Soap to Gum
William Wrigley Jr. was the son of William who was the founder and president of the Wrigley Manufacturing Company. The main product of the company was Wrigley’s Scouring Soap.
Even in his early years, William Wrigley Jr. was interested in his father’s soap business and when he was 13 years old, he became a soap salesman for his father, selling soaps from a basket in the streets of Philadelphia.
In 1891, when William Wrigley Jr. was 30 years old, he moved to Chicago, opening a new branch of his father’s company where he continued to sell soap and offered baking powder as a Freebie.
He soon realized that baking powder became a huge hit as a freebie and that customers were more interested in getting baking powder than soap, so he and his partner decided to switch ⤴ to baking powder business.
Now baking powder became the primary product of William Wrigley Jr. Company, but he also offered gum as a Freebie with baking powder.
As baking powder’s popularity used to surpass that of the soap, so did the chewing gum packages offered with every baking powder became more popular than the baking powder itself.
Wrigley soon abandoned baking powder, entered the gum industry and in 1893, he offered two new gum brands, Juicy Fruit and Wrigley’s Spearmint.
Since the chewing gum business was highly competitive in the late 1800s, William Wrigley Jr. spent more than a million dollars a year in advertising. He combined gum with other items like lamps, pocket knives, cookbooks and fishing tackle.
In 1907, during the economic depression, Wrigley showed that he was prepared to take a risk, mortgaging everything he owned in order to launch a massive advertising campaign.
The gamble paid off and by 1908, sales of Wrigley’s Spearmint were more than $1,000,000 a year and in total, the general sales for the company leaped from $170,000 to $3 million.
Wrigley was a master of advertising and in 1915, the Wrigley Company kicked off a campaign in which it sent free samples of its gum to a total of more than 8.5 million Americans listed in phone books.
He also started another campaign and every child received two sticks of gum when they turned two, reaching 750,000 children.
Soon *Wrigley became the biggest gum manufacturer in the world* and established gum companies in Canada, Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand.
Learning from the story
1. Be aware of what’s working in the business & life.
2. Once you know what’s working take massive action in that direction.
3. Don’t be afraid to pivot your business model in line with your clients changing behaviour to stay relevant.
Questions to ask ourselves?
1.What’s working in my life & business?
2. How can I offer & create a magnetic & fascinating campaign to attract customers?
3. What massive action can I take now in line with what is working in my business?
*If you really want to create magnetic & fascinating campaign to attract clients & how to make use of whats working in your business*; here’s my personal invitation to our seminar Business On Autopilot
Read what *Kiran Kshirsagar* founder at *Frozculina a refrigeration venture* has to say about this seminar.
“Dear Sachin, it was a highly energetic & thought-provoking seminar. I liked the fact that I could relate to all the issues that were addressed by you. This session would definitely be a turning point for me as an entrepreneur.”
