Launched in 1969, Tic Tac is one of the markets leading breath mints.

The Tic Tac product line is owned by one of the largest confectionery companies in the world, the Ferrero Group, which has 36 operating companies, 15 manufacturing plants, and almost 20,000 employees worldwide. The Tic Tac line is sold around the world, with large sales volumes in North America, Italy, Australia, Ireland, England, France, Germany, and South America. In 1969, the catchy jingle Put a Tic Tac in your mouth and get a BANG out of life! was a huge success for the company. In the 1970s, the original Tic Tac tiny white mints were joined by the first line extension, cinnamon-flavoured red mints. This was followed closely by the next extensiontangerine-flavoured orange mints. The product was repositioned in 1980 as The 112 Calorie Breath Mint so as to fit the growing health craze in Canada, and wintergreen and spearmint flavours were added to the product line. With a strong line of breath mints, the company began to make Tic Tac into an icon with its little flip-top packaging. The products 25th birthday was celebrated with a cake made with thousands of Tic Tac packages, and a lime flavour was also introduced. Ferraro introduced Tic Tac Bold! mints in the early 2000s, along with mixed fruit flavours, and Tic Tac continued to enjoy its position as the number-one breath mint in Canada. It was around this time that Altoids, the curiously strong mints in the metal container from Callard & Bowser-Suchard, overtook Tic Tac for the lead position in the mint

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marketplace. Other breath mint competitors (Everest, Cool Chews, Icefresh, Blitz, Ice Chips, Cool Blast, Ice Breakers) were also entering the market. All the while, the packaging for Tic Tac remained unchanged. In 2008, the Ferrero Group decided to modernize the Tic Tac brand, introducing Tic Tac Chill with new packaging. The Chill mints are larger than the traditional Tic Tac mint and are the first Tic Tac mint to be completely sugar-free. The mints are sweetened with xylitol, an all-natural sweetener that has proven popular with people following diabetic diets. In introducing the new Chill mint, Tic Tac tapped into two fast-growing product segments in the mint marketplacesugar-free and strong flavouring. Both of these product segments have experienced keen interest from customers. Not only did Tic Tac introduce new flavoursParadise Mint and Exotic Cherryand new mint sizing, the Chill mint was introduced in a new package that maintained the iconic nature of the original packaging. Tic Tac Chill mints are available in a dual-use package. The package is the familiar Tic Tac see-through, flip-top packaging. Yet it also has a new, wide, slide-top opening that enables one-handed access. The target market for Tic Tac Chill is consumers in the 25- to 45-year-old age group. The product is positioned as recognizing that consumers in this age group rarely take the time to just relax or chill. The product rollout was accompanied by an on-line campaign in which the first 50,000 visitors to the www.TicTac.com website could choose four free downloads from 20 different chill songs. The first 1,000 visitors also received the added bonus of free Tic Tac Chill mints. With new flavours and new packaging, the goal is to modernize the brand while giving it a personality.

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Questions 1. Why would Ferrero change the packaging of Tic Tac after making it such an icon? 2. Profile the Tic Tac Chill consumer. 3. What does the term brand equity mean in relation to Tic Tac? 4. Take a look at the Tic Tac website (www.Ferrero.com). How many product lines does Ferrero offer? How many Tic Tac brand extensions (or product items) can you count?

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