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Lesson #3: “Tell ‘em quick and tell ‘em often”

Article Overview: Wrigley Jr. was one of the first corporate heads in America to realize and understand the power of advertising. A natural promoter, Wrigley Jr. devoted more time and energy to selling his products through ads and gimmicks than his competitors ever thought necessary or wise. When it came to advertising, Wrigley Jr.’s motto was, “Tell ‘em quick and tell ‘em often.”

Lesson #3: “Tell ‘em quick and tell ‘em often”

Wrigley Jr. was one of the first corporate heads in America to realize and understand the power of advertising. A natural promoter, Wrigley Jr. devoted more time and energy to selling his products through ads and gimmicks than his competitors ever thought necessary or wise. When it came to advertising, Wrigley Jr.'s motto was, "Tell ‘em quick and tell ‘em often."

Wrigley Jr. used his ads to tell people about the benefits of his products. But he did not just do it in newspapers and magazines. Wrigley Jr. made use of every available medium he could think of, even being one of the earliest fans of outdoor posters.

A large factor behind the success of Wrigley Jr.'s advertising strategy was his ability to trust his instincts. In 1984, Wrigley Jr. introduced Spearmint Gum, even designing the logo on the package himself. Despite none of his competitors having been able to make a successful go of the Spearmint flavor, Wrigley Jr. decided that this would be his major claim to fame. At first, consumers were reluctant to try the flavor. Wrigley Jr., however, believed in it strongly and was not about to let it go.

In 1907, almost all of Wrigley Jr.'s competitors across the country were slashing their costs due to the engulfing depression. They were trying to save as much money as possible. Wrigley Jr., on the other hand, decided the opportunity was the perfect one to increase his advertising spending. Despite having pumped over $100,000 into ad campaigns in New York twice before and seeing little results, Wrigley Jr. was confident that this was the prime time to be boosting his spending, and he knew just the product to promote - Spearmint Gum.

This time, he took $284,000 and injected it into a major campaign to help spread the word about his gum throughout cash-strapped New York City. Billboards came cheap at the time, so much so that he was able to buy up more than $1.5 million worth of advertising space. The campaign worked; despite the depression, Americans were buying Wrigley gum in hoards. Sales jumped dramatically and Wrigley Jr. saw his revenue climb to over $1.3 million by 1909. The next year, Wrigley's Spearmint was the best selling gum in the U.S.

Doublemint gum followed in 1914, and Wrigley Jr. once again turned to advertising to help spread the word. Time and again, Wrigley Jr. proved that the American public was willing to listen to what he had to say.

From newspapers and billboards, Wrigley Jr. continued to expand his advertising strategy to include new techniques. In the 1920s, he placed cards promoting his gum in all 62,000 buses, subways, and train cars that existed at the time throughout the entire country. On top of that, he twice sent four sticks of gum to every person in the phone book across the U.S., reasoning that if someone had a telephone, they could afford to buy his five cent gum. He was right. By 1922, the company was selling over 10 billion sticks of gum each year, proving that he had what it took to reach the American people, and to give them what they wanted.

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Article Tags: gimmicks, lesson 3, motto, promoter, wrigley jr



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