Extra was the #1 brand in the $3 billion gum category from 1990-2004 on the strength of its “long-lasting flavor” positioning. As “long-lasting” became a category ante, Extra steadily declined. In response, we launched new flavors and communicated varying functional benefits (e.g. “low-calorie snack”), but our inconsistency only made things worse. By 2013, Extra had been experiencing pervasive and steady declines for over two years. It had fallen to third place and average weekly sales were down 6.1% compared to the prior year.

Through research, we learned that only the first two-to-three brands to unconsciously pop into a person’s mind at the checkout lane even have the chance to be considered for purchase. In these critical moments, it’s stories, not facts that come to mind. The brand stories that have the best opportunity to seat themselves in our unconscious mind are stories that make us feel something. So we adopted a new philosophy and changed our objectives for advertising. Rather than relying on unsustainable new flavors and sub-lines to generate attention to the brand, we set out to use emotional storytelling to make the brand top of mind.

We launched this transformational idea in September 2013 with an emotional story that beautifully depicts the meaningful connections that people make when they share something as simple as a stick of Extra gum. It showed strong results, but there was still a question whether it was just a one-hit-wonder or the beginning of something more. Could we do it again? Could an emotional approach continue to work in such a low-involvement category?

With the pressure on, we had to prove that an emotional approach to gum communications could sustain Extra’s strong growth while the U.S. gum market was shrinking. Our creative solution centered on showing how something as simple as sharing a stick of Extra can strengthen connections with those who matter most.

By finding a way to put our products at the center of emotional stories, we restored the health of the brand and sparked a dramatic sales turnaround. As the campaign got more and more exposure, sales started to turn around. In the first year, we improved Extra’s Average Weekly sales to –3.3%. Despite continued declines for the category at large, Extra continued its turnaround in year two. Average weekly sales were +2.5% for the full year. The second wave of the campaign launched in year three and delivered the best results yet. Average weekly sales improved to +6.2%, all while the category volume continued to shrink. Over the first six months of year four, Extra’s growth has improved upon the already impressive year three results, averaging 10.7% growth.

Total Extra penetration declined only slightly (-0.2%) while the category penetration declined 3.2%. Using a proprietary measurement methodology, we can say for certain that the “Give Extra, Get Extra” campaign has been measured to have a direct positive effect as much as +7% net sales volume.