BBH singapore innovates country's water-soluble unthinkables! chewing gum

BBH Singapore innovates Unthinkables! chewing gum

Chewing gum is famously banned in Singapore. To mark the nation’s 60th birthday, BBH Singapore has introduced what could be the country’s first legal chewing gum: a product called Unthinkables!. It looks, tastes, and chews like gum, but is made without a gum base — a deviously lateral solution that makes it technically legal. The project is a statement about the creative agency’s appetite for impossible ideas: those that make the unthinkable possible and tackle business problems with fame-driving solutions.

BBH Singapore launches the ‘chewing gum’ for the nation’s 60th anniversary

Singapore’s water-soluable ‘gum’

Collaborating with sugarcrafter Irene Chan of Oni Cupcakes, BBH Singapore’s in-house Innovation Lab prototyped the perfect chewing gum, Unthinkables!. After trying over 60 combinations of flavors and chewiness-enhancing ingredients, they arrived at a final product: a hyper-chewy, flavored candy that is fully water-soluble. This ingenious solution sidesteps the country’s strict gum ban while making a bold statement about creativity’s potential to solve problems in unexpected ways.

the water-soluble ‘chewing gum’ is technically legal in the country

This unique gum is a showcase in disguise. Each piece comes with a printed QR code that links to an equally unthinkable piece of work from the agency’s portfolio. These include Heinekicks, a viral and award-winning campaign for Heineken that turned sneakers into beer-filled art, and Trapped, a full-fledged horror film created to launch travel insurance for Income.

As Sascha Kuntze, Chief Creative Officer at BBH Singapore, put it, ‘Creativity lets us solve problems by making the impossible possible.‘ Unthinkables! is a playfully subversive way to spark conversations about the creative potential of these ideas, proving that even in the most tightly regulated environments, innovation and wit can find a way.

Singapore banned the sale and import of chewing gum in 1992

the ‘chewing gum’ ban has become synonymous with Singapore

Unthinkables! looks like gum, tastes like gum and chews like gum, but is it gum?

importing chewing gum can lead to a $10,000 fine in Singapore

Unthinkables! proves innovation and wit can overcome tightly regulated environments

each piece comes with a printed QR code that links to an equally unthinkable work from the agency

Unthinkables! is made with no gum base, and is soluble in water

Unthinkables! borrows the design language of candy advertising to brand the agency

project info:

agency: BBH Singapore
product: Unthinkables!

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: tim spears | designboom