Company : Gum India Ltd
Brand Analysis Count : 335
Big Fun was one of the hottest selling chewing gums during the Eighties. The brand evokes lot of nostalgia in me and reminds 
me of the countless fights that I had with my parents to buy this brand.
Big Fun was launched in 1985. At that time the bubblegum market was at the nascent stage. It was this brand which initially created the bubblegum market in India.
Big Fun was also one of the first brands in confectioneries to focus on sales promotion as the core promotional strategy . The brand initially started by offering the pictures of Disney characters to induce the kids . The brand was also harping on the BIG bubbles that can be made with it.
But the real tipping point came with the 1987 Cricket world cup. Big Fun ran a highly successful campaign focusing on cricket. The brand offered a series of collectible pictures of cricketing stars along with the bubblegum wrapper.
Along with the pictures, there was also runs/wickets which the kids would collect and keep score. At the end of the sales promotion, the kids can exchange the scores with some gifts like comics and goodies.
me of the countless fights that I had with my parents to buy this brand.Big Fun was launched in 1985. At that time the bubblegum market was at the nascent stage. It was this brand which initially created the bubblegum market in India.
Big Fun was also one of the first brands in confectioneries to focus on sales promotion as the core promotional strategy . The brand initially started by offering the pictures of Disney characters to induce the kids . The brand was also harping on the BIG bubbles that can be made with it.
But the real tipping point came with the 1987 Cricket world cup. Big Fun ran a highly successful campaign focusing on cricket. The brand offered a series of collectible pictures of cricketing stars along with the bubblegum wrapper.
Along with the pictures, there was also runs/wickets which the kids would collect and keep score. At the end of the sales promotion, the kids can exchange the scores with some gifts like comics and goodies.
The scheme was a super-hit. More than the goodies, kids started collecting these pictures for the love of cricket. Favorite star's pictures was traded and kids began to buy the product for the pictures ra
ther than the bubblegum.Those were the days of Kapil, Viv Richards, Holding, Gavaskar, Vengsarkar, Shastri .
Bubblegum during those times was not as sophisticated as today's. Big Fun was hard rectangular shaped with a syrupy taste. One has to do a lot of chewing to make it mellow and also to make the first bubble.
Picture courtesy : Kadalamittai.blogspot.com
I also happen to see the old ad of Big Fun from the blog of Soumya Dip : Cutting The Chai.
The brand was cashing in on the cricket fever during those times. But in the early nineties the brand died . I am clueless on the reasons behind the death of such a highly popular brand. There is a possibility that the company ran into financial trouble and together with the decline of the popularity of the entire bubblegum category may have caused the death of Big Fun. The product also was not tasty enough to sustain the brand once the sales promotions' effect is gone.
I was now wondering why companies were not running such promotions during IPL. If a brand has done similar promotion during this era , will it create the same magic that Big Fun has created 20 years back ?
Big Fun is yet another brand that has faded from the memory of consumers. Another sad story of a home grown brand biting the dust.
very true....
ReplyDeleteif the same any company does now they will definitely will get high publicity!!!!
and the sad part is that the company which started a revolution in confectionery industry is lost somewhere!!!
I used to enjoy this Gum in my School dayz...
ReplyDeleteIt was magnificient... Who wants the cricketers As they have other gaming Boxes...
Any company which run similar campagin wont be successful in the current era.
ReplyDeleteDuring 80's the penetration of TV were restricted to just 2 major channels DD1 and DD2, to watch there favorite stars one has to wait for the matches. In todays world with the growth of TV, 100's of channel poping up daily, channels dedicated to sports and internet providing you vast information about your favorite player, his updated score till his recent affairs. A collectable stamp size picture wont work in todays world. Kids have changed with time. Even though certain freebies still work in the market but brands should be innovative with the freebies too. However freebies should not restrict to kids, they could even target products which could add a utensil in the kitchen.
I do agree with raj, but if the same campaign is launched with 3D collectible cards with scores like big fun with prizes/freebies ranging from MP3 players, PSP's, Digital Camera's, then why not? I used to collect those score cards way back in 1986 - 87.
ReplyDeleteAh..I didn't imagine I'd find this on the web..the Big Fun stickers were a part of our evening cricket those days. We bought the bubblegum just for the stickers (no-one was really interested in the bubblegum itself) though I distinctly remember the aroma and texture of the newly opened pink bubblegum. Not sure exactly what we did with those stickers later though. Another fad during those years that comes to mind is the stickers in the pack of 'Bakeman's bread'..their signature dude with the chef's hat involved in various sporting activities.
