Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz: How Companies Double Their Profits

Episode Date: June 8, 2024

Every company dreams of doubling its profit. It’s almost impossible to do. Yet, some companies do it by tweaking one tiny thing. We’ll talk about an industry that put three words on their packaging that doubled their profit. A company that created a catchy jingle that doubled their revenue overnight. And a business that changed one single word in a headline and their profit went up 100%. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly. As you may know, we've been producing a lot of bonus episodes while under the influences on hiatus. They're called the Beatleology Interviews, where I talk to people who knew the Beatles, work with them, love them, and the authors who write about them. Well, the Beatleology Interviews have become a hit, so we are spinning it out to be a standalone podcast series. You've already heard conversations with people like actors Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell, and Beatles confidant Astrid Kershaw. But coming up, I talk to May Pang, who dated John Lennon in the mid-70s. I talk to double fantasy guitarist Earl Slick, Apple Records creative director John Kosh. I'll be talking to Jan Hayworth,

who designed the Sgt. Pepper album cover. Very cool. And I'll talk to singer Dion, who is one of only five people still alive who were on the Sgt. Pepper cover. And two of those people were Beatles. The stories they tell are amazing. So thank you for making this series such a success. And please, do me a favor, follow the Beatleology interviews on your podcast app. You don't even have to be a huge Beatles fan, you just have to love storytelling.

Subscribe now, and don't miss a single beat. This is an apostrophe podcast production. You're so king in it. Scores of it in an instant. Your teeth look whiter than noon, noon, noon! You're not you when you're hungry. You're a good hand with all things.

You're under the influence with Terry O'Reilly. 110 years ago, the Wrigley Company launched a brand new flavor, Doublemint Gum. Wrapped in a bold green package with a double-headed arrow logo, it was named Doublemint because it had doubled the peppermint flavor of Wrigley's other varieties. Beginning in 1939, Doublemint began an advertising campaign that played off the word double by featuring twins.

Each print ad was illustrated with the faces of twin girls and the Double Mint logo. Not long after, in the 1940s, Double Mint started using actual twins in matching outfits as spokespeople. The first Double Mint twins were Marie and Mildred Meyer. Then, in 1959, a new set of singing twins was hired named Jane and Joan Boyd. They would sing on radio and appear on television riding a tandem bicycle, enjoying doubles tennis,

and singing the new Doublemint jingle, produced by ad agency J. Walter Thompson. Ironically, Wrigley's wouldn't let the twins chew gum in the commercials. When Joan became pregnant in 1963, the Boyd twins lost the gig. The next set were accordion-playing twins named Terry and Jenny Frankel. They signed a contract with Wrigley in 1963. Those twins only stayed one year, but went on to do lots of other interesting things. The Frankels went on a USO tour of Vietnam,

and when they returned, they performed music and comedy in nightclubs. When they heard Joey Bishop needed a comedy writer, the twins got their friend David Letterman his first writing job. Later, the Frankel twins had success in Hollywood writing and producing, and even helped Garth Brooks launch his career. They also produced the first pilot for The Dr. Phil Show, and both twins became

best-selling authors. In the 70s, the next set of Doublemint twins were Julie and Patricia Mackrell. Actually, before they were the Doublemint twins, they were in a TV campaign for Tony home hair perms. The commercials featured the line, Which twin has the Tony? Not long after, the Mackerel twins were poached by Wrigley. In the 80s, another set of sisters made their debut as the Doublemint twins. They were Patricia and Priscilla Barnstable. They became incredibly popular

and eventually posed in Playboy magazine. Later in the 80s, Liz and Jean Segal were the Doubleman twins. Their big sister was none other than Katie Segal from Married with Children. Liz would go on to write several episodes of Sons of Anarchy. Gene would go on to become a director known for Last Man's Standing and Fuller House. Next came Linda and Lisa Yukubinas, who were one of the longest serving twins for Doublemint. For more than a decade, the identical twins were in multiple commercials

for the chewing gum. A double pleasure is waiting for you. A double pleasure for Doublemint gum. A double great feeling making you realize Doublemint's the one for you.

After playing the Doublemint twins for 10 years, they left the gig, but were typecast as twins and had a hard time finding work individually. They began to resent each other and didn't speak for years. In 1991, Wrigley's announced its search for the first African-American Doublemint Twins, and the color barrier was finally broken when it found the Higgins twins.

Not long after, Wrigley doubled down on its double theme by featuring all kinds of twins, including boys and girls, twin moms and twin dads, and even twin dogs catching Frisbees. Double good, double good, double mint gum!

