Chupa Chups: history of’a sweet brand with the flavor of’Spain

Chupa Chups remains a symbol of youth, design and innovation. This leader in the lollipop segment is present on 5 continents and in over 160 countries. Its production amounts to 12 million units per day, or 17,000 tons per year.

Here is the history of this successful brand.

D’where the brand Chupa Chups comes from ?

L’Chupa Chups story began in Spain. In 1957, the Catalan businessman Enric Bernat had a flash of genius: put a candy on a little stick to avoid getting your fingers dirty. He noticed that the main consumers of sweets, children, tend to take them out of their mouths with their hands.

Its creation was a real revolution, because no candy exclusively for children had been designed until then.

The marketing of the first lollipop started in 1958. It was first called Gol, because it was reminiscent of a football entering the goal which was then represented by the mouth. However, this name did not work. The one from Chups was proposed by a advertising agency requested by Enric Bernat.

It corresponds to the onomatopoeia of the sound produced when taking the candy out of the mouth. The name of the confectionery became Chupa Chups following’one advertising campaign broadcast on the radio. This one repeated the message “chupa Chups”, “chupa” being the Spanish word for “suck”.

From there, thehistory of Chupa Chups was all set. The brand was introduced on the Japanese market in 1977. Its launch in China took place 16 years later. In 1991, it opened its factory in Russia where consumers were quickly seduced by its lollipops.

In 1997, King Juan Carlos of Spain went to Moscow to celebrate the billion units manufactured in that country. Moreover, the success of the first stick candy was such that it even went into space. The astronauts of the MIR station took the confectionery with them during their mission in 1995.

In July 2006, the Chupa Chups brand was launched acquired by the Italian-Dutch confectionery group Perfetti Van Melle. It has since diversified into various sectors, including clothing.

History of Chupa Chups: a logo created by Salvador Dalí

The redesign of its logo has been a crucial step in thehistory of Chupa Chups. During the first decade after its launch, its visual identity has proven to be quite successful simple. For the international development of the brand, Enric Bernat has called on the famous surrealist painter Salvador Dalí in 1968 for him to design a new logo.

The daisy-shaped background of Chupa Chups which is kept until today was created by this artist. Specifically, he drew a yellow daisy around the “Chupa Chups” wordmark, which, for its part, was red. It took him less than an hour to complete this work.

Dalí has also made improvements that have significantly influenced the recognition of the lollipop. In particular, he has insisted that the logo be placed on the top of the product, optimizing its visibility and giving the candy a personality of its own.

Communication strategy of Chupa Chups

Chupa Chups has always relied on the creative advertising to promote its products. Sometimes, its campaigns were so original that they controversy, but it is a good idea to set up a home. A perfect example of this is the slogan “For a less serious world”, which was launched in 2010. However, this campaign with Chuck, the brand’s mascot, was a success.

Chupa Chups products are only not just for children. In order to reach its targets, the brand does not hesitate to come and get them on the channels that they love. As an illustration, a Chupa Chups communication campaign on TikTok was launched in April 2021 to attract teenagers.

The multi-target campaign The candy company’s 2010 campaign should also be mentioned. Two years ago, he released a miniature version of its lollipop. This one has aroused the infatuation of the children, but also mothers andformer smokers. The brand then decided to launch a call for tenders’offers to make the mini-sweets known to a wider audience.

The competition was won by the’agency DDB who had the idea of designing a unique visual that would bring together young and old. This is how the characters Action Man and Sindy, were chosen to appear with the mini-sweets in the mouth. During the week that this ad ran, the sales have increased by 48% for this product.

What ensued was a veritable advertising saga involving scaled-down characters appearing with a Chupa Chups.

On the other hand, many personalities have already been the protagonists of the advertising campaigns of the brand over the years. Such was the case ofHarrison Ford, of Mariah Carey, of Giorgio Armani, of Johan Cruyff or even Spice Girls.