Today, the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company is a global organization with operations in more than 40 nations, distributing products to more than 180 countries.
William Wrigley Jr. moved to Chicago in 1981 to start an iconic Brand; everything started when he noticed a rather curious trend: the sticks of gum he was giving away as free incentives were proving more popular than the merchandise itself.
One of his first aims was to combat the lingering stereotype that only women should chew gum.
In 1893, he introduced two brands that would become company icons: Wrigley’s Spearmint® and Juicy Fruit®.
In 1907, Wrigley did the unthinkable, mortgaging everything he owned to launch a massive advertising campaign. Wrigley Jr. established himself as one of the nation’s leading champions of employee rights and benefits, creating a health and welfare department in Wrigley’s Chicago factory in 1916 and granting his employees both Saturdays and Sundays off in 1924.
Wrigley Jr. is remembered as the father of modern advertising, coining the familiar maxim “Tell ’em quick and tell ’em often.” In 1915, he organized the first-ever nationwide direct marketing campaign, shipping sticks of gum to every address listed in U.S. phone books. In 1925, the Brand began sponsoring radio programs and pioneered the placement of ads in the “funny pages” of newspapers.
From 1932 to 1962, the company would harness the clean air-brushed style of artist Otis Shepard to illustrate the iconic Doublemint Twins and immortal “Remember This Wrapper” World War II ads, influencing the look and feel of product advertisements for generations to come.
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