On a recent string of store checks, some of the popon.net staff decided to take a break and stop for a bite to eat at a 50’s style soda fountain. Surrounded by vintage advertising décor, we were taken back to a period in time when companies like Procter and Gamble, General Foods and Coca-Cola developed the discipline of brand management, or marketing as we know it today.
Founded in 1891, the Wm Wrigley Jr. Company is another company whose leadership has integrated brand management and innovation to become a category leader with operations in more than 40 nations and a distribution channel to more than 180 countries. According to Wrigley’s website, 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.
No stranger to Point of Purchase Marketing, Wrigley brands can be found worldwide in a variety of POP displays at check-out and in the aisles at most retailers. Speaking of check-out, we were pleasantly surprised to find a Wrigley’s Profit Making Change Tray next to the cash register as we paid our bill. Created for Wrigley’s in the 1930’s, the gum display shown above is a classic example of the quality and craftsmanship that brands incorporated into their marketing campaigns back in the day. Manufactured in glass, the center section was designed to hold 24 packs of gum. A printed graphic under the gum instructed retailers how to use the tray and planogram the product. Just below the gum, a concave area was used as a change maker. The taped on pen chain and metal tin are add-ons and not part of the original design.
Check out a few more Wrigley’s change tray displays below.
