Flavoured lip balms – the next frontier for confectionery giants?
As a host of companies seek to provide health supplements to their products amid concern over the obesity epidemic, a couple of major US confectionery companies have opted into the cosmetics industry.
Wrigley, the world’s largest chewing gum maker, and Hershey Foods, the giant US confectionery producer, are among those to have combined with ‘Lotta Luv’ to produce candy flavoured lip balm.
New York based Lotta Luv has worked with the companies to produce Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Hershey’s chocolate and Juicy Fruit lip balm, among many others. The company now has over 200 flavoured lip gloss products with Jelly Belly, Dr. Pepper, Snapple and 7-Up among a plethora of other options for the consumer looking for the taste of their favourite confectionery without the calories.
The lip balms are mainly targeted toward the lucrative teen/tween demographic and the decision by Hershey’s to work with Lotta Luv almost six years ago has slowly led to the growth of the sector. Wrigley’s are the latest to team with Lotta Luv and it is in-line with their strategy to differentiate their products. Recently, they have also altered the packaging of their chewing gum and created gum with a magnolia extract that reportedly kills germs which cause bad breath.
They are not alone in their push into the cosmetics sector with a UK bottled water company called ‘Works With Water’, for example, providing water which they claim will counter acne problems.
Consequently, it now appears that food and beverage manufacturers are counting on the cosmetic and health food sectors to provide the impetus for future growth.
