Most gum brands sell you a flavour. 5 sold a concept — the idea that chewing gum could be a sensory experience worth naming after a mood rather than a taste.
A gum built around a marketing idea
Wrigley launched 5 in 2007, aimed squarely at a younger, style-conscious market that its older brands like Juicy Fruit and Wrigley's Spearmint weren't reaching. The packaging moved away from the traditional mint-tin look entirely, going for stark black slim packs with minimal branding. Flavours were named abstractly — Cobalt, Rain, Solstice, React, Flare — rather than described by taste, tying the whole line back to the "5 senses" concept in its name.
Advertising as unusual as the branding
5's ad campaigns matched the abstraction of its flavour names: surreal, artistic spots depicting exaggerated sensory experiences rather than straightforward product shots. The approach was deliberately cryptic, generating attention precisely because it didn't look like conventional gum advertising, and it helped establish 5 as a distinct, premium-feeling tier sitting apart from Wrigley's older, more literal-flavoured lines.
Arriving right as Wrigley joined Mars
2008 marked a bigger shift for the whole company: Mars, Incorporated acquired Wrigley for around $23 billion, merging it with Mars' existing Masterfoods USA business to form the Wrigley subsidiary that still operates within Mars today. 5 continued under the new ownership, expanding its flavour range through the years that followed.
- 2007 — Wrigley launches 5 Gum in the US.
- 2008 — Mars acquires Wrigley.
- Flavour names — abstract (Cobalt, Rain, Solstice) rather than descriptive.
Browse it alongside other Wrigley classics in our Wrigley's collection.
Frequently asked questions
Who makes 5 Gum?
Wrigley, a Mars, Incorporated subsidiary since 2008.
Why is it called 5 Gum?
After the five senses — flavours are named abstractly (Cobalt, Rain, Solstice) rather than by taste.
When did 5 Gum launch?
2007, in the United States, just before Mars acquired Wrigley in 2008.