Put a tic tac in your mouth

Launched in the United States in 1969, Tic Tac is one of the market's leading breath mints. The Tic Tac product line is owned by one of the largest confectionary companies in the world, the Ferrero Group, which has 36 operating companies, 15 factories, and almost 20,000 employees worldwide. The Tic Tac line is sold around the world, with dominant markets in Italy, Australia, Ireland, England, France, Germany, South America, and North 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 tiny white mints were joined by the first line extension of cinnamon-flavored red mints. This was followed closely by the next extension--tangerine-flavored orange mints. The product was repositioned in 1980 as "The 1 1/2 Calorie Breath Mint" so as to fit the growing health craze in the United States, and wintergreen and spearmint flavors were also added to the 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 product's 25th birthday was celebrated in Times Square (New York) with a cake made with thousands of Tic Tac packages, and a lime flavor was also introduced. Ferraro introduced Tic Tac Bold! mints in the early 2000s, along with mixed fruit flavors.

Tic Tac enjoyed its position as the number one breath mint in the United States. 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 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 icon remained consistent. However, 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 U.S. mint marketplace--sugar-free and strong flavoring. Both of these products segments have experienced keen interest from consumers. Not only did Tic Tac introduce new flavors--Paradise Mint and Exotic Cherry--and new mint sizing, the Chill mint was introduced in a new package--new packaging that maintained the iconic nature of the original packaging.

Tic Tac Chill mints are available in a dual-use package. The pack 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 online campaign in which the first 50,000 visitors to the www.TicTacUSA.com Web site 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 flavors and new packaging, the goal is to modernize the brand while giving it a personality.

QUESTION

The Tic Tac case deals with product decisions. The breath mint market has had an explosion of offerings in recent years, which has caused Tic Tac management to consider new packaging for the product. You have been hired to guide Ferrero management in making the packaging decision. In your recommendation you should address the following questions:

1. What are the benefits and risks of changing the packaging of the Tic Tac product?
2. Profile the Tic Tac consumer.
3. If Ferrero were to research changing Tic Tac packaging, how should they test the ideas?

Develop a response that includes examples and evidence to support your ideas, and which clearly communicates the required message to your audience. Organize your response in a clear and logical manner as appropriate for the genre of writing. Use well-structured sentences, audience-appropriate language, and correct conventions of standard American English.
Writer's Model
Rubric

Writing Prompt
Writer's Model
Rubric
MY Tutor®

Tic Tac
Latoiya Foster
Started: Dec 30, 2016

Submitted: Dec 31, 2016

Points Earned: 19

Essay
1.“Change is the only constant”, which says the company should keep on changing the variants and test of its consumers to gain traction of old as well new consumers on board. However, the company might need to face challenges or risk for changing the package for Tic Tac product because the company’s existing consumers are quite familiar with the current packaging. As a result, they are likely to switch to other products in case they won’t find the same style and design going forward.

2. The product is primarily targeted to the youngsters within a range of 25-35 years. However, it is not necessary that its target consumers fall only within this range, the target consumers may change in case if the product is changing its variance, packaging, and test.

3. The company needs to conduct a market research based on the package, which the company is planning to roll out in the market. In this research, the company needs to give away free samples to its existing consumers in order to determine whether the new package is actually fitting the right consumers.

1.“Change is the only constant”, which says the company should keep on changing the variants and test of its consumers to gain traction of old as well new consumers on board. However, the company might need to face challenges or risk for changing the package for Tic Tac product because the company’s existing consumers are quite familiar with the current packaging. As a result, they are likely to switch to other products in case they won’t find the same style and design going forward.

2. The product is primarily targeted to the youngsters within a range of 25-35 years. However, it is not necessary that its target consumers fall only within this range, the target consumers may change in case if the product is changing its variance, packaging, and test.

3. The company needs to conduct a market research based on the package, which the company is planning to roll out in the market. In this research, the company needs to give away free samples to its existing consumers in order to determine whether the new package is actually fitting the right consumers.

