Tic tac chill mints

Read the following case study and then answer the question which follows: 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.

CASE #2

Read the following case study and then answer the question which follows: Kiki magazine is a quarterly publication established in the fall of 2007 for tween girls. With approximately 10 million females between the ages of 10 and 14 in the United States, the founders saw an opportunity to capture a niche market of girls who wanted a magazine that looked like the glossy newsstand magazines geared to older girls but featured design-based content, rather than pop-culture based content. Magazines, newspapers, and books are the three major forms of print media in the publishing industry. In 2007, the publishing market had a market value of $157.9 billion, with magazines representing 9.4 percent of the total. There were approximately 6,800 consumer magazines and 12,725 business magazines produced in the United States. Magazines generate income via advertising and circulation revenue, with advertising accounting for an average of about 55 percent of revenue. Circulation revenue is derived from both subscriptions and single copy sales. The top 300 magazines in 2006 generated $34.4 billion in revenue. Of this revenue, the 10 largest consumer titles had combined circulation and advertising revenues of $7.7 billion. There are approximately 250 magazines in the United States targeted exclusively to children (8 years and younger), youth (9 to 12 years), and teens (13 to 19 years). Kiki competes in the youth and early teen segment of the magazine marketplace, which has a magazine readership of about 48 percent of the segment. There are three major types of magazines in this age range: sexualized girls' magazines, kids/fun magazines for both boys and girls, and educational magazines for girls. There were two major magazines in the sexualized girls category--CosmoGirl! with 1.5 million in circulation and Teen Vogue with a circulation of almost 1 million. Content in both magazines includes fashion, celebrity interviews and gossip, dating/relationship advice, and beauty tips. Advertising is comprised largely of ads for perfume, makeup, and clothing. Despite its high circulation, however, CosmoGirl! printed its final issue in December of 2008. Popular titles in the kids/fun product segment are: Highlights for Children, Nickelodeon Magazine, and National Geographic Kids. All three magazines contain games, cartoons, and very short articles. Highlights for Children does not contain advertising, though both Nickelodeon Magazine and National Geographic Kids do. Nickelodeon Magazine printed its final issue in 2009. Two prominent girls' magazines in the educational product segment are American Girl and New Moon. American Girl, with a circulation of around 700,000 does not contain any advertising and encourages girls to be creative. New Moon, with a tagline of "The Magazine for Girls and Their Dreams," attempts to empower females as they transition from girls to women. In existence for 15 years, the magazine has a circulation of 30,000. There are two girls' magazines that fall between the sexualized and educational content segments. Discovery Girls, with a circulation of approximately 186,000, and Girl's Life, with a circulation of 367,000, focus on school, growing up, beauty, fashion, and self-esteem. Both have content related to dating and relationships. Kiki is a quarterly magazine and interactive "creativity" journal targeted to the 9- to 14-year-old female market segment. Kiki is designed to appeal to girls with style and substance and follows the fashion design curriculum used in colleges as its springboard to topics such as finance, geography, entrepreneurship, history, and fine arts. Its goal is to demonstrate that having fun with style and artistry is compatible with intelligence and creativity. The driving philosophy behind the magazine is the promotion of self-confidence among young girls.