ReplyDeleteIN THE 90s IAM AN DISTRIGUTOR FOR BIGFUN, THE ENTRY OF BOOMER AND THE BAD ADMINISTRATION OF THE COMPANY WHICH VANISHED THAT COMPANY. THIS IS TRUE.
ReplyDeleteI remember - before the cricket series - They had the disney collection. I did collect those ( but lost it some were )
ReplyDeleteBut still i have those big fun - cricket pic's collection. I am planning to sell them in ebay soon.
Hi Vishal,
DeleteI will request you to scan and put it over internet so the people like me can revitalize there childhood memories which has some what lost in today world...
if possible plz mail me them at my mail id ashish_kumar96(at)yahoo(dot)com
Hi Vishal, Do you still have those bigfun cards. I would like to buy if it within my budget. Please let me know nishantkumar.01@gmail.com
DeleteIN the year 1995 i remember that the children in West Bengal were crazy about Big Fun. It was priced at Re 1 and along with the gum you used to get collectibles of cricket stars and about 200 cards could have been redeemed for a diary. We used to trade these cards but the advent of Big Babool and Boomer took the market a bit but i wonder why around early 2001 it completely vanished from the market.
ReplyDeleteStill I have around 300 Cricketers cards of Bigfun. Another same types of promotion I can remember is World Cup Bubble Gum During 1994 football World cup.
ReplyDeleteHi Buddy, Do you still have those bigfun cards. I would like to buy if it within my budget. Please let me know nishantkumar.01@gmail.com
Deletecrappy bubble gum ... I was never able to blow a bubble with it ... but it was the only gum available at that time and yes i remember it only because of the cricketers pics ...
ReplyDelete007 was the most popular brand from NP's bangalore, which captured the attention of the consumer in 70s. Than came Big Fun in 1984, the product was not even 50% in terms of taste and feel. Of course the cricket world cup took the brand to new heights because of the linked promotion. Than the school officials realised chewing bubblegum creates lot of nuisance in the premise and literally banned its usage. This was a big set back to the demand. Next the promoters started siphoning money from the kitty i believe. Bubblegum is 400% margin product. Than BOOMER came and took over the market. Now the companies have realised to underplay promotion, it is always better achieve sales by underplaying the product features, for the fear of incurring the wrath of school authorities.
ReplyDeleteIPL actually reminded of big fun chewing gum. I and my brother blew all our pocket money on big fun to have a poster of every cricketer. I also had a big fun dairy and a flicker. Its been 23 years, but big funs takes me back to my school days in Jammu.
ReplyDeleteThose were the days, man. :)
ReplyDeleteYou are not at all a good person, Harish (Just kidding). This post makes me nostalgic. This post of yours reminds me of the good old days when chewing gum used to be the REAL chewing gum. It used to cost 25p. Thanks for the nice post!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Harish, you just took me back to those days and refresh my memories, it is truly nostalgic ... I still remember those days :) I do have 4s,6s and Richard Hadlee wickets :)
ReplyDeleteYou need to also note that the decline of big fun coincided with the entry of MNC Wrigleys into the Indian market. Destroying homegrown brands is a well-known strategy of MNCs, especially the US based ones.
ReplyDeleteYou need to also note that the decline of big fun coincided with the entry of MNC Wrigleys into the Indian market. Destroying homegrown brands is a well-known strategy of MNCs, especially the US based ones.
ReplyDeleteThis product was launched on 24th October 1983 in Chennai and rose to fame post the first TV commercial on DD on the 6th of November 1983, before the tamil movie in the evening. The demand for the product rose so high that the manufacturer was not able to meet the demand despite their best effort. No other bubble gum was selling at this time and the demand for Big Fun was intense. Shopkeepers who had other bubble gums were struggling to sell them. So somebody spread a rumor that eating Big Fun lead to health issues and hence the govt has banned the company. This hit the company big time and took long to recover. Thereafter the product survived due to continued marketing effort
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone remember a bubblegum brand called Topaz. They used to come with cards of flags of countries in them.
ReplyDeleteI have some big fun cards. Any one need, please email me to cfrangk@gmail.com
ReplyDelete