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William Wrigley

Perhaps one of the most famous names in the gum industry is William Wrigley.  Wrigley was the son of a soap salesman from Philadelphia, and at the age of thirteen, he was also selling soap.  At the age of 30, he moved to Chicago to open a new branch of his father’s company and came up with an idea to provide “premiums” to vendors who purchased a certain amount of soap.  These premiums included baking powder, cookbooks, and umbrellas. 14.  The baking powder sales surpassed the popularity of the soap, so Wrigley made that his primary product and offered gum as a premium, the very same development from John Curtis.  Once again, the premium’s popularity surpassed that of the product, and Wrigley entered the gum industry.  Wrigley hired the Zero Gum Company to manufacture gum for him, and it was here that the Wrigley’s industry started.  He introduced a series of branded gums in 1983, including Juicy Fruit and Spearmint.  In 1898, he founded William Wrigley Jr. Company. 15.  

While this type of industry-making is nothing new or special, what set Wrigley apart from his competitors, including the Adams company, was his marketing and advertising.  Wrigley is famously quoted as saying, “Anyone can make gum. The trick is to sell it.”16.  And sell it he did.  Wrigley began by doing a modest advertising campaign in 1906 in Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse, with successful results.  The campaign then evolved to massive billboards, placards in streetcars and subways, and one of the first electric signs,

died on Saturday night at his home in Kingsport, Tenn. He was 94.

cause was congestive heart failure,

Martin Cooper, who turns 82 on December 26th, is an electrical engineer – having gained his Master’s degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1957.

Cooper’s inspiration for undertaking the project was the Star Trek television series, in which a small, hand-held ”communicator” device was used very much in the manner of a portable phone.

As I walked down the street while talking on the phone, sophisticated New Yorkers gaped at the sight of someone actually moving around while making a phone call. Remember that in 1973 there weren’t cordless telephones, let alone cellular phones. I made numerous calls, including one where I crossed the street while talking to a New York radio reporter – probably one of the more dangerous things I have ever done in my life.