Wrigley invests in proving benefits of gum

Wrigley has been praised for increased marketing innovation under fourth-generation family leader Bill Wrigley Jr., who has focused more heavily on marketing and new products than his predecessors. Its breath-freshening Eclipse and sugarless Orbit gums, introduced in the U.S. market in 1999 and 2001, have become top sellers, added to old standbys such as Spearmint, Doublemint and Juicy Fruit.

Gums it classifies as oral-care related now account for 40 percent of its $3.6 billion in worldwide sales.

But with consumers bombarded by companies’ claims of health benefits in their products, food analyst Bob Goldin wonders if the gum maker isn’t overdoing it this time. Increasingly, he says, the public sees such efforts as self-serving.

“They’ve done a masterful job of taking gum to some new plateaus with respect to imaging and the benefits of gum themselves, with high-intensity gums used for breath-freshening and with sugar-free good for tooth decay,” said Goldin, of food consultancy Technomic Inc. “But given who’s sponsoring it, I think it may not be perceived as very objective, very impactful.”

One new product that Wrigley touted for its benefits already has failed with consumers— Surpass, an antacid gum, which the company killed in 2003 after two years of weak sales.

Kelly McGrail, senior director of corporate relations, says the new science initiative is not about marketing, at least not yet, but rather about exploring potential benefits.

“We’re doing this to learn more about our business and the products that we sell, as well as a brand-new science,” she said.

“But clearly, at the end of the day it has to deliver value,” McGrail acknowledged. “If you can get people to think about chewing gum in a new way, it’s good for the category. And we’re the category leader.”

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