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My Chewing Gum Stopped Being Shareable. Then I Looked at the Shelf.

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Thu, 28 May 2026 09:55:59 GMT

I was doing some grocery shopping last week when I reached for my usual: Orbit. Same brand I had trusted for years. Except it was not the same. New packaging. And where there used to be four neat pellets, there was now a single strip of gum. The pack even says it plainly: “1 TAB.”

I stood in that aisle longer than a grown man should stand holding a packet of gum.

Because here is what bothered me. I have always believed one of the quiet superpowers of chewing gum is that it is shareable. It is social currency. It is how you break the ice with the girl you have been trying to talk to. It is how you do a friend a quiet favour after a heavy plate of fish in g-nut sauce and matooke. Gum was never really about freshening your own breath. It was about the offer. “You want one?”

A single tab kills the offer. You cannot break it in half and pass it across the table. The product had quietly stopped being a thing you share and become a thing you simply consume.

Then I picked up the packs sitting right next to it. P.K. Juicy Fruit. Both still proudly printed with “4 PELLETS, 4.8g.” The sharing format was right there. Orbit had walked away from it while its neighbours held the line.

And here is the twist that made me put down my basket and think. P.K and Juicy Fruit are also Wrigley’s brands. The same company that makes Orbit. So this was never a story of a brand losing to a rival. It was one company deliberately deciding: Orbit becomes the single-serve, premium, on-the-go option, and the job of sharing gets handed to its sister brands.

That changes everything about how I read this.

This is not a mistake. It is a bet. And whether you are selling gum in Kampala or building a brand for a client, it is the same bet you will eventually face: do you optimise your product for the individual, or for the moment between people?

There are good arguments for what Orbit did. A single tab is cheaper to produce, easier to carry, and fits a customer who chews alone on a busy commute. If their data says most people consume gum solo, optimising for that customer is a legitimate, even smart, strategy.

But every strategy has a shadow. When you optimise for the solo user, you quietly give up the sharer. And the sharer is the person who turns your product into a conversation, a gesture, a small act of generosity that someone remembers. The four pellets were never just four pellets. They were four chances to connect, and four chances for your brand to be passed, quite literally, from hand to hand.

Here is the lesson I keep coming back to, and it applies to every brand I work with.

Customers rarely fall in love with your product. They fall in love with what your product lets them do and who it lets them be. Before you redesign a format, a recipe, a price, or a pack, you have to ask the question most brands skip: what emotional job is this thing secretly doing for people, and am I willing to trade it away?

Wrigley’s clearly asked that question. They decided Orbit could let go of sharing because P.K and Juicy Fruit would carry it. That is disciplined portfolio thinking. The danger is for the brand that makes the same cut without a sister brand to catch what falls, and only realises later that it amputated the very thing people loved.

I still bought the Orbit. Old habits. But I did not offer anyone a piece, because I could not.

And a brand that quietly removes your reason to share may also be removing your reason to talk about it.

What is a product you loved that changed something small, and lost you in the process? I would genuinely like to know.

Keep in touch with site visitors and boost loyalty

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Thu, 28 May 2026 09:55:59 GMT

There are so many good reasons to communicate with site visitors. Tell them about sales and new products or update them with tips and information.

Here are some reasons to make blogging part of your regular routine.

Blogging is an easy way to engage with site visitors

Writing a blog post is easy once you get the hang of it. Posts don’t need to be long or complicated. Just write about what you know, and do your best to write well.

Show customers your personality

When you write a blog post, you can really let your personality shine through. This can be a great tool for showing your distinct personality.

Blogging is a terrific form of communication

Blogs are a great communication tool. They tend to be longer than social media posts, which gives you plenty of space for sharing insights, handy tips and more.

It’s a great way to support and boost SEO

Search engines like sites that regularly post fresh content, and a blog is a great way of doing this. With relevant metadata for every post so search engines can find your content.

Drive traffic to your site

Every time you add a new post, people who have subscribed to it will have a reason to come back to your site. If the post is a good read, they’ll share it with others, bringing even more traffic!

Blogging is free

Maintaining a blog on your site is absolutely free. You can hire bloggers if you like or assign regularly blogging tasks to everyone in your company.

A natural way to build your brand

A blog is a wonderful way to build your brand’s distinct voice. Write about issues that are related to your industry and your customers.

Tips for writing great posts that increase your site traffic

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Thu, 28 May 2026 09:55:58 GMT

Write about something you know. If you don’t know much about a specific topic that will interest your readers, invite an expert to write about it.

Speak to your audience

You know your audience better than anyone else, so keep them in mind as you write your blog posts. Write about things they care about. If you have a company Facebook page, look here to find topics to write about

Take a few moments to plan your post

Once you have a great idea for a post, write the first draft. Some people like to start with the title and then work on the paragraphs. Other people like to start with subtitles and go from there. Choose the method that works for you.

Don’t forget to add images

Be sure to include a few high-quality images in your blog. Images break up the text and make it more readable. They can also convey emotions or ideas that are hard to put into words.

Edit carefully before posting

Once you’re happy with the text, put it aside for a day or two, and then re-read it. You’ll probably find a few things you want to add, and a couple more that you want to remove. Have a friend or colleague look it over to make sure there are no mistakes. When your post is error-free, set it up in your blog and publish.