How Nuud’s Marketing Is Chewing Up the Competition

A great brand is instant. You see the poster, glimpse the packaging, watch the ad, and, in a nanosecond, you get a gut-level sense for what it’s all about. A little piece of mental real estate pops open in your brain—and the brand takes hold. You may not even be able to articulate how or why it moved you, but that doesn’t matter. You’ve been stirred in a distinct and memorable way, and the brand has done its job. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Nuud’s marketing.

But let’s step back a second first. For a brand to have this kind of impact doesn’t happen by accident. It requires spectacular levels of clarity and integrity. As digital consumers, we’re drowning in choices. And given the heaps of media we take in daily, it’s a titanic task for any brand to stand out—and that’s doubly true for a challenger brand that’s new to market. 

All this is to say that when a brand does manage to understand and present itself with such disruptive lucidity, people can’t help but notice. Such was the case the other day when I came across a new chewing gum brand.

There was the packaging—fresh, fun, playful. It reminded me of a Keith Haring piece, sophisticated in its silliness.

Then, there was the logo, featuring the brand name cleverly turned upward, its white lettering curving into an impish smile.

Finally, the name—Nuud. Anything that gets your mind thinking about a birthday suit is certainly going to get noticed. Or at least, that’s what happened to me.

But the clincher was a bit of marketing copy on the packaging which in four words did what the best marketing copy does: blow up the category. 

And just like that, everything changed.

There they were, four simple words on the side of a Nuud package that changed my perspective on gum in a heartbeat. 

CHEW PLANTS NOT PLASTIC. 

I’m sorry, come again? I’ve been chewing what? 

As copywriters, we’re often tasked with articulating the problem that a product solves. “A problem well-stated is a problem half-solved,” as the old saying goes.

From the moment you land on Nuud’s new website, it’s clear they understand the wisdom in this approach, spending as much of their digital real estate hyping the problem as they do hyping their product—if not more:

Thousands of tons of plastic pollution is coming from our mouths—and most of us don’t know it.

Regular chewing gum accounts for some of the most blatant pollution in our day to day lives, and yet so many of us still don’t realise that it is a single-use plastic!

Yep, you read that right. Regular chewing gum is a single-use plastic. And in the UK alone, some 100,000 tons of it is chewed every year, with 95% of the country’s streets stained by it.

As brands become more purpose-led, beginning with the end in mind—i.e., starting with the problem, not the product—is becoming an increasingly potent business strategy. 

Nuud’s marketing, I’m listening…

Nuud certainly has my ear—I don’t want to chew plastic anymore. Now what? On the pack copy, they get me to buy into their unique solution with concision and charm. You’d never know it, but this copy follows an age-old copywriting formula that anyone can use, known as AIDA: Attention – Interest – Desire – Action. 

Attention: Your days of chewing plastic are over. 

Brilliant. Tell me more…

Interest: Regular gum is single-use plastic. One piece contains as much plastic as a straw. 

Facts persuade. Don’t get me wrong, I love the chummy look, feel, and tone. But it’s facts and facts alone that carry the argument. Concrete details capture my interest, pique my curiosity, tell me something I don’t know. Next, Nuud sparks desire.

Desire: Nuud is plant-based, plastic-free, biodegradable, and as refreshing as a morning walk on frosty grass.

Well, who wouldn’t want to experience that? Nuud’s marketing wisely provides more facts about why its gum is a smarter, healthier choice—and tops it off with a well-crafted metaphor to evoke an crisp and alluring image in my mind. Finally, they spur me to act. 

Action: Tell the world about us.

As a reader, I’m the hook. But not for long. If you don’t give me something to do—buy, share, donate, order, subscribe, join—my mind will soon wander off to the next bright shiny object. Nuud’s marketing keeps me engaged to the final full stop.

Who are you, really? 

The last point I’ll make about Nuud’s marketing is that all the elements are of a piece. The colors, the copy, the mascot Charlie: they say the same thing. Which is a sign of a brand with a rock-solid understanding of who they are. 

The playful, simple, and childlike brand tone is pitch-perfect strategically, characterizing Nuud as the innocent counterpart to evil plastic-filled gum. And that tone carries through the rest of the site, even to the email sign-up, which reads “REFRESHINGLY GOOD EMAILS”. In fact, “refreshingly good” isn’t a bad way to sum up the entire brand tone: 

We have nothing to hide.

At Nuud, we think it’s important that people know exactly what they’re buying, let alone putting in their mouth. So, unlike regular brands, we can confirm all of the ingredients used in our recipes. And fortunately for you, they’re all plant based and plastic free!

It all adds up. Of course, a company called Nuud would have nothing to hide. 

And that’s the mark of a great brand—everything falls together in a seamless logic. Much like screenwriters are bound to the logic of the world they create, brand writers are bound to the logic of the world they build. Nuud exemplifies that mandate.

It’s early days for this brand, but they’re off to a sparkling start. To Nuud’s marketing folks, if you all could use a hand crafting some refreshingly good blog content to spread your story to the world—you know who to call!