No longer is the sweetener war just between the little blue packets and the little pink packets.
For years, sugar substitute-makers have spent millions talking about nutrition, dieting–and taking shots at each other.
The folks at Johnson & Johnson’s McNeil Nutritionals are looking past that.
Up-and-comer McNeil Nutritionals, whose Splenda brand has come out of nowhere to be the No. 2 sugar substitute in the last two years, is taking on the real stuff in a new campaign breaking this month.
New TV and print ads from New York-based Alchem hope to get consumers to switch to Splenda because of its taste–even those consumers who don’t have to switch to a sugar substitute.
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That’s a tall order for a sweetener company. With the image of sweeteners associated with more unpleasant tasks, like dieting, a change in consumer mindset could be a tough sell.
“Our challenge is to communicate a message that redefines sweetness,” said Anne Rewey, franchise director for Splenda.
Splenda’s new campaign is its first major marketing expenditure since the launch of the brand in 2000. It is a clear pitch to sugar users, but without the reference to diet or its non-sugar competitors.
The ads use Splenda in place of the word sugar in such things as popular poems, phrases and rhymes. In one print ad that breaks in April national magazines, a little girl stuffs her face with a muffin under the line: “Roses are red, violets are blue, Splenda is sweet, and so are you.”
Another shows a girl who is helping bake in the kitchen under the line: Splenda and spice and everything nice.”
The campaign sports a new tagline: “Think sugar. Say Splenda.”
The TV campaign plays up Splenda’s difference: the fact that you can bake with the sweetener, unlike other sugar substitutes. That unique positioning appears to be a big reason behind Splenda’s skyrocketing sales. Sales for Splenda in the last year grew a whopping 69 percent, to $57.9 million, according to Information Resources Inc. The brand is second only to Merisant’s Equal, which saw its sales decrease 8 percent, to $75.9 million.
On the manufacturing side, Splenda is looking at stepped-up marketing efforts aimed at wooing major food companies that may be considering new products with fewer calories. The process, called “blending,” is expected to open up a new avenue for both Splenda and traditional food marketers.
Splenda’s entry into the category has helped fuel a 10 percent increase in the category’s sales since its launch.
Cumberland Packing Corp.’s Sweet’N Low, now the No. 3 player, saw its sales increase 1 percent, to $54.7 million.
Splenda’s campaign comes on the heels of a new $15 million campaign for Equal that already may be out of step with the way consumers are now looking at the category. Instead of having Splenda in its sights, Equal is reportedly still taking aim at Sweet’N Low. Perhaps it doesn’t realize that the war is no longer pink versus blue.
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