Marketing and Business Flexibility

William Wrigley Jr. started off selling Wrigley’s Scouring Soap. As an extra incentive, he knew his customers would be more likely to carry Wrigley’s soap if they received a little “something for nothing.”

So, he gave them baking powder, which proved to be more popular than the soap, so we changed his business to baking powder.

Then, he got the idea of offering two packs of chewing gum with each can of baking powder. This marketing offer was also a big success. So he switched businesses again. (Wrigleys)

I love this story and it is not unique. I heard another this morning about a Pizza Parlour in Glasgow that offered videos and changed their business model. I learned the other day that Berkshire Hathaway (as in Warren Buffet) used to be a textiles business.

I myself have seen a long-standing competitor go bust this year because (I think) they were still trying to use the same business model that they always had, so my question would not whether you can afford to take a risk and change… can you afford not to?

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