ALL TH E
Advertisements such as the one above and on the right were an imporant part of William Wrigley Jr.'s efforts to market Santa Catalina Island to
tourists. Wrigley also used aggresive, and innovative, marketing techniques to promote his chewing gum business.
Artwork courtesy of Catalina island Museum
COURTEST OF THE CATALINA
ISLAND MUSEUM
From a young age, William
Wrigley Jr. was filled with ambi-
tious ideas and wasn't afraid to
work hard to achieve them.
At age 13, he challenged his
father to let him become a trav-
eling 'salesman for his father's
soap business, saying he was "just
about the be.st salesman who ever
drew breath."
The Catalina Island Museum's
current exhibition "A Democratic
Dream: William Wrigley Jr. and
Catalina Island" explores how one
man's marketing vision changed
the course of history in many
ways.
The lessons he learned during
his travels helped form the foun-
dation upon which he built one of
the most successful companies in
American history.
Realizing early on that "ev-
eryone likes something extra, for
nothing," he added premiums to
help sell his product.
This proved successful and
ultimately led to him producing
and selling chewing gum to the
masses.
Wrigley also recognized that
for people to purchase your prod-
uct, they needed to be reminded
of it.
One of his favorite business
mottos was "tell 'em quick and
~t
tell 'em often." He embarked on
one'of the century's most ambi-
tious advertising campaigns when
he introduced Juicy Fruit gum in
1893 and Spearmint soon after.
Using phrases like "The men
who do are the men who chew"
in his ads, he catapulted the Wm.
Wrigley Jr. Company into Ameri-
ca's consciousness.
William Wrigley Jr.
All too familiar with the plight
of the everyday working man,
Wrigley's compassion was evident
even in his marketing strategies.
At least twice before 1910 he
sent free gum to each name in ev-
ery telephone book in America.
During the First World War, he
supplied gum to the Allied Forces
and ran ads that said, "Five cents
before the war, five cents during
the war, five cents now!" By 1918
the words "Wrigley and "gum"
were synonymous.
However, Wrigley's ground-
breaking ideas, about advertising
did not stop at simply selling gum.
His acquisition of the Chicago
Cubs changed the world of Major
League Baseball.
Innovations such as broadcast-
ing games across the country,
Ladies Day at the stadium and al-
lowing fans to keep homerun balls
created a national fan base that re-
mains to this day.
Ladies Day at Wrigley Field
was instituted in 1916. Wrigley
considered women to be born bar-
gain hunters and was determined
to convince them that baseball
was an entertainment bargain.
His strategy was that if you sold
baseball to women, thousands of
men would come to the game.
He firmly believed that men
wanted to come to the ballpark on
Saturdays and Sundays, but stayed
away because their wives did not
like the game. If fr~e admission to
one game a week converted these
wives into fans, then ticket sales
would go up on the other days. He
was right.
This philosophy continued
when Wrigley bought Santa Cata-
lina Island in 1919.
Through his spirit of democ-
racy, his vision was to create a
world-class resort destination for
all to enjoy.
Along with that came a major
advertising campaign using phras-
es like: ,'In all the world no trip
like this," "Everything for your
enjoyment" and "Escape from
care." Those slogans were so mod-
ern for their time most could still
be used today.
To learn more about the life
"and times of William Wrigley Jr
visit the exhibition "A Democratic
Dream: William Wrigley Jr. and
Catalina Island" at the Catalina Is-
land Museum. The exhibition will
be open through Nov. 26.
The Museum is Avalon's sole
institution devoted to art, culture
and history. The museum, its digi-
tal theater and store are located on
the ground floor of Avalon's his-
toric Casino and are open seven
days a week, from 10 a.m. to 5
p.m. For more information, the
museum may be reached by phone
at (310) 510-2414 or at its website:
CatalinaMuseum.org.
Purchase a
Brick for the
Memorial
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C qebrate Halloween at the Avalem
Grille with a costume contest, DJ and
and t ' rage menu, Half
off well drinks 9:30PM-10:30PM,
THE CATALINA ISLANDER Octobe[ 26, 201215
