Mars Wrigley celebrates ‘The Big Comeback’

Mars Wrigley is launching its brand-new, high profile EXTRA Chewing Gum TV campaign. Designed to keep gum top of mind and relevant to the events of our times, the tongue-in-cheek ad features a number of characters in memorable lockdown moments "re-entering the real world".

Mars Wrigley’s timely campaign will support EXTRA Chewing Gum’s comeback. As lockdown eases and we start to see mobility and store traffic increase, gum sales will improve by keeping gum top of mind and ensuring best-selling gum is always available. With a positive forecast predicted for gum sales, the campaign will further support the category as refreshment on-the-go becomes relevant again.

The campaign will be launched under EXTRA’s "Get Your Ding Back" tagline, which promotes confidence and making positive connections with others. EXTRA’s mission is to encourage people to get their "Ding!" back again after staying at home, and this brand-new campaign will help to communicate this important message in a fun and exaggerated way.

Featuring a man holding a pack of toilet roll, a tired mum trying to work from home, and a girl rising up from beneath a pile of pizza boxes – to name a few – the campaign demonstrates how EXTRA Chewing Gum can bring back people’s confidence in any context. The 60-second ad is scheduled to debut on a prime-time national TV slot, and will then air across a two-month period in both full and abbreviated versions.

With this in mind, retailers are being urged to improve gum availability, to match the uplift in footfall and increase visibility. 40 per cent of sales are driven by seeing gum on-fixture , 46 per cent will not buy gum if the product they want is not available, and 80 per cent of sales take place within the transaction zone. To maximise sales, retailers should ensure systems are set up to deal with increased volume and use the branded Point Of Sale materials from the campaign to improve visibility.

“I’m extremely excited to launch our new EXTRA TV campaign," Chirag Shah, EXTRA Brand Manager says. "The advert perfectly captures the nation’s mood and will create lots of smiles, which in turn will help keep gum top of mind and drive sales for retailers.

"We are heavily investing in the gum category this year to keep it contextually relevant – with our biggest annual spend to date. Our EXTRA comms for the first quarter of 2021 was very much focused around gum consumption in-home, however looking forward we will be activating a number of exciting campaigns around those key out-of-home consumption occasions.”