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Vape brand Lost Mary looks to be preparing to extend into new product categories including alcohol and confectionery.
Trademark applications filed to the Intellectual Property Office show Dashing Joys Limited, a Hong Kong-based company registered to the same address as Lost Mary and ElfBar owner Imiracle (HK) Limited, has applied to register the term ‘Lost Mary’ under a slew of new categories.
The applications are for a class 33 mark covering alcoholic beverages except beer, and a class 30 covering a host of fmcg goods including coffee, tea, chocolate, confectionery, ice cream and condiments.
Dashing Joys Limited also applied to register the term Lost Mary under a class 32 mark covering energy drinks in October last year.
A spokesman for Lost Mary said its trademark applications were “precationary measures to protect the brand name”.
“There have been instances in other markets where other entities have registered our brand name under these categories,” they added.
Extensions into other fmcg categories would represent a major diversification for Lost Mary, which is one of three leading disposable vape brands, with sales of £310m [NIQ 52 we 9 September 2023].
The vaping category more than doubled in value in 2023 to smash the £1bn barrier, according to The Grocer’s Top Products Survey 2023. Volumes also doubled, with an additional 155.2 million units sold.
However, disposables are set to be banned in the UK over their environmental impact and fears of an “alarming rise” in underage vaping.
Restrictions on flavours, packaging and merchandising in-store are also set to be introduced in a bid to curb under-age consumption.
The proportion of 11 to 17-year-old vapers using disposables has increased almost ninefold in the past two years, according to figures from Action on Smoking & Health (ASH).
In January Lost Mary unveiled Tappo, its first pod-based vape system. The closed-pod system allows users to replace single-use pods filled with e-liquid whilst retaining the core device, which has a rechargeable 750mAh battery.
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