A n d r e w s G u m W o r l d

IMAGE: Media.

Clemenger BBDO, an ad agency in Australia, has helped Wrigley plunge into the world of social media by creating The 5 Feed, a website designed to help the gum company “connect with young people who increasingly demand digital involvement and greater creativity; ‘an audience that is seeking, sharing and remixing culture.’”

In a piece earlier this summer in Media, it described the agency’s creation of The 5 Feed site, “a social platform that invites the public to download and remix works from commissioned Australian designers, artists and musicians.”

 You can explore that site, and do your own remixing of culture, here.

ps Wrigley 5 gum flavo(u)r translation guide from the Land Down Under:

Pulse (Australia) = Lush (North America)

Electro = Rain

Cobalt = Cobalt

IMAGE: Nate Robertson blog.

Nate Robertson (that’s him in a pic from his own blog, chewing gum) has appeared in these pages before as part of the Gum Time tradition that inspires Detroit Tigers rallies (earlier, we included a great shot from Flickr of the animated score board from a Tigers game featuring the rally-worthy, gum-chewing efforts of Mr. Robertson).

As he notes, his blog got its title from this activity:

Along the way, it seems I also am becoming known for chewing huge wads of bubblegum to start Tiger rallies. That’s where the name for this blog comes in.

And, later he indicates that his interests are:

 Going after a World Series title and chewing as much bubble gum as I can fit into my mouth to help start Tiger rallies.

Which is why, of course, that today’s news from Major League Baseball is a bit disconcerting to gum connoisseurs and that is, sadly, that the tradition is coming to an end. As an article today notes:

Robertson’s superstition to throw wads of gum into his mouth became a Detroit phenomenon in 2006 during the summer and then during the Tigers’ run to the World Series. Eventually, it grew a little too big, and he lost his taste for constantly chewing gum in the late innings.

You can read all the details here.

Barrow’s Newsagent, Lower Clapton, originally uploaded by Fin Fahey.

Gum Time., originally uploaded by loridz.

PHOTOS (from Flickr and from the left):  Wall of gum, originally uploaded by Mr. Bowman;
Bottom bracket, originally uploaded by Brett L.; Pigs with lipstick, originally uploaded by megpi.

The Huffington Post and one of its columnists, Dan Dorfman, wrote yesterday about the current stock market rally, which has got its own slangy nickname that we’re awfully fond of here at AndrewsGumWorld, and that is “chewing gum rally.”

While it’s nice to be hopeful about the stock market in times like these, Dorfman quotes one online investment advisor, Mark Leibovit, who urges caution. Here’s what Dorfman wrote yesterday online (with a metphor from Leibovit that leaps from chewing gum to baling wire and, yes, lipsticked pigs):

Still, there are a lot of non-believers, among them crack online investment adviser Mark Leibovit of VRTrader.com, headquartered in Sedona, Ariz. “The market is being held together with chewing gum and baling wire,” he says. “It’s a chewing gum rally that has little chance of sticking. It’s like trying to put lipstick on a pig; that just doesn’t work.”

DLF INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE LOGO,
originally uploaded by iVinay.

Last month, India’s Business Standard covered Wrigley’s sponsorship of all eight franchise teams in the Indian Premier League for April’s T20 tournament in South Africa.

According to the article, the new deal should further expand the reach and impact of Wrigley gum on Indian gum chewers:

“Wrigley has entered into separate sponsorship agreements with the eight IPL franchise teams. Our sugar free brand ‘Orbit’ would be the official ‘gum sponsor’ of all the teams and ‘Boomer’ would be the official bubble gum sponsor,” Wrigley India Pvt Ltd MD Gautam Sharma told reporters here.

He said the deals would be complimented by various promotional and advertising initiatives including special contests and prizes, fan trips to South Africa, electronic and print media campaigns and so on.

“We hope it will be a win-win partnership for both Wrigley and the IPL franchise teams. We expect our brands, which are already popular, to be further liked by the consumer following this,” Sharma said.

Wrigley has a portfolio of eight brands in India including Boomer, Orbit, Doublemint and Juicy Fruit and claims a market share of over 50 per cent in the estimated Rs 1,000 crore Indian chewing gum market.

“We sell 10 million pieces of gum every day and have a presence in 1.2 million retail stores across 2,000 towns and cities in India. The IPL initiative would further boost reach,” Sharma added.

walking on bubble gum, originally uploaded by camil tulcan.

PHOTO: Andrews University

Today is graduation day where I work, which means, of course, flags and degrees and endless smiles…but it also means, of course, chewing gum.

All of the above and then some….

PHOTO: Wales Online

Cardiff City football club fan David Roberts, of Pontypridd, South Wales, was the first to receive a lifetime ban for throwing “missiles” during matches.

Yesterday’s South Wales Echo reported on the judgment from the Cardiff Magistrates’ Court after the 24-year-old admitted throwing gum at the 5 April championship.

The newspaper reported that while Roberts felt regret for his actions, he says did not fling a coin, which drew blood when it hit referee Mike Dean:

“He accepts in interview that in flicking a piece of chewing gum towards the playing area he got swept up in the emotion of a local derby match between Swansea and Cardiff.

“He accepts he should not have done so and he accepts that the court has to deal with him.”

A spokesman for the football club felt, though, that the stiff fine was an appropriate deterrent to fans who go over the line in throwing things onto the field:

“He’s had the full sentence and I’ve glad they’ve done that and hopefully they can catch the other handful of people who threw objects and bring them to justice.

“I know these things take a while but hopefully in another couple of months we can have some more convictions.

“It’ll hopefully act as a deterrent for other fans. It’ll be stupid missing football because of a rush of blood.”