Tic Tac | TWP

The Brief

Ferrero wanted to introduce Tic Tac Chewy (Fruit Adventure and Sour Adventure, a new format for the brand) to a university audience during back-to-school in September, a moment when students are away from home and open to trying new snacking habits. The goal was trial at scale on campus across Los Angeles, New York City/North East, Texas and Florida, timed to catch students as they were settling into new routines rather than sampling into an already-established one.

The Solution

We sampled 100,000 units of Tic Tac Chewy across 84 university locations in Los Angeles, New York City/North East, Texas and Florida, covering both the Fruit Adventure and Sour Adventure ranges so students could find a flavour they liked rather than being handed a single option. Sampling stayed campus-based throughout, reaching students directly where they study and socialise, and every sample was paired with a short questionnaire to capture reaction and purchase intent on the spot.

The Results

17.16% of students who received a sample completed the questionnaire, 17,162 responses in total. Of those, 83% said they would go on to purchase Tic Tac Chewy, with taste, flavour assortment and price coming through as the main reasons why.

The research also placed Tic Tac Chewy within an active category: 26% of respondents said they buy chewy confectionery more than once a week, and the brands they already purchase in the space included Skittles, Life Savers and Swedish Fish, confirming this is a crowded but frequently-shopped set that Chewy is well placed to compete in.

Timing the sampling to back-to-school put Chewy in front of students at exactly the point they were open to new habits, and the results show it landed: strong purchase intent, driven by product experience rather than brand awareness alone, within an audience that already buys into this category several times a week. That combination of scale, timing and category fit gives a solid platform to build repeat trial from.