Double your pleasure with double mint gum! frisbees. After making people see double for over 80 years, Double Mint Gum has enjoyed a very profitable run. There are other companies in the world of marketing that also see double. They double their profit. It's rare that a company can increase its profit by 100% because it's not easy. But sometimes, all it takes is a small tweak. Sometimes it just takes a couple of words to prompt a profit windfall. And other times, all it takes is a naked beetle. You're under the influence. It's rare for a company to come up with an idea

that instantly doubles its revenues and profits. Back in the 1940s, an ad writer named John Caples worked for an advertising agency called BBDO. The full name of the agency was Batten, Barton, Durston, and Osborne. Comedian Fred Allen once said the name sounded like a suitcase falling down the stairs. Capels was a big believer in research and liked to test ads with subtle variations to see which wording produced the most sales. One ad he wrote was for a roofing product. The first headline had the word fix in it. The ad hardly produced any sales. So Capel

swapped the word fix for the word repair, and sales doubled instantly. The word fix sounded like work. The word repair sounded like a solution. Speaking of BBDO, the first B in that company, Bruce Barton, created the fictional Betty Crocker brand character for General Mills back in 1921. The company had run a promotion for its gold medal flower brand. Readers were to complete a jigsaw puzzle in the Saturday evening post, then mail it in

to receive a pin cushion in the shape of the bag of flour. The company received over 30,000 completed puzzles, along with hundreds of baking-related questions. That's when General Mills, then named the Washburn Crosby Company, asked its advertising agency to create a female brand character

that could answer all these questions. So Barton created Betty Crocker, inspired by a baker in the cafeteria of the college Barton had attended years before. Soon, Betty Crocker gained a voice when General Mills produced the Betty Crocker Cooking School of the Air on radio in 1924, the first ever radio cooking show. Today I'm going to give you a menu. For the sort of homey meal every bride ought to know how to prepare for her husband. Then, in 1937, Betty Crocker was given a face, adorning a package of cake flour.

The evolution of Betty Crocker made for a steady increase in revenue for General Mills. But there was one small change that literally doubled its profit. In 1954, motivational research was beginning to take hold in marketing. This research revealed that people had deep-seated emotions when it came to brands, and those emotions could be triggered with package design. So General Mills had a designer take a look at its packaging. The designer suggested one small change, that the round red Betty Crocker logo be turned into a red spoon instead, believing that it would be the most effective image for Betty Crocker. Sales doubled in less than six months.

And the only thing that changed was the spoon. One of the advertisements that makes me chuckle was a print ad that appeared in magazines back in the early 1930s. It was for Scott's toilet tissue. The ad showed a close-up of a masked surgeon and nurse in an operating room. The headline said, quote, and the trouble began

with harsh toilet tissue, dot, dot, dot. The ad stated that 65% of all men and women over 40 suffer some form of rectal affliction because of inferior toilet tissue Yikes! Just how rough was toilet paper back then? Did this bizarre ad work? Well, sales of Scott's toilet tissue doubled.

Back in the late 1950s, advertising agency Doyle Dane Burnback enlisted Steve Allen, host of The Tonight Show, to demonstrate the new Polaroid Land Instant camera on his live TV show. You could just snap a picture and the photo would develop right in the camera in just 60 seconds. The technology was revolutionary. Prior to that innovation, all film had to be sent away for processing. The technology was such a giant leap forward that people were actually skeptical and had to see it with their own eyes to believe it. So live television was the perfect venue to demonstrate the new Polaroid land camera. Steve Allen would have the Polaroid camera at his desk. He would ad-lib about it and take photos of his guests

or of folks in his studio audience. At this time of year, especially after they have been cooped up all winter, did you ever notice how hard it is to get kids to hold still? You want to take their picture and they're all dressed up on a Sunday or something like that?

Well, it's not difficult at all. Howdy, young fella. Not tough at all with this 60-second Polaroid land camera. The photo would develop in 60 seconds, and the audience would gasp at the sight. One night, things didn't go exactly as planned. Steve Allen did his usual ad lib, took a photo of an audience member, then something happened. With this 60-second Polaroid land camera, there is no disappointment two weeks later.

The Polaroid started spitting out film all over his lap, and he couldn't stop it. Alan just kept talking with a straight face, but his eyes went wild. The audience started laughing uncontrollably, marveling at Alan's ability to keep talking while the camera malfunctioned continuously. Eventually, the audience gave Steve Allen and the Polaroid camera a standing ovation. The next week, something remarkable happened.

