Marketing and all things related

Now you might think that it was a great idea for gum monster Wrigley’s to spend $ 1.5 billion to acquire Lifesavers and Altoids, and you would be wrong, naturally. Since Wrigley’s acquired the brands from Kraft last June, Altoids sales have fallen 17%, Life Savers dropped 8% and Creme Savers dropped 33%. CEO Bill Wrigley Jr. is not ducking responsibility, and admits that boosting the brands will require innovation and a larger budget. We applaud humble CEOs and wish we had a solution to help. Shooting from the hip, we say Altoids are too damned small, and should be more like Malox tablets. Also, try boxing Altoids in paper, and create a collectors market for the nifty tins. Lifesavers taste awful, so a reformulation would help, Work on the products first—and the advertising afterward.