©2001 The Ohio SBDC at Youngstown State University
The Ohio SBDC at Youngstown State University
One University Plaza  •  Youngstown, OH  44555
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In his Philadelphia grammar school, Bill Wrigley, Jr. had a reputation for being the "class bad boy".  At age eleven, he was expelled for good after throwing a pie at the nameplate over the school's entrance. He was sent to work in the family's soap factory, and was given the most demanding physical task – stirring pots of boiling soap with a wooden paddle.

 At age thirteen, Bill left home to sell his father's soap in rural Pennsylvania, New York and New England.  Right from the start young Bill demonstrated his incredible talents for selling.  Beyond determination, Wrigley had a knack for getting along with all kinds of people.  He later said one of the most important keys to selling was to be "always polite, always patient and never to argue."  He always made a point of warmly thanking his dealers and customers.

 Bill continued to work for his father until 1891 when at age 29 he moved to Chicago to sell soap and baking powder in his own business as a manufacturer's representative.  He started with $32 cash, a wife and a child.  To encourage business, he offered premiums with all the products he sold.  In 1892, Wrigley began offering two free sticks of gum from the Zeno Manufacturing Co. as a premium with every package of baking powder.  Bill made marketing history when he was the first distributor to place gum next to restaurant cash registers all over the country.  Surprising to Bill, more and more people wanted to buy only the gum.  By the end of the year, Wrigley was selling only gum, again using premiums to encourage sales to the grocers.

 In 1893, Wrigley developed his own lines of gum, and "Wrigley's Spearmint" and "Juicy Fruit" were born.  Bill continued to focus on customer advertising, and by 1911 Wrigley's Spearmint was the leading gum in the U.S.  In 1915, Bill mailed four free sticks of gum to every 1.5 million people listed in the U.S. phone book.  In 1919 he did another mailing, this time to 7 million subscribers.  By the time of his death in 1932, Bill Wrigley had invested more than $100 million in advertising, making him the largest single-product advertiser of the day.

 Even though his gum sold for only 5 cents a pack, Wrigley's profits were enormous, growing from $8.5 million in 1921 to $12.2 million in 1930.  Through wise investments, Wrigley's empire grew to include real estate, mining, hotels and railroads.  The family bought Catalina Island in 1919, purchased a majority interest in the Chicago Bear Cubs that same year, built the Wrigley building in Chicago in 1924, and owned the Chicago Cubs 57 years later.

 William Wrigley, Jr. was a true entrepreneur whose empire lives on today:

• Americans chew approximately $2.5 billion worth of gum every year
   
• The average American chews 190 sticks of gum per year.
   
• Since World War II, American soldiers have been issued gum with their k-rations and survival kits.
   
• The Wrigley Company did not raise the original 5 cents price of a five-stick pack of gum until 1971 when management created a seven-stick package and sold it for 10 cents.
   
• William Wrigley Jr.'s grandson, William Wrigley, owns 30% of the company and serves as CEO.
   
• Foreign sales, including Eastern and Central Europe, Russia and China, now account for over 55% of the company's business.
   
• In 1997, the William Wrigley Jr. Company sales of gum were nearly $2 billion.
   
• The William Wrigley, Jr. Company has over 50% of the U.S. gum market and is the #1 chewing gum maker in the world

Among American entrepreneurs

LEGENDS

William Wrigley, Jr.

Oscar Mayer

Welch's Grape Juice