A big battle is about to break in the mini-mint market as Smint wages war with Tic-Tac to win the crown of contemporary cool. Smint is shelling out £3m in a marketing push for the new formulations of its lemon and peppermint flavours. The campaign is built around the theme of kissing with the strapline No Smint, No Kiss'. The TV ad shows a traffic policeman stopping a motorist and then kissing him because he has been eating Smint. It starts on February 12 and runs for a month on Channel 4, Channel 5 and satellite channels. Smint's UK marketing manager Mark Stangroom said the campaign aimed to champion a European attitude to kissing (Smint is owned by Spanish company Chupa Chups) and "to communicate our unique qualities and avoid celebrity endorsement and gimmicks". The print and poster ads have irreverent straplines such as Nice Pack and Fancy a Bit of the Other? Ads will run on buses for the next six months in major cities across the UK. The campaign also includes online activity and a link up with Channel 4's The Big Breakfast. Rival Tic Tac has been airing a campaign since January 17 with the strapline Tic Tac. Small but Cool'. {{P&P }}

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