MY Tutor® Feedback
Focus
Content
Organization
Language
Mechanics
Revision Goal 1: Establish and maintain a controlling idea or bottom line throughout the document in order to achieve the purpose established in your writing prompt.
1. Re-read your document. Find a sentence that you could use as the controlling idea or bottom line of your document. You may also write a new sentence if you wish.

Example: Thomas's document jumps from one idea to another, but once he reads it again, he finds the sentence he wants to use as a controlling idea: "Telecommuting has economic benefits for employers and employees."

2. Once you have your controlling idea, highlight all the areas in your document that are on track with your controlling idea or bottom line.

Example: Thomas finds a few sentences that are on track with his controlling idea, including these:

"Telecommuting allows a business to operate in a smaller space since some of its employees will be working from home."
"Telecommuting gives people who are disabled or challenged or non-traditional greater access to employment."

3. Integrate key words from your controlling idea into your supporting details. In addition, use transitional expressions to connect your thoughts.

Example: Thomas still has to make sure that the ideas in his document are connected, so he uses key words from his controlling idea as well as transitional expressions to connect his thoughts: "An economic benefit of telecommuting is that it allows a business to operate in a smaller space since some of its employees will be working from home. Similarly, disabled, challenged, or non-traditional employees benefit economically by gaining greater access to employment."

Revision Goal 2: Understand and connect with the intended audience.
1. Re-read your document. Highlight sentences that demonstrate a lack of adaptation to the audience.

Example: Alicia reads her document and finds a couple of sentences that she realizes would make smokers angry and non-cooperative, definitely not the purpose of the document: "Smoking is bad for you. The management of XYZ company is no longer going to support it."

2. Pay attention to the audience's knowledge, needs, beliefs, and/or feelings.

Example: Alicia has to do a lot of work to revise the above sentence. Notice how the sentences below show empathy and respect for all involved while still maintaining management's authority: "The management team at XYZ company acknowledges how difficult it is to quit smoking, despite the health benefits of doing so. As we evaluate the smoking policy and health care coverage in regard to smoking cessation programs, we will consider the rights and responsibilities of all employees -- those who smoke, those who are trying to quit, and those who do not smoke."

Revision Goal 1: Offer details that support your ideas.
1. Re-read your document. Highlight one or two ideas that can be further developed or expanded.

Example: Michelle finds this sentence in her document: "All presenters should know who their audience is." She realizes that she needs to add details to her idea.

2. Brainstorm details such as reasons, explanations, facts, or arguments that can support each idea.

Example: Michelle brainstorms, focusing on reasons that presenters should know who their audience is:

"Make presentation on technology relevant to audience."
"Assess what applications audience may already know."
"Pay attention to diversity of audience; for example, seniors versus fifth graders."

3. Now incorporate some or all of the supporting details you brainstormed into your document.

Example: Michelle adds minor details and uses transitional expressions to incorporate two of the supporting details she brainstormed into her document: "All presenters should know who their audience is in order to make their presentation relevant to the audience. For instance, in planning a presentation on emerging technology, the speaker assesses that a group of fifth graders will understand new, slang technology terms more readily than an audience of 60 to 80-year-olds will."

Revision Goal 2: Use business concepts and terms in your document.
1. Re-read your document. Highlight at least two areas where you can include relevant business concepts or terms.

Example: Andre finds a supporting point in his document that he decides he can express in more business-like terms: "The people showed they were bored by not paying attention to the speaker."

2. Brainstorm three business concepts or terms that you can include in your document.

Example: Andre brainstorms business terms that relate to the idea he presents in his sentence:

"Nonverbal behavior."
"Audience, presenter."

3. Now incorporate these concepts or terms into your document.

Example: Andre adds minor details to the business terms he brainstormed and incorporates the terms into his sentence: "The audience displayed numerous nonverbal messages--yawning, texting, and checking the time--demonstrating that they were not paying attention to the presenter."

