People rarely think about gum deliberately. It’s an impulse category, so naturally we live by being in the right place at the right time. You know, right there at the counter before you go to work, school or on that first date. Those times you may be getting a little close and personal.

So, when COVID arrived, our consumers almost forgot us. No school, no work, no dates and definitely no hugs or first kisses. Even shopping trips were fewer and conducted as quickly as possible. Sales declined on a global scale.

To save the category, we needed to get gum back into the hearts and minds of young people—people desperate for human connection again.

While the pandemic was the source of our strife, we recognized it could also be the source of our comeback. In the not-too-distant future, people around the world will be re-entering society in a big way.

Enter our film for Extra, where we dramatized just how joyous our return to the world could be. How great it will feel to finally squeeze into a pair of jeans, freshen up with a stick of gum and take to the streets—awkwardly hugging, kissing and socializing until our collective hearts’ are content.

We didn’t write this film to be a standard ad. From the get-go, it was meant to be a two-and-a-half-minutes of shareable, I-can-see-myself-in-those-characters, branded entertainment. We wanted to create a film that would relate to people on a fundamental human level, so much so they’d actively seek out, share and watch it in its entirety.

Our strategy was simple – we would use our greatest weakness as our greatest strength.

If routines and habits had changed in response to the pandemic, surely they would change again as we came out the other side. With vaccine rollouts on the horizon and discussion of easing restrictions around the globe, we knew we’d only get one shot to make sure gum would be part of the zeitgeist as people began to define their new normal.

Each market would be on their own media and PR timeline, so we knew we needed to be ready to launch in whichever market was ready first, with the others quick to follow. Our criteria for launch were dictated by the community’s anticipation of easing social restrictions and increased social mobility. For example, the opening of venues, easing mask mandates and allowance of larger social events.

BACKGROUND AND CHALLENGE:

2020 was not the year of gum. In 2019 the gum category was worth $2.95bn. By the time 2020 had drawn to a close, the impact of COVID-19 had wiped $627MM (21.3%) of that value. For Extra, this meant a loss of $88.7MM in annual revenue after 5 years of consecutive growth [1].

The sensitivity of the gum category was easy to diagnose. Fresh breath is the #1 driver of chewing [2], yet our bodies were distanced, and our mouths covered. Over 50% of gum purchases occur in the store unplanned, yet our shopping trips were fewer. And gum is most often chewed on commutes, in the workplace, and at school. [2]

Our challenge: After a year of lockdown and social distancing, gum was practically forgotten.

Vaccine rollouts provided hope for a natural return to category growth. However, there was no guarantee of how significant this growth would be. We needed to get people thinking and talking about gum again, specifically, Extra Gum.

SOLUTION:

Research revealed that the pandemic had taken a toll on consumers’ social standards. Electricity usage data indicated we got up later and lost motivation earlier in the afternoon [7]. Spotify data showed the customary Top 200 party spike of a Saturday no longer existed [8]. Couples were even having less sex [9].

But with vaccine rollouts, reemergence was in their sight. We knew the anticipation was right there, bottled up.

Insight: Despite our rusty social skills, the anticipation for reemergence was palpable.

Based on this insight, we knew we could breakthrough and get noticed if we tapped into that pulsing anticipation felt around the world. Extra had the potential to be right there with consumers, freshening their breath and instilling confidence during their beautifully clumsy attempts to rediscover their social swagger.

Vague vaccine rollout plans offered little guidance for when we would collectively reemerge. Rather than waiting for the exact moment of clarity, we focused on our consumers' eager imaginations about what lay ahead.

Our strategic idea: When it’s time to get back out there, you’re going to need some Extra.

EXECUTION:

This strategy was brought to life with a creative idea designed to trigger an outpouring of emotion. ‘For When It’s Time’ shined a light on the joy, euphoria, and chase of a not-too-distant future when we would again come face-to-face. It was a storyline that hit close home, reminding people that when it’s time to get close again, you’re going to need something to freshen up first: Extra.

Strategically timed with reductions to social restrictions we took a high impact approach to campaign launch that aimed to generate earned attention. The crown jewel of our execution was a 2.5-minute film depicting just how epic our return could be. This hero asset formed the blueprint off which all our formats and placements were built.

‘For When It’s Time’ elicited a global emotional response, got the brand back into pop culture, and most importantly, translated impact into unprecedented market share.

The launch of our idea needed to feel as massive as the movement we were trying to tap into. We bought placement in key markets around the globe. Markets where vaccines were rolling out and where people were starting to see the light at the end of a very long tunnel, including the UK, US, France and Germany.

Timing was critical. Launch too soon and you risk alienating an audience still in the throes of the pandemic, but launch too late and we risk missing our window for relevancy.

We ran our film across various digital and social channels to start and sent the long-form version of our film to numerous PR outlets. Within a week of launch, our film had gone viral and started to gain the buzz we were hoping it would.

Our goal was to get people to care about us again and remind the world why and when they might need fresh breath, which it did in a big way. In the first 25 weeks the campaign ran we received:

• 499MM impressions from earned media coverage

• Roughly 3B campaign impressions

• 100% positive/neutral sentiment for campaign mentions

Our film also received over 6.9MM+ global views and our two and half minute long-form film has retained an average view time of 1:52. Our ad was covered in media outlets around the world like The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and The Daily Telegraph. We were even featured on the Today Show multiple times.

Did we make people care about us again and re-establish gum usage? We certainly think so. And if you don’t believe us, just ask all the viewers who couldn’t help but recite their favorite gum moments, like the stranger make-out session or return to office. Or the ones who left comments like “the ad we didn’t know we needed.” People are coming back, and now so is gum.