Hershey Switches to an AI Marketing System With Mutinex, Tracer

The Hershey Company is rolling out a new AI-powered marketing system.

It introduces an AI-enabled marketing mix model that connects data, measurement, and activation into a single system.

Built with SaaS platform Mutinex, it is designed to move media decision-making from periodic analysis to real-time optimization.

Supported by the collaborative data analytics platform, Tracer, the full launch happens in May.

"In the past, we’ve focused on reach," The Hershey Company VP of Consumer Connections Vinny Rinaldi wrote in a blog post.

"Now, we’re prioritizing relevance, boosting efficiency of every dollar spent." 

This move to AI marketing positions the confectionery company to act on live market signals instead of contending with delayed performance reports.

AI Powers Always-On Marketing

At the center of the initiative is a centralized data system that consumes inputs from social platforms, search engines, streaming services, and sales channels.

The Hershey Company refers to this layer as a "data washing machine," standardizing and processing data overnight.

The data feeds into an agentic-AI-powered platform layer that sits on top.

It analyzes performance across channels and recommends where to move valuable media spend in real time.

"What used to take five months of manual sorting in dizzying spreadsheets now happens dynamically overnight," Rinaldi added.

The approach turns marketing into an always-on system that matches spend with live consumer behavior.

Instant Data Reveals Performance Gaps

Hershey's move to bring data capabilities in-house while working with Mutinex adds fuel to its marketing mix model.

Previously, measurement cycles ran a few times per year, limiting responsiveness.

Now, performance can be evaluated monthly using rolling windows.

At the same time, it allows teams to track short-term and long-term brand impact.

And early findings are already guiding decisions.

Organic social content for Kit Kat US delivered a view rate 4.5 times higher and 13 times more engagement than paid media.

"This is changing how we think about investing in media," Rinaldi explained.

"In the future, this type of granular data will be available to us immediately, so the team can decide where to invest time and dollars."

These insights highlight how real-time visibility can uncover undervalued channels and move investment priorities.

• Build first-party data systems to improve visibility and reduce reliance on external reporting frameworks.
• Evaluate engagement and efficiency metrics alongside reach to identify stronger-performing channels.
• Invest in infrastructure before scaling AI to ensure outputs are accurate and actionable.

Faster access to performance data enables teams to act on observations without delay.

Our Take: Can Agentic-AI Marketing Deliver a Consistent Advantage?

The brand’s AI marketing approach prioritizes infrastructure over surface-level AI adoption.

This helps Hershey avoid acting on incomplete data, misallocating spend, or scaling campaigns that aren’t actually performing.

With a large portfolio of brands, a unified system also makes it easier to track performance and compare results across categories.

This approach can definitely deliver an advantage, but only if the system is maintained properly.

Systems like this require clean data, internal alignment, and ongoing investment to stay effective.

Real-time capability only delivers long-term, consistent value when the underlying foundation remains stable and reliable.

This kind of AI repositioning is happening across industries.

In a shocking turn of events, Allbirds sold its footwear brand to pivot into GPU-based AI infrastructure to compete in new markets.

Brands looking to adopt AI capabilities need partners that understand the nuances of advanced tech and market analytics.

Explore these top AI digital marketing agencies in our directory.