• by Aaron Baar , December 10, 2013

We all know about sweet and sour chicken, pork and shrimp. Soon, however, there will be Sweet and Sour gum. Combining two brands in the confection category, Stride gum is launching a new flavor, Sour Patch Kids.

“Sour Patch and Stride are two beloved brands that resonate strongly with the teen & young adult consumers, so it made perfect sense to bring them together to bring the Sour then Sweet experience in a gum format,” Lauren Sella, senior brand manager for Stride, tells Marketing Daily, in response to e-mailed questions.

Although the product -- which will start with a quick burst of very sour flavor before being followed by sweet -- won't be on the shelves until January, Mondelez (the parent of Stride) is offering consumers the chance to try the product via an online scavenger hunt through the brand's Twitter and Facebook pages. 

Using clues from social networks, consumers can search for “escaped Sour Patch Kids” to win free packs of the gum. The “clues” will include photos, riddles and other trivia. (Although they are not particularly difficult; one, for example, asks consumers to text what color the pictured Sour Patch Kid is.)

“The online scavenger hunt is a fun and engaging way to provide consumers with the opportunity to try Sour Patch Gum before it's available in stores,” Sella says. “We know our consumers are very active across social media so this was the perfect way to reach them with this first taste. We hope to achieve awareness and excitement about our new gum launch through this scavenger hunt.”

The company will give away 100 packs of gum a day throughout the promotion, which runs until December 19, Sella says.