RIP Gum
Mondelez
The global gum category was in long-term decline. Younger audiences no longer saw gum as culturally relevant, and internal confidence in the category was fading.
Mondelez needed a bold, future-facing vision that could reframe gum’s role in modern culture and inspire belief inside the organisation that reinvention was possible.
This film was created as an internal strategic provocation to reignite ambition for the category, with a specific focus on Gen Z.
Objective
To demonstrate to Mondelez leadership that the gum category could be revitalised by reconnecting with culture, and that Gen Z relevance was the key to its future growth.
The film needed to challenge existing thinking, unify stakeholders, and create momentum behind a new strategic direction.
Strategy
Use culture, not product, as the entry point.
Instead of starting with gum, we started with Gen Z. Their behaviours, values, visual language, contradictions and self-expression. The category was reframed through their world, not Mondelez’s.
The film was designed to feel provocative, contemporary and emotionally charged, positioning gum not as a functional product, but as a cultural accessory capable of reclaiming relevance.
The idea
A manifesto-style film that declared the death of the old gum category and introduced the possibility of a new one.
“RIP Gum” became both a provocation and a reset.
Through fashion-led casting, raw portraiture, cultural symbolism and unapologetic attitude, the film reframed gum as a statement of identity, rebellion and individuality, aligned with Gen Z culture rather than advertising convention.
It wasn’t about showing gum.
It was about showing why gum could matter again.
What it delivered
The film gave Mondelez a new cultural lens through which to view the category.
It replaced category fatigue with creative confidence, providing a clear, emotionally resonant vision for how gum could evolve, visually, strategically and culturally.
Despite an extremely tight turnaround, the film landed with impact and clarity, uniting stakeholders behind a shared ambition for reinvention.
Impact
The film directly contributed to Mondelez winning Trident as a client.
It proved that the gum category could still inspire culture-led thinking, and that Mondelez had the creative ambition to lead that transformation.
What began as an internal provocation became a catalyst for new commercial opportunity.
