William Wrigley Chewing Gum example essay topic

Nowadays, many people do not want to be bossed around but become their own boss. In their minds exists one common dream. This is the entrepreneurial dream of self-employment. It is the freedom to start, grow, and cash in a new business. Entrepreneurs are people who own, operate, and take the risk of a business venture. One famous entrepreneur is William Wrigley Jr.

William Wrigley Jr. was born in Philadelphia in 1862. His father, William Sr., was a soap manufacturer. As a little boy, William had to carry a basket through the streets of Philadelphia selling Wrigley's Scouring Soap for his fathers company. When William became a teenager, he decided he wanted to work with his father and so he took a full-time job as a soap salesman. William had a talent for salesmanship, and so he drove a horse and wagon from town to town trying to convince stores to stock on Wrigley Soap. When William was 29 years old, he decided he wanted to start his own company.

He left Philadelphia with just $32 in his pocket and a dream of running his own business. William was a person who could see things from his customer's point of view and therefore this helped him throughout the way. At the start of his new business in Chicago, William sold his father's soap. He often would give free gifts along with the soap, such as cans of baking powder. However, the baking powder became more popular then the soap and therefore he switched to a baking powder business. In 1892, William was thinking of possible gifts to give along with the baking powder.

He decided to offer two packages of chewing gum with each can he sold. Again, the gift was more popular then the product and so William decided to switch his business to chewing gum. One year later, he brought out a new gum he called Juicy Fruit and so he began the world's most popular and successful chewing gum business known as the William Wrigley Jr. Company. The William Wrigley Jr.

Company is world's leading manufacturer for chewing gum. The family owned company sells its gum under various brand names in more than 100 countries and dominates the chewing gum market in the United States. The company is located in Chicago, Illinois. Wrigley wanted to improve the gum's ability to hold flavor and so he suggested on using chicle, a naturally sweet gum base from Central America, as the main ingredient.

Soon Wrigley started marketing chewing gum under his own name. In 1893, he introduced the Spearmint and Juicy Fruit gums, two brands highly successful to this day. By 1910, Spearmint had become the leading brand of chewing gum in the United States. In 1911, Wrigley joined Zeno to form the company. The company expanded quickly, opening factories all over the world. It introduced Double mint gum in 1914.

The company gained market share by maintaining low prices and by advertising heavily to promote brand recognition. In 1924, the Wrigley family built its landmark Wrigley Building in Chicago and the same year bought the Chicago Cubs baseball team. The stadium of the Cubs, Wrigley Field, also helped promote the company name. In 1981 the family sold the baseball team to Tribune Company. William Wrigley Jr. then died in 1932. When the United States entered World War II in 1941, supplies of quality ingredients for gum became limited, and the company had to cut down its production.

In 1944, the company developed a low-quality gum for consumers called Orbit. The company kept its premium brands in consumer's minds with billboard advertisements that showed an empty Wrigley's Spearmint wrapper with the slogan "Remember this wrapper". When the brands were reintroduced after the war, they quickly gained popularity again. In 1970, competition came along from manufactures of sugar-free gum.

In 1975, he introduced Big Red cinnamon gum, and in 1977 he introduced its first sugar-free gum called Orbit. However, the company had to withdraw the gum from the market after xylitol, the artificial sweetener, was declared a carcinogen by the Food and Drug Administration. In 1979, the company introduced Hubba Bubba and in 1984 it introduced Wrigley's Extra, a sugar free gum sweetened with aspartame. In the 1990's the company faced increasing competition from Nabisco, makers of Carefree, and Bubble Yum. Wrigley in response to this, build more factories in the United States and launching Winter fresh, a sugar based gum.

In conclusion, William Wrigley Jr. really was an amazing entrepreneur. He started one of the most popular chewing gum companies out there today. Wrigley came from selling soap with his father, to selling baking powder and finally the chewing gum. He faced many challenges throughout the way, however, he never let them come in between.

Wrigley has a landmark building in Chicago called Wrigley Building and also was an owner of the Chicago Cubs baseball team. Wrigley Field, which is the station for the Cubs, was named after him. As many can see, William Wrigley Jr. is an amazing entrepreneur that many of us will never forget.