A star in Orbit

CAMPAIGN LOGIC

Wrigley's new advertisement hopes to leverage actress Deepika Padukone's mass appeal to drive awareness about the benefits of its chewing gum.

Manav, a television journalist, enters the dressing room of Bollywood actress and style icon Deepika Padukone and compliments her on her good looks. She, in turn, introduces him to her team — make-up artist, stylist, health specialists and bodyguard. As she readies for a shot, she is about to pop a chewing gum. Pointing towards a packet of Orbit chewing gum, she asks Manav, “You haven’t met my dental care specialist, have you?” The reporter smiles knowingly and asks if he can consult Orbit too. “Sure,” says Deepika and throws the packet towards him. Finally, a voiceover intones, “Orbit helps prevent tooth decay — now accepted by the Indian Dental Association.”

Last month only, Wrigley had launched a campaign for Orbit which leveraged its association with the Indian Premier League as the official gum partner. Wrigley has in fact been actively promoting itself in that space, given the popularity of the sporting event amongst the youth. It launched special edition packs and jars and has been handing out tickets to cricket fans to watch IPL matches in South Africa.

Less than a month after it launched that campaign, Wrigley has come out with another advertisement to communicate with Orbit consumers. That’s probably because, as the market leader, Wrigley holds the responsibility to grow the market for chewing gum.

Ready to explode
Per capita consumption of gum in India is 8 pieces per year, compared with 200 pieces in the US and 100 pieces in Russia. At present, the company lords over 50 per cent of the estimated Rs 1,000-crore gum market in India. All indicators say India is a market ready to explode. The growing disposable income of households and the changing lifestyle of the average Indian is reason enough for Wrigley to bombard the tube. That half the population is below 30 makes it a high-growth market for youth-oriented products like gum. Two advertisements in one month thus begin to make sense.

Typically, in other markets, chewing gums make up a large chunk of the gum space followed by bubble gum. In India, chewing gums make up about 45 per cent of the market, while bubble gums account for the rest. Wrigley has brands for both the segments — Doublemint, Solano, Spearmint and Juicy Fruit, to name a few. But it is focused on Orbit and Boomer, its bubble gum, which sits on over 50 per cent of the market. Orbit meanwhile commands 80 per cent of the market in the sugar-free gum category. Incidentally, the sugar free gum segment is the fastest growing within the gum space.

Brand positioning
For Orbit, Wrigley has taken a two-pronged approach. One, it has positioned it as a sugar-free chewing gum that helps prevent tooth decay. In its past campaigns too, the confectioner has talked about the functional benefits of Orbit and has played up the stamp of approval given by IDA. Two, it has now got Padukone to endorse its brand. This has added celebrity glamour to the medicinal properties of the brand.

“Padukone is one of the most popular youth icons in India with mass appeal and lends the brand the lever to engage consumers on to the functional benefits. The association facilitates widespread awareness about the importance of oral care,” explains Wrigley India Director (marketing) Himanshu Khanna.

The brief to Mudra, which has been Wrigley’s creative agency since October 2007, was to leverage Padukone’s mass appeal to drive awareness about the functional benefits of the brand, while retaining the credibility of the IDA seal of acceptance. “We wanted to capatalise on a celebrity, and who better than Padukone. She’s young and realistic,” says Mudra Executive Creative Director Anil Verma.

Khanna has his own reasons: “The idea of our campaign is simple, making it easy to communicate and grasp. It allows the brand to engage with the consumers, while highlighting how Orbit is a convenient and portable way to help maintain and improve oral health anytime, anywhere.”

Media mix
In addition to the television commercial, the campaign has been designed keeping in mind a 360-degree multimedia approach. “Along with the television commercial, we have an aggressive presence outdoor as well. There is a digital aperture planned for the campaign on Orbit’s website (www.ilovemyteeth.co.in) along with some consumer contests and point-of-sale material,” adds Khanna.

The advertisement, produced by Corcoise films, will run till end-May. Thereafter, the company will evaluate the market response and the take a call on whether or not to extend it. The commercial, which was launched as a 40-second film, also has a shorter 20-second version.

Orbit, to be sure, could well prove to be the trump card for Wrigley in India. Across the world, Orbit has been faring well. In fact, it is the largest sugar-free chewing gum in the world and in some markets in Europe it’s even the market leader in the overall gum space. The sugar-free proposition fits in well with the dental health platform it has taken. More and more Indians are now taking the health and wellness route. (India, in fact, has become the diabetes capital of the world.) Therefore, Wrigley’s timing could not be better.

To that end, the company proudly boasts its endorsements from various dental associations worldwide — the World Dental Federation, American Dental Association and 17 others. In India, it is the first and only chewing gum to earn IDA’s seal of acceptance. Little surprise, Orbit has seen volume growth of over 20 per cent per annum.