Revision Goal 1: Establish and maintain a controlling idea or bottom line throughout the document.
1. Re-read your document. Highlight sentences that could serve as the controlling idea or bottom line. You may also write a new sentence if you wish.

Example: Dan's document jumps from one idea to another, but once he reads it again, he finds the sentence he wants to use as a controlling idea: "Adopting our free and open source software (FOSS) will greatly benefit your teen youth group."

2. Now that you have the controlling idea or bottom line of your document, brainstorm support for it. This support will become the bottom line or controlling idea of the paragraphs in your document.

Example: Dan can think of three ways that adopting the FOSS can benefit a teen youth group. The first is cost. Open source software is by definition free. In addition, open source software is customizable, so with some training, the youth group could customize software to fit their needs. If they did so, they could even teach the teens they help to customize the software, giving those teens a valuable job skill. Dan also realizes that he will have to write an introduction that explains the concept of "free and open source" in case the youth group organizers are not aware of it.

3. For each paragraph, brainstorm at least three supporting details.

Example: Dan decides to start with the cost. He brainstorms the following supporting details:

"Other operating systems charge hundreds of dollars in licensing fees.
"FOSS is free."
"Technical support for FOSS is free as well, provided by thousands of volunteers."

4. Integrate key words from your controlling idea into your supporting details. In addition, use transitional expressions to connect your thoughts.

Example: Dan now has to take the ideas he brainstormed and turn them into a paragraph that will fit into his document. This is what he writes: "Adopting our free and open source software (FOSS) will save your teen youth group thousands of dollars a year in licensing fees you would have to pay to a mainstream company. FOSS, on the other hand, is free, and so is our technical support, which is provided by thousands of knowledgeable volunteers."

Revision Goal 1: Accentuate the positive and de-emphasize the negative in your document.
1. Re-read your document. Highlight all words and phrases that sound negative such as do not, no, stop, and not, as well as words that convey a negative, unpleasant, or disagreeable tone such as unfortunately, cannot, unable to, problem, difficult, error, loss, failure, or regret.

Example: Kiara focuses on these sentences, which have two negative words sure to upset customers: "We do not ship from our central warehouse. You can only pick up your purchases at our downtown store."

2. Revise your document to accentuate the positive and de-emphasize the negative:

Example: Kiara revises her sentences to focus on what can be done. Doing this helps to make the tone of her document positive: "Your purchases can be picked up at our downtown store, which offers free parking on the south side of the building. In addition, you may contact our downtown store by fax, email, or phone to arrange for shipping."

Revision Goal 2: Use active voice.
1. Re-read your document. Highlight all sentences that use passive voice.

Example: Wendy reads her document and finds several sentences in the passive voice, including this one: "Several family-friendly policies were implemented."

2. Revise those sentences so that they are in the active voice.

Example: Wendy realizes that she needs to know who implemented the policies before she can write the sentence in the active voice. She reads her document again and sees that the Human Resources and Management team implemented the policies, so Wendy revises her sentence like this: "The Human Resources and Management team implemented several family-friendly policies."

Revision Goal 3: "Omit needless words." -- Strunk and White
1. Re-read your document. Highlight all wordy sentences.

Example: Kyle reads his document, and one of the sentences he highlights is this: "Lacking all sense of responsibility, Tadd chose to personally abandon the project."

2. Revise all highlighted sentences.

Example: Kyle revises his sentence like this: "Irresponsibly, Tadd chose to personally abandoned the project."

His revision is clearer than the original, shorter, and contains the same information.

Revision Goal 4: Correct fragment errors.
1. Re-read your document. Highlight all sentence fragments.

Example: Donna highlights these passages in her document:

"I revised the quarterly estimate. Even though I did not have to do so."
"Cost overruns in pest control and advertising."

2. Revise fragments by combining fragments with other sentences or providing a subject and a verb for the sentence fragment.

