Perfetti Van Melle has gone national with its Chlormint brand of chewing gum. Chlormint was first launched in 1997 in its green candy version; soon thereafter a gum variant was launched. But sales took off only in the East. Perfetti then brought in the ice candy version of the brand. So, why the national rollout now? According to the Perfetti Managing Director Sameer Suneja, gums are doing very well as a category and he is keen to tap this. “Moreover, I would like to leverage the Chlormint brand,” says he.
Per capita consumption of gum in India is 8 pieces per year, compared with 200 pieces in the US and 100 pieces in Russia. So there is an upside that confectioners like Perfetti can leverage. Suneja is pinning his hopes on India’s growing disposable income as well as changing lifestyle.
Besides Chlormint, Perfetti is present in three sub-segments of the gum market: Center Fresh and Center Shock in chewing gum, Center Fruit and Big Babol in bubble gum and Happydent in functional gum. “Happydent is a more cosmetic brand, Center Fresh is fruity but Chlormint is a coated gum through which we’ll target the young male adult,” explains Suneja. The positioning makes sense considering that half the country’s population is below 30. Brand experts believe the product will be consumed by those who smoke and want fresh breath — just like the hard-boiled Chlormint candy.
Perfetti has a share of 55 per cent of the Rs 800-crore chewing gum market and Suneja hopes to increase this with Chlormint’s national launch. Nielsen pegs this as the fastest-growing category in the confectionery segment. Still, why was the brand restricted only to the East? “We never advertised for it ever; perhaps that’s why,” Suneja counters. And now the company isn’t leaving anything to chance. July will see the launch of a new television campaign. This will be followed by online as well as trade activation. What’s more, brand ambassador Salman Khan will be promoting the variant.
Not surprisingly, Khan was roped in around the same time as arch rival Wrigley, which has Boomer and Orbit in its portfolio, introduced actress Deepika Padukone as its brand ambassador. For its part, Wrigley proudly boasts endorsements from various dental associations worldwide — the World Dental Federation, American Dental Association and 17 others — to promote Orbit.
Apart from rivals, there are other challenges Suneja faces. To begin with, his Re-1 Chlormint chewing gum now competes with 25 paisa and 50 paisa confectioneries. On top of that, brand consultants feel that since confectionaries are impulse purchases, there is no strict brand loyalty. Further, Suneja also has to contend with internal competition among his brands.