Translated from the original Spanish article. Read in Spanish
Wrigley didn't want to sell chewing gum. The gum was the free gift.
Thirty-two dollars and soap
Chicago, 1891. William Wrigley arrives aged 29 with 32 dollars in his pocket. His business was selling soap.
To win over shops, he gave away baking powder with every order. And something strange happened: people wanted the baking powder, not the soap.
The gift that became the product (again)
So he switched businesses and started selling baking powder. And as a free gift… two packs of chewing gum with every tin.
Same thing again: the gift became more famous than the product. In 1893 he launched his first two gums: Juicy Fruit and Spearmint.
Free gum by mail
But his big move came in 1915. Wrigley gathered phone books from all over the United States and mailed free gum to more than one and a half million homes.
In 1915, Wrigley mailed free gum to more than 1.5 million homes.
It was one of the first great mail campaigns in history. Wrigley understood something every brand copies today: give things away to get people hooked.
A billion-dollar sale
In 2008, the company Mars bought Wrigley for about 23 billion dollars. Today its gum is sold in more than 180 countries.
And it all started with a little gift nobody asked for.
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Sources (in Spanish)
- Historia de la empresa y compra por Mars en 2008: Wikipedia, Wrigley Company.
- Biografía de William Wrigley Jr. y la campaña de 1915: Wikipedia, William Wrigley Jr..
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