Example: Donna revised those passages like this:

"I revised the quarterly estimate even though I did not have to do so." These two clauses belonged together since separately, the second one was a fragment.
"XYZ Company had cost overruns in pest control and advertising." Donna added a subject and a verb to this idea to turn it into a complete sentence.

Revision Goal 5: Correct run-on errors.
1. Re-read your document. Highlight all run-on errors.

Example: Jeff highlights this passage in his document: "The development of the report took more time than the committee had initially expected thus the report was finalized and offered for review on January 12, 2011, due to a heavy work load during the first part of every year, so the committee will need a little more time to complete the quality review that the report deserves."

2. Revise run-ons by identifying sentences and placing periods at the end of them.

Example: Jeff realizes that untangling this run-on will take some work, so he rereads it slowly and out loud, looking and listening for the end of each sentence. This is how he revises that passage: "The development of the report took more time than the committee had initially expected. Thus the report was finalized and offered for review on January 12, 2011. Due to a heavy work load during the first part of every year, the committee will need a little more time to complete the quality review that the report deserves."

Revision Goal 1: Follow these steps to improve your use of mechanics and conventions.
Use the MY Editor feedback to improve your understanding of mechanics and conventions.

1. Pay attention to the specific feedback that MY Editor gives you as you compose and edit your document. Begin by revising any spelling or punctuation errors you have committed. Then run MY Editor again to reexamine any remaining grammar errors that remain.
2. Write down the terms used in the feedback.
3. Study the terms that came up most often.
4. When you master your understanding of a particular term, move on to a new one.

Network to improve your understanding of mechanics and conventions.

1. Start or join a small, serious study group on the topic of mechanics and conventions.
2. Ask your instructor to recommend other resources to help you master mechanics and conventions.

When you rewrite your document, pay attention to your sentences to avoid errors in mechanics and conventions.

1. Place a period at the end of each of your complete thoughts/sentences.
2. Place the subjects of your sentences as close as you can to the beginning of your sentences.

When you rewrite your document, focus on correcting the errors that came up the most often in the original document.

Focus
Revision Goal 1: Establish and maintain a controlling idea or bottom line throughout the document in order to achieve the purpose established in your writing prompt.
1. Re-read your document. Find a sentence that you could use as the controlling idea or bottom line of your document. You may also write a new sentence if you wish.

Example: Thomas's document jumps from one idea to another, but once he reads it again, he finds the sentence he wants to use as a controlling idea: "Telecommuting has economic benefits for employers and employees."

2. Once you have your controlling idea, highlight all the areas in your document that are on track with your controlling idea or bottom line.

Example: Thomas finds a few sentences that are on track with his controlling idea, including these:

"Telecommuting allows a business to operate in a smaller space since some of its employees will be working from home."
"Telecommuting gives people who are disabled or challenged or non-traditional greater access to employment."

3. Integrate key words from your controlling idea into your supporting details. In addition, use transitional expressions to connect your thoughts.

Example: Thomas still has to make sure that the ideas in his document are connected, so he uses key words from his controlling idea as well as transitional expressions to connect his thoughts: "An economic benefit of telecommuting is that it allows a business to operate in a smaller space since some of its employees will be working from home. Similarly, disabled, challenged, or non-traditional employees benefit economically by gaining greater access to employment."

Revision Goal 2: Understand and connect with the intended audience.
1. Re-read your document. Highlight sentences that demonstrate a lack of adaptation to the audience.

Example: Alicia reads her document and finds a couple of sentences that she realizes would make smokers angry and non-cooperative, definitely not the purpose of the document: "Smoking is bad for you. The management of XYZ company is no longer going to support it."

2. Pay attention to the audience's knowledge, needs, beliefs, and/or feelings.

Example: Alicia has to do a lot of work to revise the above sentence. Notice how the sentences below show empathy and respect for all involved while still maintaining management's authority: "The management team at XYZ company acknowledges how difficult it is to quit smoking, despite the health benefits of doing so. As we evaluate the smoking policy and health care coverage in regard to smoking cessation programs, we will consider the rights and responsibilities of all employees -- those who smoke, those who are trying to quit, and those who do not smoke."

