Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. is going to give Taste of Chicago visitors something to chew on besides the many goodies on sale.
In what appears to be the Chicago-based firm’s biggest sampling program here since the early 1980s, Wrigley will be a major sponsor at the Taste , marking its official debut there.
Wrigley last year gave out samples of its Eclipse sugar-free, breath-freshening gum in packets containing 10 pellets. A Wrigley spokesman described that as a “limited” effort.
This time around, Wrigley has signed up for two 10-by-10-foot booths to serve as the distribution points for two-pellet Eclipse sample packs. The company expects to dole out a “quarter million” of them, according to the Wrigley spokesman.
Wrigley also intends to do more aggressive sampling in other markets this year at various festivals nationwide, the company said.
Wrigley’s gum market share is still hovering around 50 percent. But with new brands being launched, including its new Eclipse Polar Ice, a companion to the existing Winterfresh and Spearmint flavors, sampling can be a strong promotional vehicle, building awareness and a stronger customer base.
In 1984, the Chicago firm sampled its Wrigley’s Extra gum in packages of Kellogg’s Raisin Bran. Sources say some 20 million boxes of the cereal containing the gum were distributed nationally.
A mint flavor was part of the sampling, and some consumers complained that it affected the taste of the cereal.
Block to Campbell Mithun Esty: H & R Block, the Kansas City, Mo.-based financial services firm, picked Campbell Mithun Esty (CME) in Minneapolis for advertising and other communications services for what’s being touted as a $100 million account. Campbell Mithun, which has direct marketing and promotional capabilities, beat out DDB Chicago. CME succeeds ad agency Y&R Chicago and other Y&R Inc. units.
StarLink on the move: StarLink was a baby Starcom last August, but in 10 months it’s grown into a media management firm with annualized billing of $350 million, an impressive number, indeed. With staffers on three floors at 35 W. Wacker, also called the Leo Burnett Building, StarLink will be making a move and consolidating its 42-member staff at One East Wacker in mid-August. Star Link will initially occupy the 15th floor there, with room for expansion on the 14th floor. At first, StarLink, operating separately from Starcom Worldwide, then the media management arm of Leo Burnett Co., provided strategy and investment expertise to small- and medium-size ad agencies “Now, we’re dealing primarily with midsize agencies,” says Bob Kubis, StarLink president. “These shops find themselves battling the big guns in media, so they come to us for help in media.” Kubis, who rejoined Burnett in July after a stint as a group management director at FCB Chicago, is hopeful StarLink can be a $500 million business by the end of 2001. It is a division of Starcom MediaVest Group, a unit of B COM 3 Group.
Buck taps Korshak, Travis: Real estate developer John Buck Co. picked Arian, Lowe & Travis for advertising and Margie Korshak Inc. for public relations for The Shops of North Bridge, a four-level retail development opening in mid September at 520 N. Michigan Ave. Budgets weren’t disclosed, but they are expected to be substantial.
– Pete Wentz, an associate dean at Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago, now heads up executive and professional education and communications, including marketing, in expanded responsibilities. Wentz’s background includes an 18-year stint at Helene Curtis Industries. Subsequently, he headed up PR firm Dilenschneider Group’s Chicago office before joining the law school. Also, Alix Salyers to senior VP and director of the media strategies and solutions group in the CrossMedia division of Golin/Harris International Chicago . . . .Raymond Celaya to an assistant VP of ethnic marketing, Allstate Insurance Co., Northbrook . . . .Lee Anne Ahlbrand to the CPA Group in Chicago as executive VP of business development.
Strictly Personal: Birthday greetings to Courtney Dempsey, 25 (Smith & Wollensky); Faye Cooper, 29 (Hyatt Regency Hotel sales); Rachel Mikolajczyk, 23 (Perkins & Will); Jennifer Powell, 29; Kristie Trefzer Sheanshang, 28 (Ernst & Young); Robin Toomey, 44 (IBM); Pancho Segura, 79; Drew M. Horowitz, 48 (WTMX FM).
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