Bazooka Candy Brands is introducing a hi-tech take on collectible trading cards with the relaunch of its namesake gum brand.
The company has set its sights on the teen market as it revamps the core bubblegum and extends the brand into the chew market with products featuring the Bazooka gum flavour.
The bubblegum will be available in tubs of 200 pieces (rsp: 5p each) and wallets containing six pieces (rsp: 36p). The new chew products include Chew Chunks in raspberry, apple and Bazooka bubblegum flavours (rsp: 35p) Chew Bars (rsp: 10p) and bags of small Chew Bitz in Bazooka bubblegum, blackcurrant, orange, strawberry, raspberry, and lime (rsp: 40p/45g and £1/180g).
The company has created a range of characters - the Bazooka Budz - that can be revealed by scanning the sweet wrapper using an augmented reality app on a smartphone or tablet.
The characters, which can be and collected and pitted against friends’ Budz in a game, include footie fan Studz and gossip mag fan Gobby and have been designed by street artist Ronzo. The game features a dubstep soundtrack by DJ Andy C.
Describing teens as an often-overlooked audience, Bazooka Candy Brands marketing director Sarah Burrow said the activity would tap into the way they socialised and engaged with brands.
“At every stage, we’ve listened to what teens like and want. We’ve worked with the best talent, and we’ve taken a leap into the technology that we believe really is the future,” she added.
Social media would be key to the brand messaging, said Burrow, adding that the company had developed content designed to encourage youngsters to ‘discover’ the Budz. This will appear on Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr and YouTube as well as Twitter and Facebook.
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