Been awhile since you’ve chewed bubble gum?
Then maybe the bubble-blowing contest in Chicago last month wasn’t for you.
But the 30-year-old gum brand Bubblicious did attract more than 1,200 kids.
At Taste of Chicago, a food and entertainment festival, youngsters outdid each other in the new Bubblicious Ultimate Bubble Blowing League.
Bubblicious is running these tournaments as part of a 12-city tour in partnership with marketing partner and professional basketball star LeBron James. The summer program encourages kids ages eight and older to form their own leagues at www.theultimatebubble.com and run competitions.
About 500,000 samples will be handed out during the tour, which ends Aug. 26, not including the gum kids chew in the competitions. Events also will be held in New York, Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles and James’s hometown of Akron, Ohio. Local radio and PR, along with online banners on the Web sites of media partners such as Cartoon Network, support the promotion.
“We thought it was a natural fit to go out there and challenge kids to put their bubble-blowing skills to the test,” says Bubblicious brand manager Betty Su.
At the Web site, kids can download bubble meters to track the size of bubbles blown, tips on how to blow big bubbles, team trading cards, iron-ons and templates to create a league newspaper article.
Players can then enter a sweeps for the chance to be one of 56 competitors to vie this fall for the title of bubble-gum-blowing champ and get the chance to meet James, who plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Other finalists will be chosen via local radio promos.
To be eligible, kids must complete two events in each of four categories: the largest bubble, the most bubbles blown, the rollercoaster bubbles and the exact bubble size events. The largest bubble ever blown is 23 inches, coincidentally the same as James basketball number, the company says. The deal with James is now in its fourth year. A Bubblicious flavor was developed just for him, Lighting Lemonade.
The tour is Bubblicious’ main promotional activity this year, supplemented by TV spots and other promotions for kids, Su says.
The gum, marketed by Cadbury Schweppes, comes in two formats: chunk gum in 10 flavors with Watermelon Wave and Strawberry Splash the best selling; and Bubblicious Burst, a liquid center filled gum that when chewed turns tongues temporarily blue.
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