Content
Revision Goal 1: Offer details that support your ideas.
1. Re-read your document. Highlight one or two ideas that can be further developed or expanded.

Example: Michelle finds this sentence in her document: "All presenters should know who their audience is." She realizes that she needs to add details to her idea.

2. Brainstorm details such as reasons, explanations, facts, or arguments that can support each idea.

Example: Michelle brainstorms, focusing on reasons that presenters should know who their audience is:

"Make presentation on technology relevant to audience."
"Assess what applications audience may already know."
"Pay attention to diversity of audience; for example, seniors versus fifth graders."

3. Now incorporate some or all of the supporting details you brainstormed into your document.

Example: Michelle adds minor details and uses transitional expressions to incorporate two of the supporting details she brainstormed into her document: "All presenters should know who their audience is in order to make their presentation relevant to the audience. For instance, in planning a presentation on emerging technology, the speaker assesses that a group of fifth graders will understand new, slang technology terms more readily than an audience of 60 to 80-year-olds will."

Revision Goal 2: Use business concepts and terms in your document.
1. Re-read your document. Highlight at least two areas where you can include relevant business concepts or terms.

Example: Andre finds a supporting point in his document that he decides he can express in more business-like terms: "The people showed they were bored by not paying attention to the speaker."

2. Brainstorm three business concepts or terms that you can include in your document.

Example: Andre brainstorms business terms that relate to the idea he presents in his sentence:

"Nonverbal behavior."
"Audience, presenter."

3. Now incorporate these concepts or terms into your document.

Example: Andre adds minor details to the business terms he brainstormed and incorporates the terms into his sentence: "The audience displayed numerous nonverbal messages--yawning, texting, and checking the time--demonstrating that they were not paying attention to the presenter."

Organization
Revision Goal 1: Establish and maintain a controlling idea or bottom line throughout the document.
1. Re-read your document. Highlight sentences that could serve as the controlling idea or bottom line. You may also write a new sentence if you wish.

Example: Dan's document jumps from one idea to another, but once he reads it again, he finds the sentence he wants to use as a controlling idea: "Adopting our free and open source software (FOSS) will greatly benefit your teen youth group."

2. Now that you have the controlling idea or bottom line of your document, brainstorm support for it. This support will become the bottom line or controlling idea of the paragraphs in your document.

Example: Dan can think of three ways that adopting the FOSS can benefit a teen youth group. The first is cost. Open source software is by definition free. In addition, open source software is customizable, so with some training, the youth group could customize software to fit their needs. If they did so, they could even teach the teens they help to customize the software, giving those teens a valuable job skill. Dan also realizes that he will have to write an introduction that explains the concept of "free and open source" in case the youth group organizers are not aware of it.

3. For each paragraph, brainstorm at least three supporting details.

Example: Dan decides to start with the cost. He brainstorms the following supporting details:

"Other operating systems charge hundreds of dollars in licensing fees.
"FOSS is free."
"Technical support for FOSS is free as well, provided by thousands of volunteers."

4. Integrate key words from your controlling idea into your supporting details. In addition, use transitional expressions to connect your thoughts.

Example: Dan now has to take the ideas he brainstormed and turn them into a paragraph that will fit into his document. This is what he writes: "Adopting our free and open source software (FOSS) will save your teen youth group thousands of dollars a year in licensing fees you would have to pay to a mainstream company. FOSS, on the other hand, is free, and so is our technical support, which is provided by thousands of knowledgeable volunteers."

Language
Revision Goal 1: Accentuate the positive and de-emphasize the negative in your document.
1. Re-read your document. Highlight all words and phrases that sound negative such as do not, no, stop, and not, as well as words that convey a negative, unpleasant, or disagreeable tone such as unfortunately, cannot, unable to, problem, difficult, error, loss, failure, or regret.