Sales of the Polaroid land camera doubled. Clearly, the viewing nation was thoroughly entertained by Steve Allen in that moment, and the malfunctioning camera became the must-have item of the year. Sometimes, all it takes is a mistake to double your sales, and other times you just have to rinse and repeat. Before we get back to our show, I want to give you a little taste of a But Wait, There's More bonus episode that's available for you now. Ever seen those Brand Power commercials on TV? Hi, I'm Nikki from Paris. I've seen these Brand Power commercials on TV? Hi, I'm Nikki from Paris.

I've seen these BrandPower commercials on TV for years. What the heck is BrandPower? BrandPower is an advertising agency that operates in 50 global markets. Interestingly, when I asked a half-dozen top advertising creative directors about BrandPower, they were all definitely familiar with it, but no one knew anything about it. And neither did I. On its website, Brandpower says it is a leader in what it calls the, quote, third-party advertising industry. To hear more of that bonus episode titled Ask Me Anything,

just search Under the Influence on Apple Podcasts and enjoy a seven-day free trial. By subscribing, you'll get more bonus episodes, early access to all our shows, and ad-free episodes and archives. Plus, you support this podcast, and we really appreciate it. In past episodes, we discussed two other famous examples of a product doubling its sales. Back in the 1950s, Madison Avenue began to mass market shampoos for the first time.

That decade was also the era of hair products like this. Bril-Cream, Bril-Cream, Bril-Cream, Bril-Cream, a little dab will do ya. Bril-Cream, you look so debonair. Bril-Cream, the gals will all pursue ya. They'll have to get their fingers in your hair. Products like Bril-Cream put a lot of goop in men's hair, and women were using cans of stiff hairspray. When shampoos came up

against those oils and chemical sprays, it depressed the lather. So shampoo makers recommended a rinse and repeat process. The first shampoo removed the oil and chemicals.

The second created a lather to thoroughly clean the hair and scalp. But once these guys arrived, Ladies and gentlemen, the Beatles! the wet look went out of fashion. Shampoo no longer had to battle its way through the goop. But shampoo makers were reluctant to give up the rinse and repeat strategy

because of one big reason. It had doubled their sales. When people used twice as much shampoo, twice as much money rolled in. That's why you can still find the words rinse and repeat on some shampoo bottles today.

Back in the 1960s, Alka-Seltzer was a brand in trouble. Its loyal users were getting old, and Alka-Seltzer had become a symbol of slobs who ate and drank too much. It was almost embarrassing to be seen using Alka-Seltzer. In focus groups, people often said they took Alka-Seltzer in the dark. But people were still experiencing heartburn and indigestion, and Alka-Seltzer could solve those problems. So ad legend Mary Wells Lawrence decided to create entertaining commercials for Alka-Seltzer

instead of the corny ones the brand had been running for years. First, her agency created a commercial that showed all sorts of stomachs, big ones, slim ones, young ones, and old ones, all filmed at stomach level. No matter what shape your stomach's in. No matter what shape your stomach's in, when it gets out of shape, take Alka-Seltzer. The commercial was a big hit, and the jingle would soon become a hit song in 1967.

Then Mary Wells Lawrence hit gold. She met a doctor named Dorothy Carter at Miles Laboratories, the company that produced Alka-Seltzer. Carter told her that in order for aspirin to break through the pain barrier, it often required two tablets. Because aspirin was one of the ingredients that made Alka-Seltzer effective, Mary asked if two Alka-Seltzer tablets would work better than one. The answer was yes.

With that, Mary Wells Lawrence created one of the most famous taglines of all time. Plop, plop, this, this, oh, what a relief it is. Plop, plop, this, this tablets dissolving in a glass of water. Hence, Mary's brilliant use of the words, plop, plop, fizz, fizz. The directions on the package were changed to say to take two tablets, and small foil packets containing two tablets were created. Those packets were then sold in new places, like magazine stands, bars, and fast food restaurants. With that small change, Alka-Seltzer doubled

its sales. When Rolling Stone magazine was launched in 1967, John Lennon was angry at founder Jan Wenner for choosing the name of the Beatles' greatest rival, the Rolling Stones. Mick Jagger also resented the magazine for stealing the band's name and would hold that resentment for the next 50 years. Keith Richards called Winner a thief.

Actually, it was Bob Dylan who should have held the grudge as Winner took the name from Dylan's famous song, When Rolling Stone magazine turned one year old, it was struggling. Around the same time, John Lennon and Yoko Ono had posed nude on the cover of their experimental album titled Two Virgins. Capitol Records in North America refused to issue the controversial cover. So Jan Wenner offered to publish the photograph on the cover of its anniversary issue.

