August 23

[The Story Teller]

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August 23
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Life Savers
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“All progress, all achievement is the story of imagination.”
—A. B. Zu Tavern
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McDonald’s Restaurants may never have become so prolific without Ray Kroc. Elmer Doolin bought the recipe for Fritos corn chips from a man needing money to return to his home in Mexico. Although Christopher Sholes invented the modern typewriter, it was promoter James Desmore who made it sell. The Life Saver has a similar story. In 1912, Cleveland candy salesman Clarence Crane was looking for a summer substitute for his melting chocolate candies. He decided to produce a mint. To make his mints stand out among the competition, he designed them to be round and with a hole in the middle. He found a local pill maker who could produce the mints in quantity and wrapped them in a cardboard tube. Their shape made the name “Life Saver” a natural.



An advertising salesman named Edward Noble picked up a package of the mints at a New York candy store. He was so impressed with the candy, the shape, and the name that he immediately went to Cleveland to try to sell advertising for the product. Crane wasn’t interested, since the mints were just a summer sideline. However, Crane suggested that if Noble liked the product so much, perhaps he should buy the rights to make the mints. A deal was struck, and Noble managed to raise the capital with a partner named Roy Arlen. A major problem with the candy was its inability to stay fresh in the cardboard tube. That was solved by enclosing the mints in a tinfoil wrapper. Placed next to cash registers as impulse buys, the mints sold quickly and soon became a national success.



Consider This: You may not be an inventor, and that’s okay. It is more often the inspired promotion of a good product that really makes the difference.



Submitted by Richard