Example: Kiara focuses on these sentences, which have two negative words sure to upset customers: "We do not ship from our central warehouse. You can only pick up your purchases at our downtown store."

2. Revise your document to accentuate the positive and de-emphasize the negative:

Example: Kiara revises her sentences to focus on what can be done. Doing this helps to make the tone of her document positive: "Your purchases can be picked up at our downtown store, which offers free parking on the south side of the building. In addition, you may contact our downtown store by fax, email, or phone to arrange for shipping."

Revision Goal 2: Use active voice.
1. Re-read your document. Highlight all sentences that use passive voice.

Example: Wendy reads her document and finds several sentences in the passive voice, including this one: "Several family-friendly policies were implemented."

2. Revise those sentences so that they are in the active voice.

Example: Wendy realizes that she needs to know who implemented the policies before she can write the sentence in the active voice. She reads her document again and sees that the Human Resources and Management team implemented the policies, so Wendy revises her sentence like this: "The Human Resources and Management team implemented several family-friendly policies."

Revision Goal 3: "Omit needless words." -- Strunk and White
1. Re-read your document. Highlight all wordy sentences.

Example: Kyle reads his document, and one of the sentences he highlights is this: "Lacking all sense of responsibility, Tadd chose to personally abandon the project."

2. Revise all highlighted sentences.

Example: Kyle revises his sentence like this: "Irresponsibly, Tadd chose to personally abandoned the project."

His revision is clearer than the original, shorter, and contains the same information.

Revision Goal 4: Correct fragment errors.
1. Re-read your document. Highlight all sentence fragments.

Example: Donna highlights these passages in her document:

"I revised the quarterly estimate. Even though I did not have to do so."
"Cost overruns in pest control and advertising."

2. Revise fragments by combining fragments with other sentences or providing a subject and a verb for the sentence fragment.

Example: Donna revised those passages like this:

"I revised the quarterly estimate even though I did not have to do so." These two clauses belonged together since separately, the second one was a fragment.
"XYZ Company had cost overruns in pest control and advertising." Donna added a subject and a verb to this idea to turn it into a complete sentence.

Revision Goal 5: Correct run-on errors.
1. Re-read your document. Highlight all run-on errors.

Example: Jeff highlights this passage in his document: "The development of the report took more time than the committee had initially expected thus the report was finalized and offered for review on January 12, 2011, due to a heavy work load during the first part of every year, so the committee will need a little more time to complete the quality review that the report deserves."

2. Revise run-ons by identifying sentences and placing periods at the end of them.

Example: Jeff realizes that untangling this run-on will take some work, so he rereads it slowly and out loud, looking and listening for the end of each sentence. This is how he revises that passage: "The development of the report took more time than the committee had initially expected. Thus the report was finalized and offered for review on January 12, 2011. Due to a heavy work load during the first part of every year, the committee will need a little more time to complete the quality review that the report deserves."

Mechanics
Revision Goal 1: Follow these steps to improve your use of mechanics and conventions.
Use the MY Editor feedback to improve your understanding of mechanics and conventions.

1. Pay attention to the specific feedback that MY Editor gives you as you compose and edit your document. Begin by revising any spelling or punctuation errors you have committed. Then run MY Editor again to reexamine any remaining grammar errors that remain.
2. Write down the terms used in the feedback.
3. Study the terms that came up most often.
4. When you master your understanding of a particular term, move on to a new one.

Network to improve your understanding of mechanics and conventions.

1. Start or join a small, serious study group on the topic of mechanics and conventions.
2. Ask your instructor to recommend other resources to help you master mechanics and conventions.

When you rewrite your document, pay attention to your sentences to avoid errors in mechanics and conventions.

1. Place a period at the end of each of your complete thoughts/sentences.
2. Place the subjects of your sentences as close as you can to the beginning of your sentences.

When you rewrite your document, focus on correcting the errors that came up the most often in the original document.