Chewing Gum Consultant

Professional Chewing gum industry meeting point

ISM 2026 09/02/2026

Filed under: Market & Fairs — Joan Mestres @ 3:51 PM
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Back from ISM one more year. My first one was in 1997 and this show has changed a lot since then. While the organization is opening new branches in Dubai (ISM Middle East) and Tokyo (ISM Japan), the original one in Köln, Germany becomes smaller and smaller. One of the factors that is playing against the German show is the difficulties that some potential participants (I know cases of exhibitors and visitors) find when trying to obtain a visa for Germany. It is much easier for them going to Dubai instead, so it was a good move to open one edition there.

This year the sister exhibition “ProSweets” with a lot of focus on machinery and packaging has been also quite smaller, mainly due to the fact that later in May we have Interpack, in Düsseldorf, which is the great show for this field of activity. By the way, from 2027 the ProSweets will be renamed to “ISM manufacturing”. The part of the show devised for ingredients, that was part of Prosweets in the past, has already been renamed to “ISM ingredients”. So now “ISM” will be an umbrella with many different branches and sites.

Despite all this, it is still an excellent place where to find novelties, meet people and do business. So I would definitely recommend it again and again. Looking forward to 2027!! (30th Jan – 3rd Feb)

https://www.ism-cologne.com/trade-fair/ism/ism-worldwide/

 

JAWLINER – Germany 03/05/2023

Filed under: Uncategorized — Joan Mestres @ 10:36 AM
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Back from ISM, which is always a great place where to meet friends, colleagues and customers. Also a perfect place to get an idea about the industry, see trends and new products.

I like showing here new products I discover and this one today is really special: A gum that is designed to strengthen your jaw muscles. The chew is really hard, the hardest I’ve ever seen and this is exercising your jaw. I find the concept very revolutionary. It is a German company commercializing it. You can learn more in their website www.jawliner.de

I will be posting about other news from ISM as soon as i can, but now heading to Interpack, Düsseldorf and then Vitafoods, Geneva. Let’s see what I can find and learn there!

 

ASCOM – Germany 26/02/2015

Filed under: Market & Fairs,New product — Joan Mestres @ 11:45 AM
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The German company Ascom (www.ascomgum.com), based in Walldorf, introduced a new line of innovative products last ISM. This goes under the umbrella of “Go Yellow”. The first products launched are 2 types of gum cubes (“super sour” and “cotton candy” flavors) and one type of gum globe/lentil  (peppermint flavor). They are all presented in flip-top boxes and using characters from “The Simpsons”. The pieces have a light coating with powder which enhances the initial impact.

I always liked the presentation in cube and wonder why it is not more extensive. The most well-know example is the Ice-Cube by Icebreakers (Hershey) and I am happy to see more companies launching this format.

 

bart homer maggie

 

ISM 2015 11/02/2015

Filed under: Market & Fairs — Joan Mestres @ 5:09 PM
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Back from this year’s ISM (and Prosweets) exhibition in Cologne / Germany.

I repeat myself when I say that this fair seems smaller and smaller every year, so I will not insist on this. It is still an impressive show and a very interesting meeting point for the confectionery industry. I have seen a few novelties (not many because most the companies I visited were not really presenting anything new) which i will be talking about during next posts.

 

Wrigley and Mondelez Marketing 10/01/2013

Filed under: Market & Fairs — Joan Mestres @ 7:12 PM
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Today… a note about marketing.

Two articles by Oliver Nieburg in Confectionerynews.com (see links below).

One article for each of the chewing gum giants.

The one dealing about Mondelez, informs about the intention to enhance the use of new technologies for their marketing, in particular mobile technologies by partnering with start-up companies in the field. For instance, Trident is linked to Rockimity and Stride to Waze. Interesting move!

Mondelez marketing

The second article is about Wrigley and their intention to reinvigorate the impulse channels in Germany. This is a more classical approach to marketing, which is also valid. Interesting to see it in a market (Germany) where Wrigley has a strong dominant position (over 70% market share according to Euromonitor). Other players (local brand Hitschler or the italian Perfetti) have a far much smaller share (below 5%). This market, due to its size and importance, is very carefully taken care of by Wrigley. There are line extensions being launched continuously (for the most classical brands like Orbit or Extra) and also new products being launched in a powerful way (such as “5” in 2009). Also, of course, being a well-developed mature market, the functionality vector is important, and Wrigley launched gums with green tea, aloe vera, vitamin C “Extra Professional + Vitamin C”. In terms of flavors, also according to Euromonitor, Spearmint is still number one, but new combinations appear more and more, like mojito, daiquiri or Pina colada flavour extensions for “Orbit”.

However, according to Mr Gabel (Sales director Wrigley Germany) their sales declined 3% last year, mainly driven by the decline in impulse channels, and that’s why they implement new measures now which include increasing sales force, new displays, increased TV marketing budget, etc.

Wrigley marketing