GENERAL FOODS: JELL-O

General Foods: Jell-O



General Foods: Jell-O

1. Provide a brief history of the General Foods: Jell-O brand

America's Most Famous Dessert was invented in LeRoy, New York in 1897. A LeRoy carpenter named Pearle B. Wait, while experimenting in the kitchen with fruit-flavored products, discovered the formula that his wife named Jell-O. Wait didn't have the resources to produce and market the product, so in 1899 he sold the formula to LeRoy businessman Orator Woodward for $450. Woodward was the owner of Genesee Pure Food Company and already had success with products such as Grain-O.

Under Woodward's leadership, sales of Jell-O topped $250,000 in 1900. Six years later, sales were over $1 million. Rapid growth was due to aggressive marketing and advertising strategies. Woodward would send his salesmen out into communities armed with cookbooks, Jell-O samples and other items. They would go door to door and pass out the gifts to homemakers. They would then go to the local grocery stores and tell the owners to stock up on Jell-O because there would be a run on it. (Tzortakis, 2002)

Upon Orator Woodward's death in 1906, his wife Cora became the president of the company. Ten years later her oldest son, Ernest, was promoted to the position. During his tenure, Genesee Pure Foods changed its name to the Jell-O Company to protect its trademark. The word "Jell-O" was becoming a noun and was being used as another word for dessert .

On December 23, 1925, the Jell-O Company was sold to Postum Company which two years later became General Foods. In 1989, General Foods merged with Kraft Foods division of Philip Morris. Today, Jell-O is owned by the Altria Group.

America's Most Famous Dessert was made in the LeRoy factory until 1964 when the plant was closed and Kraft moved operations to a new plant in Dover, Delaware.

Jell-O is an American icon. Since the early days of the company, Jell-O has mastered the technique of successful advertising campaigns. They used well-known artists such as Rose O'Neil, Maxfield Parrish, Cole Philips and Norman Rockwell in their print advertising; Jack Benny, Lucille Ball and Kate Smith in radio advertising and Bill Cosby in their television marketing campaigns.

The Jell-O Gallery in LeRoy, New York has tirelessly promoted LeRoy as the Birthplace of Jell-O. The museum opened for the 100th anniversary of the invention of Jell-O in 1997 and has since been featured on television programs such as To Tell the Truth, America Eats (on the History Channel) and ABC News. Every summer, tourist buses travel down Main Street to go to the museum which attracts more than 10,000 visitors per year. The way the people in LeRoy are bragging about Jell-O, in no time people across America will associate Jell-O with LeRoy the way we associate the chicken wing with Buffalo or the cheese steak sandwich with Philadelphia. (Tzortakis, 2002)

2. Target Market Objectives

With the development of new products in recent years, particular in the super premium and premium range will to some extent cannibalise some existing products ...