So, I had this article that was due on Wednesday for a trade magazine about organic chocolates and confections. No big deal, right? I've never missed a deadline in my life, and what could be better than writing about candy? Well for some reason, it was like pulling teeth. Believe me when I tell you, every word was painful. Yes, I wrote a 50,000-word novel in a month, but it took me three days to write an 1800-word article. Here's why, I think: there was too much information. Now, the article was for the trade (meaning, people who sell chocolate, not necessarily eat it) so it had to have lots of facts and figures to convince them why their customers need to buy this stuff. I had to trudge through lots of market analyses and such, but I kept running across information that I thought was way cool, but I just couldn't write about it and be all professional. So thank God for Candy Yum Yum, because now I can get it out of my system. Things like, the "star" of 2006 in the non-chocolate category (that is, gummies, hard candies, fruit-flavored thingies) was plain mints. And the top sellers by category are (in descending order): Twizzlers, Starburst, Skittles, Lifesavers, Jolly Ranchers, Mentos, Red Vines, Lifesaver Gummisavers, Tootsie Roll Child's Play and Jelly Belly.
Wow. This all seemed so interesting as I was researching it, but now I know I've bored you to tears.
How about this? This is kind of interesting: Nestle skews disproportionately toward blue-collar adults, as in non-high school graduates, those with incomes less than $20,000 and owners/renters of mobile homes.
And this: Young adults (18 to 24) are more likely to select Hershey Cookies 'n Cream, Mars M-Azing, Nestle Goobers and Hershey Sno-Caps, while Baby Boomers pick out Mounds, Hershey Kisses and Pay Days. Lastly, the senior crowd likes Brachs, Werther's Originals and Chunky.
