Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The BOMB Squad Goes To Work

The BOMB Squad had come together and went to work to start creating the future of bubblegum.

To all of us, the whole thing centered around GUMpetition. Since the beginning of bubblegum time the big question was, who could blow the biggest bubble. That's what got bubblegum where it was. That's what got the BOMB Squad Heroes where they were. And for bubblegum blowers worldwide to have a chance to experience some of the great stuff the Heroes had experienced, that was where it would have to come from.

GUMpetition. It made America great. It made Bubblegum great. It made the Heroes great. And most importantly, it can make YOU great!

It was at this time that Hero Earl "The GUM BUBBLE COACH" Hartwell pointed out an article he found on the internet that amazed us. It was about what bubblegum needed to bring it back to it's former glory, and it featured some apparently very big marketing people.

What amazed us is that it almost looked like it could have been written by us. They pretty much recommended exactly what we had been talking about for a long time. Emphasizing the BIG bubble! Emphasizing competition. Another point made was that bubblegum seemed to be a victim in the trend towards people going towards less sugary foods. That's exactly what we are talking about. Sugar and taste have nothing to do with a bubble gum's bubble blowing ability, and yet, sadly, that's what just about always seems to be emphasized.

And here's an interesting comment by Thryth Jarvis, a marketing director and former senior brand manager on Nestle's Kit Kat:

"...bubblegum sales are just one tenth of that of bubble gum...Strange, really, when surely bubble gum is a superior product...but bubblegum has the added benefit that you can, if desired, blow bubbles. So why don't people chose it?"

He goes on to say:
"...no one has been reminding us how great it is. People have forgotten the fun, the challenge, and the playful competition that blowing bubbles can bring."

In other words, you emphasize the wrong things and the product falls all apart. Whoa, who ever would have thought?!?

(Pounding my clenched fist into my open palm, I, Bobby "BOOM BOOM" Bickerson Commissioner, issue an edict):

BUBBLEGUM SIMPLY MUST BE BROUGHT BACK TO IT'S FORMER GLORY! WE MUST REMEMBER, EMPHASIZE, AND REMIND PEOPLE THAT IT CAN DO THE ONE THING NO OTHER GUM, CANDY OR FOOD CAN DO. BLOW BIG BUBBLES!

And so the BOMB Squad, the four greatest bubblegum bubble blowers ever, creators of much of the history of bubblegum, along with myself, set out to create the future of the storied and once glorious but now beleagored product.

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