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Marketing Information and Research - Case Study - Fruit Gum
Marketing Information and Research - Case Study - Fruit Gum
Back in the nineties, Juicy Fruit Gum, the oldest brand of the Wm. Wrigley Jr.
Company, was not chewing up the teen market, gum’s top demographic. In 1997,
the company found itself under pressure from competitors. Sales and market share
were down. How could Wrigley get more kids to go for their famous gum?
Wrigley went to the source to find out. Marketing researchers approached
teens who chewed five or more sticks of Juicy Fruit each week and gave them a
homework assignment: Find pictures that remind you of Juicy Fruit gum and write a
short story about it. When the kids shared their stories, Wrigley learned that
they chew Juicy Fruit because it’s sweet. They said it refreshed and energized them.
Wrigley’s ad agency, BBDO, confirmed what the teens were saying. Conducting
survey research, BBDO asked more than four hundred heavy gum chewers to rate
various brands by attributes that best represented them. For Juicy Fruit, respondents
picked phrases such as “has the right amount of sweetness” and “is made with
natural sweetness.”
Another of BBDO’s studies investigated why teens in particular chew gum. Was it to
cope with stress? Or because they forgot to brush their teeth before going to
school? Nearly three out of four teens reported popping a stick of gum into their
mouth when they craved something sweet. And Juicy Fruit was the top brand they
picked to fulfill that need. (Rival chewing-gum brand Big Red was a distant second.)