History & Marketing Strategies of TicTac Brand

Company Name: Tic Tac
Founded by:  Ferrero SpA 

Tic Tac is a product of Ferrero SpA which is a well-known and established brand in the market. Tic Tac is one of the major contributor of Ferrero Group’s turnover. The product continues to enjoy an excellent brand equity, awareness and identity, even after a course of over thirty years, thus continuing to have a strong impact on the corporate balance sheet.

This is mostly due to the reputation of the manufacturer and to the product historicity, more than a continuous brand revival and renewal, referring mostly to an established market of loyal consumers.

 

How It All Started 

Ferrero SpA is an Italian manufacturer of confectionery products and chocolate. It was founded by Pietro Ferrero in 1946 in Alba, Italy. The company saw a period of tremendous success and growth under Pietro’s son Michele Ferrero, who in turn handed over the daily operations to his sons. Ferrero ranks as the most reputable company in the world as per Reputation Institute’s 2009 survey.

Ferrero Spa is a private company owned by the Ferrero family and has been described as one of the world’s most secretive firms. The Ferrero Group worldwide includes 18 factories, 38 trading companies and around 21,500 employees. Ferrero International SA’s headquarters is in Luxembourg. 

Launching

Tic Tac were first introduced by Ferrero SpA in 1968, under the name “Refreshing Mints”. The name was changed to Tic Tacs, after the distinctive sound of the mints rattling in their container in 1970. Besides the original “Orange” and “Fresh Mint” flavours, several new varieties were added, including aniseed, cinnamon (or “Winter Warmer”), an orange and lime mix (in 1976), Powermint, spearmint, peppermint, sour apple, tangerine, mandarin, , berry, fresh orange, strawberry, wintergreen, pink grapefruit, orange and lime together (in1978), cherry, passion fruit (in 2007), pomegranate (in 2010), lime, mango, and popcorn (2014).

The grape flavour was eliminated in 1976 because of health concerns about the red dye amaranth (FD&C Red), a suspected carcinogen. Orange Tic Tacs were now sold without the Grape.

Other offerings have included holiday gift packs for Christmas, Easter, St Patricks Day, and Valentine’s Day. The major markets for Ferrero are in the Europe, U.S. and Japan. Other Asian markets and China are increasingly being considered by the company. The company had been able to register a good relationship with the governments of these countries and has won lots of awards in many countries.

Mint, Orange, Spearmint, Peach and Passion, Mintensity, Cherry, Strawberry Mix, Banana and Cardamom (Elaichi) are the flavours available in India.

Sometimes, Tic Tac also produces limited editions boxes especially to promote movies. An exclusive and special Minion Tic Tac box was made in 2015 and it contained banana flavoured Tic Tacs with three different covers (with the pictures of Kevin, Stuart, or Bob).

 

Marketing strategy and Interesting Facts behind its Success

Price:

TicTac has taken an exceptionally competitive price positioning with a critical margin, that clash with the consumers’ need, in fact, its aggressive pricing policy is a fence to the new organizations, and is hard to overcome.

Even the price leverage contributes to the uniqueness and competitiveness that Ferrero products have. With respect to the grocery stores or hypermarkets the normal retail cost is equivalent to 65 pence for the classic pack of 18 grams. 

A specific sales channel for the product is E-Bay, where collectors and enthusiasts are willing to purchase the limited edition packages product at costs around £5. This technique is used to either increase or decrease the cost of the items. The price will be applied to every other variation of taste.

 

Product Characteristics

Tic Tac products are small with hard mints. It is available in a variety of flavours and has a distribution network over 100 countries. TicTac, is made from ingredients which include tartaric acid, maltodextrin, sugar, natural and artificial flavours, glazing agents, rich starch, (carnauba wax), artificial colours, filling agent (magnesium stearate).

 

Promotion

The major aim of TicTac’s communication is for information, just to explain the advantages of the product without building extra components. This is because the product is based on some essential components that characterize its operation, and afterward defines target which could be very large. This brand has a strong positioning; it is in itself a world of values of reference to all items in the portfolio.

To make a product picture, TicTac utilizes distinctive communication activities including advertising media campaigns, competitions and related activities to engage buyers and fortify their current relationship.

 

Tic Tac Campaigns

In the UK, France, Ireland, Italy and Australia Tic Tacs are noted as being less than two calories with the slogan “Two hours of Tic Tac freshness in less than two calories”. In Canada, New Zealand and Australia, and used once in the United States, the Tic Tac slogan is “it’s not just a mint, it’s a tic tac”. In India, the Tic Tac slogan is “Refreshment to be shared”.

Tic Tac is targeting ‘happy optimists’ with its open house. The campaign was held in ‘The pop-up’, a place in Covent Garden in month of June 2018. Campaign aimed to encourage guests to “open up” and interact with like-minded people.

They believe that life is a bit sweeter when you open up so instead of people always walking around with their headphones on or looking at their screens, they just want to show that life is a lot more fun when one opens up, look around and have a chat with people that you have a common interest with. Tic Tac has a target group called happy optimists which is a mindset so people who are open to life and taking the most out of life.

 

Conclusion

High quality, product freshness, selection of the finest raw material, consideration and respect for customer these are Ferrero’s “key words” and values which have helped make Tic Tac well-known and liked by millions of consumers around the world. 

The consumer is always at the prime of their strategies. Ferrero’s relationship with its consumers is based on mutual trust and longstanding, built up over the years with experience, expertise, understanding and intuition. The innovation at Ferrero is a benefit that keeps the organization outstanding from its competitions. 

Every product made in this plan is an image of a very high quality brand and the approach taken by this organization is an effective and profitable one, and will lead them to explore all around the globe.

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