He told Lennon it would save the magazine from financial ruin. Lennon said OK, and the cover of the November 23, 1968 issue featured Lennon and Ono naked, although the photo showed the couple from behind, not the full frontal as the album dared show.

That cover made national news and doubled Rolling Stone sales immediately. As a matter of fact, the issue sold out, and Winner had to print another 20,000 copies. It saved the magazine from going under.

By the way, the other three Beatles hated the nude album cover, but Lennon loved it. Until later years, that is, when he would dispatch his assistants to buy up every copy they could find

to get it off the shelves. Speaking of the Fab Four, when they made their historic appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, it influenced millions of kids to start rock and roll bands all over North America. And it was Ringo who influenced one particular aspect of that tidal wave. Eagle-eyed drummers instantly noticed Ringo was using a Ludwig drum kit. His big bass drum sported the Beatles' famous

Drop T logo, but in smaller type above that logo was the word Ludwig. That year, 1964, Ludwig had worldwide sales of $6.4 million. But overnight, after the Sullivan appearance, the Ludwig Chicago factory began running 24 hours a day, seven days a week, trying to keep up with the thousands of orders that poured in. Within two years, Ludwig's sales doubled to $13 million. The company had to expand its factory, and Ludwig would become the number one drum manufacturer for the next two decades. The last advertising agency I worked for before starting my own company was Chiat Day. Based in sunny Los Angeles, the ad agency's creative director was a man named Lee Clow.

Lee was born and raised in L.A. He was tall with long hair and a long, shaggy beard. When he first applied for a job at Chiat Day, his cover letter said, Lee also shunned the usual uniform of top advertising creative directors who wore expensive tailor-made suits. He wore shorts, flip-flops, Hawaiian shirts, and had a permanent white tan line around his eyes. He surfed every morning before work. That was how Lee dressed all the time,

even in high-level client meetings. But Lee Clow was legendary, and the ads created on his watch were some of the best ever, including Apple's infamous 1984 Super Bowl commercial. One of the other accounts Chiat Day had at the time was a bottled sangria called California Cooler. When California Cooler was searching for a new advertising agency, Chiat Day won the account based on the line, Another Reason to Hate California.

It was a tongue-in-cheek line, positioning the cooler as yet another fun aspect of life in sunny California. The research department said people wouldn't like the line and warned against it. But Lee loved it, and it became the headline in all the print ads. For the TV campaign, Lee decided to recreate the Malibu surf life he had grown up with. He remembered that he and his fellow surfers would mix up a similar concoction made of fruit, ice and wine. So, Chiat Day filmed commercials showing people partying and dancing on the beach and set those commercials to classic rock tracks. For years, it was made by guys with names like Rabbit, Quasimodo, The Chairman,

Real Fruit, and California White Wine. Blended under ideal conditions. In no time at all, sales of California Cooler doubled. Not only that, California Cooler created the entire wine cooler category. The company had originally been started by two high school friends who had raised $140,000. One year after the campaign started, they sold the company for $146 million. Give me some of that every day. California Cooler. The real stuff.

Now in bottles. It takes a lot to double a profit. It usually means doubling your sales, decreasing your costs, and finding more customers. Increasing profit is a grind. But every once in a while, a small tweak can have a startling effect. When John Caples wanted to test whether changing one word in a headline would make a difference, profits hit the roof. Shampoo makers realized that when they added three small words to their bottles,

profits lathered up. When Alka-Seltzer suggested plop, plop, fizz, fizz, its profit bubbled and doubled overnight. It's also extraordinary what packaging can do. Changing the round Betty Crocker logo to a red spoon put a lot of yeast in the company dough. Other times, companies get lucky. A malfunctioning Polaroid camera had live TV, Ludwig had Ringo,

Rolling Stone had Lennon, and California Cooler got lucky with a surfing creative director. When those planets align, it's double your pleasure, double your fun, and double your profits when you're under the influence. I'm Terry O'Reilly This episode was recorded in the Terrastream Airstream Mobile Recording Studio Producer, Debbie O'Reilly Sound Engineer, Jeff Devine Under the influence theme by Ari Posner and Ian Lefevre

Tunes provided by APM Music Follow me on social at Terry O Influence. This podcast is powered by ACAST. Hey, want to read next week's fun fact on the air? Just go to apostrophepodcasts.ca and follow the prompts. See you next week. Hi, this is Danielle Erickson from Lake Country, British Columbia. Fun fact! Ringo Starr's 1964 Ludwig drum kit sold at auction recently for $2.2 million.