Bilbrey affirms that 80-90% of Hershey products consumed in the US are made in the US, and the company boasts more than a 40% share of the American chocolate market.
That includes upping advertising, Bilbrey says that Hershey spends as much on advertising now as their entire category did in 2008 Hershey now reinvests about 7% of net sales into advertising.
Bilbrey took over as CEO about two years ago, he said we needed to look at our next phase of growth and get to the next level by having a growth officer and having the company driven by a marketplace approach rather than a financial approach to strategy.