- Nestlé Polo: The Mint, The Hole Mint, and Nothing But The Mint!
THE CHALLENGE:
Since its introduction in 1948, Polo has remained the United Kingdom’s favorite mint. But nothing lasts forever and stiff competition from both rival mints and chewing gum began to take a bite out of Polo’s sales dominance. Nestlé, the parent company of the ‘mint with the hole,’ as it was sometimes marketed came, to Synecticsworld because their struggling product clearly needed rejuvenation that included the creation of a clear vision, destination, and insights to enhance Polo’s brand development.
THE PROCESS:
The creative catalysts at Synecticsworld met immediately and from their Project Definition workshop came a list of three specific tasks:
- Give the Polo brand a distinctive and relevant positioning that provides the consumer with a motivating and relevant reason to buy and eat Polo.
- Develop a marketing activity to support the re-launch of Polo as refreshing, modern, and relevant.
- Complete a new ‘Brand Ambition Framework’ for Polo.
The stakeholder interviews that followed led to a successful Knowledge Harvesting workshop, which ran concurrently to an external agency’s gathering of consumer stimulus. An all-important Insight Workshop served to unlock hidden truths and wisdom. Some of those truths revealed that consumer usage was less related to cleansing breath and more closely tied to ‘taking a pause’ in order to refresh the consumer’s senses, creating alertness and mental stimulation. It was those important insights that provided the tools for participants in the Exploration and Invention session that followed.
THE RESULTS:
As a result of the Synecticsworld-led rejuvenation, Nestlé successfully re-launched Polo as “the thinking man’s mint” while making changes to the package by raising the lettering to provide the consumer with a greater tactile experience and a perception that Polos had a playful persona.
The bold changes helped to position the mint as an essential addition to a consumer’s pocket or handbag.
In a recent article appearing on talkingretail.com, a popular website dedicated to grocery industry news, it was revealed that Nestlé manufactures approximately 20 million Polos a day in order to keep up with the current world-wide consumption of one hundred and fifty Polos a second!
