Taking A Licking

Brandweek, Nov 23, 1998 by Mike Beirne

CHUPA CHUPS GO WHERE THE INFLUENCERS ARE

It was on everyone's lips at the Venice Film Festival and at haute couture fashion shows in New York, Paris, and Melbourne. And it had tongues wagging at the MTV Video Music and Grammy awards.

Yet Chupa Chups never sponsored these events. Nor did the Spanish candy maker unfurl a corporate banner to mark its presence or stock lollipop displays bearing its Salvador Dali-designed logo. The candy was simply there. Suckers with vibrant-colored wrappers were stuffed into clear glass jars and silver champagne buckets perched for the taking at the hip "post" parties for these events, as well as Hollywood fundraisers and sport venues. The "in" crowd vigorously embraced Chupa Chups, and that made the candy cool.

The sweets manufacturer spent only $254,000 on media in the U.S. last year, per Competitive Media Reporting, a pittance compared to the million-dollar budgets Hershey or M&M/Mars dole out on a single brand. Such a conventional effort would go against the grain of the irreverent image Chupa Chups has cultivated elsewhere around the globe. Note the motto of the company's animated lollipop character, the Lickmeister: "If you don't like me, you can lick me."

Rather, Chupa Chups targets young tastemakers in the worlds of fashion, film, music and sports, said Greg Heanue, brand manager. The effort paid off on the fashion front when Cosmopolitan called Chupa Chups one of the "in" items for 1998, and Elle named the lollipop among the hot spring/summer catwalk trends. The lollipop is becoming so ubiquitous that paparazzi are now known to stalk their targets armed with a fistful of Chupa Chups, a sweet reward to entice their subject to playfully pose with something other than the standard cocktail glass or cigar in hand. Consequently, the world knows that Mariah Carey, Kirstie Alley, Georgina Robertson and Giorgio Armani have a soft spot for Chupa Chups. So does James Brown, Sting, Madonna, U2 and, of course, the Spice Girls.

But scoring with mugs of famous suckers, connoting an image of youth and confidence, in entertainment and fashion magazines was just one attack. Chupa Chups also convinced chefs and bartenders at upscale restaurants to use the lollipops with plastic sticks as martini stirrers and as garnishes for dessert trays. The company also talked hotels into laying a lollipop on the pillow, instead of a mint, for turndown service and incorporating the candy in VIP packages, rather than the typical fruit basket welcome.

While Chupa Chups likely will stay close to its unconventional roots, the brand is preparing to become more outspoken in the U.S during 1999, having whittled 16 candidates for its ad account to seven agencies, vying for a budget that could be as large as $10 million. But don't expect conventional advertising. As its past targeting points out, Chupa Chups is more than just a kid's candy. It's a sassy alternative to smoking, a fat-free treat in more than 30 flavors that lasts 20% longer than other suckers.

While what is hot today can be passe tomorrow, Heanue contends that Chupa Chups will not fade like grunge or heroin chic. The product sits in a category that is more stable than cigars, which are facing an anti-smoking wave, and Heanue expects further growth because the product is aimed at hipster teens and nostalgia-prone adults and seniors. It's a lollipop that, according to Cosmopolitan, pushed cigars into the "out" category. Yup, according to Cosmo.