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

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.

 
kaugummiauto, originally uploaded by Kitbex.

Wrigley Building - Chicago, originally uploaded by –Mike–.

 This is a really wonderful shot of where Gum Guy’s Official Gum™, Wrigley gum, has been headquartered (as you know from earlier in this blog, Wrigley was bought by Mars, which is not a Wings song). It’s taken by Mike Warot, who has an amazing array of Chicago photos he’s taken featured on Flickr.

space invaders chewing gum, originally uploaded by momentimedia.

Today’s Beacon News, from northern Illinois, reports on the latest invention of retired chewing gum inventor (and Wrigley executive) Ron Reams, who has moved on from some of his earlier inventions, which included Mork bubble gum, Ouch bandage-shaped bubble gum, and Bubble Tape — five to 15 new products a year for 30 years, by his own estimation — has shifted his chewing gum invention focus to a new product with a serious intent — first responders who are fighting in the war in Iraq.

His new company, Marketright,  has introduced a new caffeinated gum after a decade of research, as the article reports:

Working with scientists at a Florida lab, (Reams) discovered that a stick of gum containing caffeine provided an instant boost compared to a cup of coffee, an espresso shot or energy bars being digested for example.

This past summer, after 10 years of research, Ream’s Plano firm Marketright has distributed a caffeine gum, available only to a very specific consumer: first-responders fighting the war in Iraq.

Ignited by a federal grant secured by former House Speaker Dennis Hastert back in 1998, Ream collaborated with scientists of the Walter Reed Army Institute to research the effects of a caffeine gum containing 100 mg of caffeine per piece. One piece is equivalent to a six-ounce cup of coffee.

“I was the gum man, and they were the clinical testing gurus,” Ream said.

Marketright firm has distributed 500,000 packages of Stay Alert Gum to the military so far, Ream said. The contract lasts two years.

Anyone want a chewing-gum ?, originally uploaded by ePi.Longo.