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The 124 YEAR History of “Oscar
Mayer” Foods |
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The Early Years |
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Oscar F. Mayer entered
the meat business at the age of 14, when he came to
the United States from Bavaria, and answered a "Help
Wanted" poster for an apprentice at George Weber's
retail meat market in Detroit. This apprenticeship
led to a job with Kohlhammer's market in Chicago,
and six years of employment with Armour & Co. in the
Chicago Stockyards. Meanwhile, back in Nurnberg,
Germany, Oscar’s brother Gottfried established
himself as a "wurstmacher," or sausage-maker and
ham-curer. |
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Soon, the two were pooling their talents. In 1883, Oscar and
the newly-immigrated Gottfried Mayer leased the Kolling Meat
Market, a small retail store in a German neighbourhood on
Chicago's near north side. From the beginning, it was a huge
success with first-day sales totalling $59. |
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The neighbourhood responded positively, demanding pound
after pound of the Mayers' house specialties, which included
bockwurst, liverwurst, and weiswurst (a mixture of pork,
veal, eggs, and spices). Their market became so successful,
in fact, that in 1888 the landlord refused to renew the
Mayers' lease, so that he could take over the business
himself. Not surprisingly, their former landlord knew more
about leases than liverwurst; with the Mayers' gone, the
meat market was out of business within a year. |
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Meanwhile Oscar and Gottfried’s success continued to grow.
They built their own two-story establishment just two blocks
away from their previous storefront. The two brothers lived
in apartments over the store along with a third Mayer
brother, Max, who immigrated from Germany to act as the
company's bookkeeper. Gottfried oversaw production, while
Oscar managed the entire operation. |
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| Marketing and
Branding Trailblazers |
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By 1895, the new market
was flourishing. Certainly, the excellent products
had something to do with that. But part of the
success may also be claimed by the publicity efforts
of Oscar (or Oscar F. Mayer, as he would later be
known). To boost goodwill for the enterprise, he had
the company sponsor German polka bands in the
Chicago area. During the Chicago World's Fair of
1893, he sponsored the event's German exhibit. |
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| Business had
become so good that instead of hand-carrying large orders to
customers' homes in the neighborhood, as most meat markets
customarily did, the Mayers made their deliveries by
horse-drawn wagons to all of Chicago and its suburbs.
Including the wagon-driving meat salesmen and stable hands,
the company workforce totaled 43 people by 1900.
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As
the fame of their products grew, the Mayers feared that
other meat packers might try to capitalize on their
popularity. So in 1904, when some of the largest packing
houses were still selling unbranded meat, the Mayers took
the bold step of affixing a brand name to their products.
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| Besides having
one of the first recognized meat brands, the Mayers also had
one of the first that was government approved. In 1906, when
the federal meat inspection program was created to ensure
the purity of products, the Mayers were among the first to
volunteer. |
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| Innovations in
Promotions and Packaging |
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In 1909, another Mayer
joined the company, Oscar's only son Oscar G. Mayer.
He instituted changes that quickly doubled business
volume. Not long afterward, the company formally
incorporated as "Oscar F. Mayer & Brother," a
privately-held corporation, with Oscar F. Mayer as
President. The newly formed corporation was
aggressive in its promotion and growth.In 1917, it
expanded its Chicago facility and sponsored its very
first Oscar Mayer newspaper ads. These ads unveiled
the new company trademark APPROVED BRANDS. |
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| Expansion
continued in 1919 with the purchase of a small farmers’
cooperative meat packing plant in Madison, Wisconsin, which
would become an important source of raw material for the
company's processed meats. That same year, the company
changed its name to "OSCAR MAYER & Co." |
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| Step by step, the
company was setting itself apart not just by quality
or size, but by packaging as well. In 1924, it
introduced packaged sliced bacon, for which it
received a U.S. patent. And in 1929, a year after
Oscar F. Mayer was elected Chairman of the Board of
Directors and his son, Oscar G. Mayer, named company
President, OSCAR MAYER & Co. began wrapping its
wieners with a yellow paper band, bearing the OSCAR
MAYER® name. |
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| From a marketing
perspective the yellow band was revolutionary. It was
applied by hand to every fourth wiener off the production
line, and bore the company name and U.S. government
inspection stamp. It made OSCAR MAYER® wieners recognizable
at a time when most wieners were sold in bulk, without any
packaging, from a display box. |
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| National
Trademarks Take Off |
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In 1936, Oscar Mayer &
Co. introduced the WIENERMOBILE™ vehicle, which has
become an American icon. The vehicle was used to
chauffeur the company spokesperson to store
openings, children's hospitals, and other locations
throughout the Chicago area, distributing good will
and WIENERWHISTLE™ toys to the public. Today, the
WIENERMOBILE and the WIENERWHISTLE continue to bring
smiles to OSCAR MAYER® fans everywhere. |
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| In the meantime,
the company was making one marketing breakthrough after
another. First came its invention in 1944 of a machine that
could wrap OSCAR MAYER® yellow bands around wieners
automatically, eliminating hours of tedious hand-wrapping.
This invention was heralded in the Chicago Tribune with
another "first" -- the first full-color newspaper ad ever
created by a U.S. meat firm. |
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| Then came
television. In 1950, Oscar Mayer sponsored its first show, a
local Philadelphia broadcast, followed by a string of
children's shows and daytime dramas. The move to primetime
occurred in 1968 with "Gentle Ben," and carried through such
classics as "The Carol Burnett Show," "The Mary Tyler Moore
Show," "Here's Lucy," and "The Wonderful World of Disney." |
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As part of its primetime
sponsorship, the company included the Oscar Mayer
Wiener Jingle. Developed in 1963, the song became
one of the longest-running commercial jingles, and
is still in use today. Its lyrics, as well as those
of The Bologna Song© introduced in 1974, have been
sung on countless playgrounds by generations of
viewers. |
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| Corporate
Relocation and Growth |
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| While the company
was making advertising milestones, the corporation was
evolving back home. Headquarters moved from Chicago to
Madison, Wisconsin in 1955, following the death of Oscar F.
Mayer at the age of 95. Oscar G. Mayer was elected to
replace him as Chairman of the Board, and his son, Oscar G.
Mayer, Jr., was elected President. By then, Oscar Mayer &
Co. was recording record sales, and was employing thousands
of workers in packing plants throughout the United States. |
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After nearly a century of family ownership, the Oscar Mayer
& Co. went public in 1971. The company was listed on the New
York Stock Exchange, and was acquired by the General Foods
Corporation in 1981. Through the merger with Kraft Foods,
Inc. in 1989, Oscar Mayer became a member of the largest
food company in North America. |
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Today, OSCAR MAYER® BACON, WIENERS & BOLOGNA
are recognized around the globe, and every package is a
lasting tribute to Oscar F. Mayer. |
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