The brand behind the Starburst candy is The Wrigley Company, a subsidiary of Mars Inc. One of the biggest competitors to Starburst are Mamba's by August Storck KG, and Now and Laters by Farley's and Sathers. Now and Laters as well as Mamba's resemble Starburst very similar. They are both square shaped taffy fruit chews wrapped in colored papers. The main difference between these 3 brands is focused on the texture of the candy. Now and Laters' texture is hard at first, and softens later as you eat it. Mambas are soft all around when consumed. Starburst is in the middle because its candy texture is not too soft and not too hard. All the flavors of these 3 candies are similar as well. Mamba has 6 pieces of 4 different flavors, about 24 pieces. These flavors include lemon, orange. strawberry, and raspberry. Now and Laters are sold with 4 pieces of 3 different flavors. The combination of flavors usually has watermelon, cherry, grape, or apple flavors. For Starburst their packages feature multiple original flavors of strawberry, orange, cherry, and lemon. After doing research throughout the internet it is learned that Mamba and Now and Later candies don't do a whole lot of marketing for their taffy treats. The only commercials found for Mambas and Now and Laters were older ads from the 60's and 70's. Because these candies have been out for such a long time the general public knows about them and they rely on word of mouth for their marketing. Their approach seems to be unconventional and not your typical advertisements on television. This could potentially be there tactic on purpose or potentially because of financial reasons within the companies. "Often, clients and agencies turn to unconventional marketing when the budget is too low for television or for rich Web solutions" (Landa 246) Starburst on the other hand is known to sponsor people and celebrities such as Michelle Branch (in 2003) to help both the cause and the candy. To feature a cameo appearance of a celebrity in their marketing campaigns would be no surprise to the general public and still contribute to their advertising success. I think some of the challenges that other companies may be facing is trying to keep in the spotlight with today's younger youth. Almost everyone buys candy sooner or later it doesn't matter how old you are, but younger adolescents and children are the primary focus because you can brand them early on. It is important to target those age groups. Some things to think about when promoting any campaign can be: "Does the campaign enter pop culture vernacular? More importantly does it positively affect the popular culture? Does it have a point of view of philosophy that changes things?" (Landa 192). By analyzing how Starburst has stayed in the spotlight these past decades it is evident they are tending to the mainstream consumers. Some of their recently successful commercials have been "Berries n' Cream" in 2007 as well as their "Contradictions" commercial aired during the 2010 SuperBowl. The SuperBowl alone is watched my millions of viewers, so I believe Starburst is in a good advertising standing. I believe their intent was to start a viral phenomenon. With today's social networking that was just another medium for Starburst to utilize. Not only would they have watched the commercial on television, because it was comical they would search for it again on the net, and then share it with friends, resulting in a viral spread. "Online marketing goes viral when people are infected by it (like a viral infection), and they spread it to others. To become infected, people have to like the content enough to share it; they must be engaged by it and want to pass it on to their friends and family." (Landa 244) Techniques like these have not been seen in advertising campaigns by Mamba and Now and Laters. Becuase Starburst known to endorse celebrities this also leaves room for a potential spokesperson to represent Starburst. "A spokesperson is an individual -an average person, actor, model, or other celebrity- who positively represents the product, service or group. If the role is a recurring one, that individual becomes the face and voice of the brand or goup." (Landa 112) Snickers did a similar tactic with a previous SuperBowl commercial a few years ago when they used Betty White to represent Snickers' candy bars. This not only rocketed Snickers' sales but also reset Betty White's Career. This is an incredible opportunity for Starburst!
Landa, Robin. Advertising by Design: Generating and Designing Creative Ideas Across Media. 2nd. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2010. Print.
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