially those on LinkedIn - are overstated. Yet the advantage is clear. AI fluency will separate the winners from the rest. And like any good marketer, he knows the fundamentals endure. Insight, positioning, distinctive assets, and consistency remain the core of great marketing.

"We're building the future of snacking on firm foundations — one that marries the success of our existing business with innovation and evolution that consumers increasingly expect. Sound judgement, ambition, and creativity remain inherently human. When combined with AI, they provide an unparalleled competitive advantage." Ruffet points to the example of the Twix 'Two is More Than One' campaign by adam&eveddb (now called adam&eve\TBWA) that leveraged AI to let consumers harmonise voice notes into duets on WhatsApp - a platform not open to advertisers. He explains that the campaign went from concept to live in weeks, "something impossible a year ago. Technology amplified the idea, but human creativity made it possible."

Client agency relationship

His perspective on AI is a reflection of his wider philosophy. That the best marketing is not about tools, but about the conditions that allow creativity to thrive. That same focus on creating the right conditions extends to the way he works with agencies.

For Ruffet, the agencies that endure are those that combine speed with substance. “Ideas must be rooted in a clear understanding of growth audiences and consumer needs, and it is the quality of the creative that ultimately makes the difference. Structure, tools and operating models will continue to evolve, but none of that matters if the work itself is not exceptional."

The strongest partners, he explains, are those who listen closely, adapt quickly, and bring a distinct point of view rather than a one-size-fits-all solution. At Mars, partnerships are guided by five principles — quality, responsibility, mutuality, efficiency, and freedom - creating shared value so that everyone wins. Twice a year, he convenes a Creative Council, which he describes as electric.

“The best partnerships are those where labels disappear. You forget which agency is which, because what matters is the calibre of the thinking, the quality of the creative and the chemistry between people. That is when the best work emerges.”

And even amid restructuring and layoffs across the agency landscape industry, Ruffet remains optimistic. “Historically, creativity has thrived in times of crisis,” he says recalling Argentina’s economic turmoil in the early 2000s, when scarcity forced sharper thinking and braver work.

“Creativity isn’t dying. It’s shifting. The opportunities for storytelling are multiplying, albeit in new forms. That’s an exciting prospect, even as we remain mindful of the very real challenges this transition creates for people across the industry.”

For brands and agencies willing to respect the fundamentals, invest in talent and craft, and trust creativity, that shift looks less like a threat and more like an invitation.