A Century of Big Brands - Business History - The American Business History Center (2024)

We all grow up surrounded by brands. Being part of our daily lives, they oftenseem as if they have been around forever and will be around forever. Yet, like most everything else, brands havelifecycles. Only the lucky few survivefor decade after decade. Those whichhave very long lives, like Ivory Soap or Coca-Cola, often assume a specialplace in the pantheon of brands. Othersfade, losing their impact and sometimes disappearing. In my generation, Kool-Aid and Jell-O werehuge, yet today they have lost luster.Others like Oreos and Fritos live on.Dozens of candies and candy bars are almost forgotten.

In this context, it is worthwhile to look back at different product categories – and for those of us who love history and nostalgia, it’s fun, too.

One hundred years ago, in 1920 and 1921, professors from fifteen universities, including Harvard and Columbia, polled over 1000 people about their favorite or most-easily-named brands. The effort was led by two professors from NYU (New York University), George Hotchkiss and Richard Franken. Survey respondents were asked about 130 product categories, from automobiles to corsets, from insurance to pianos and toilet soap. In 1923, the results of this study were compiled into a book by Hotchkiss and Franken entitled The Leadership of Advertised Brands.

The most powerful brand in America was Eastman (Kodak)cameras. 880 of the 1024 respondentsnamed Eastman when asked to name a camera brand, a higher number than any otherbrand in the study. (For the full storyon the amazing rise of Kodak, seethis article.) Other brandswhich dominated their fields, with the majority of all respondents naming thebrand, included, in order of mentions:

• Singer Sewing Machines
• Campbell Soup
• Arrow Collars (how fashions change!)
• Waterman Fountain Pens
• Postum “Coffee Substitutes” (the nucleus ofGeneral Foods, formed later that decade)
• Old Dutch Cleanser
• Wrigley Chewing Gum
• Nabisco Crackers (see this videofor more on Nabisco)
• Welch’s Grape Juice
• Prophylactic Tooth Brushes
• Indian Motorcycles (over three times aswell-known as Harley-Davidson)
• Colgate Tooth Paste
• O’Sullivan Rubber Heels
• Baker’s Cocoa (another future element of GeneralFoods)
• Rogers Silverware
• Royal Baking Powder (that interesting story is toldhere)

Note that, of these seventeen brands, perhaps 10 arestill going, though many have changed hands.Kodak, which went on to even greater dominance in amateur photography inthe twentieth century, is not one of them, due to changing technologies. At the other extreme, Colgate (founded in1806) is as strong as it has ever been in history, largely by focusing on anarrow range of product categories. Thediversity of paths is wide: today Campbell’s Soups are struggling and losingsupermarket shelf share, while Nabisco continues to have some of themost-recognized brands in America (Oreos, Chips Ahoy, Ritz Crackers). Some categories, such as shirt collars andrubber heels, have shrunk or disappeared.

Slightly falling shy of a majority of respondents were:

• Heinz Baked Beans (for the full story on thegreat marketer HJ Heinz, seethis story)
• Bevo Beer Substitute (Anheuser-Busch; rememberthis was under Prohibition)

Other brands that were named by a majority of the people whowere able to name a brand included:

• Eveready Flashlights
• Tiffany Jewelry
• Hoosier Kitchen Cabinets
• Life-Savers in the “5 cent Mint Candies”category
• Sunkist Fruit
• Beech-Nut Peanut Butter
• Colt Revolvers
• Crisco Cake Shortening
• Sealpackerchief Handkerchiefs
• Diamond Dyes
• Gillette Razors

Again, out of eleven brands, the majority (seven) are still well-known, even after one hundred years.

In each of these cases, over half of the respondents whocould name a brand named that brand.Falling shy of a majority, but still getting twice as many mentions astheir nearest competitors were these brands, in order:

• Ivory Soap (trademarked in 1874, perhaps thefirst major national brand; certainly the core of Procter & Gamble, whichwas founded in 1837)
• Gold Medal Flour (The Washburn-Crosby Company)
• Coca-Cola Soft Drinks (Pepsi-Cola was not amongthe top nine brands, well behind such great names as Moxie, Whistle, and Howdy)
• B.V.D. Underwear
• Stetson Hats
• Kellogg’s Corn Flakes in “Breakfast Foods”
• Colgate Dentifrice
• Goodyear Tires
• Winchester Guns
• Hart Schaffner & Marx Men’s Clothes
• 2 in 1 Polish
• Ed Pinaud Hair Tonic
• Steinway Pianos
• Ford Automobiles (followed by Cadillac, Packard,Buick, Overland, Pierce-Arrow, Hudson, and Dodge)
• Yuban Coffee (Arbuckle Brothers)
• Goodyear Raincoats
• Heinz Spaghetti
• Del Monte Canned Fruits
• Goodyear Rubbers (footwear)
• Fels Naptha Laundry Soap
• Djer Kiss Face Powder
• Iver Johnson Bicycles
• Mazda Lamps (light bulbs)
• Fleischer’s Yarns
• Cross Leather Goods

In several categories, leadership was shared by twobrands. Some examples, with the name ofthe number one brand first, were:

• Swift and Beech-Nut in Bacon
• Borden’s and Carnation in Canned Milk
• Mennen and Colgate in Talcum Powder
• Boston and Paris in Garters (for men)
• Holeproof and Onyx in Hosiery
• Manhattan and Arrow in Shirts
• Elgin and Waltham in Watches
• Camel and Fatima in Cigarettes
• Underwood and Remington in Typewriters
• Victor and Edison in Phonographs (ancestors ofiTunes?)

The book also lists fields where no dominant leaderemerged. Those categories, with the most-often-namedbrand, included:

• Candy: Huyler’s
• Chocolates: Hershey
• Toilet Soap: Palm Olive (later merged withColgate0
• Corsets: Gossard
• Shoes: Douglas
• Women’s Clothing: Betty Wales
• Stoves: Majestic
• Motor Trucks: Mack
• Tea: Lipton
• Laxatives: Ex-Lax
• Insurance: Metropolitan

Note that only one or two of these (Hershey and perhapsLipton) were able to build a clear brand leadership in the following years,though a few of the others continue to be produced and well-known.

So, what of all this?What might we learn from these long lists?

First, we must admire the amazing tenacity of thosecompanies which have persisted, from Colgate to Ford. Each has faced powerful competitors: GeneralMotors’ Chevrolet passed up Ford to become the best-selling car in the late1920s; Procter & Gamble’s Crest became the number one tooth paste in the1960s (today it is close to a tie between Colgate and P&G). In some cases, the brands and products wereso good and trusted that they survived multiple owners: Nabisco has been a partof four corporations since 1965.

At the other extreme, what happened to brand leaderswhich have faded or disappeared, especially in categories that are stillvibrant? Indian Motorcycles closed downin 1953 but has been brought back to life in more recent years. Meanwhile, BMW, Ducati, Harley-Davidson, Kawasaki,Yamaha, and others have grown. Thecandy, shoe, and apparel businesses have witnessed the rise and fall of manybrands and companies. (In women’sfashion, does anyone remember a leader of the 1960s, Jonathan Logan? Or Johnny Carson polyester suits formen?)

Each of these companies and brands has a history. Each had a period of success. Some employed thousands of people, many for their whole working lives. To forget them is to fail to learn from history. We at the American Business History Center will continue to dig into old sources and attempt to learn what some did right and others, not so much. Which ones adapted to changing times and preferences, which ones were lost in the dust. (Follow the links in the preceding lists and paragraphs to learn how the best leaders and innovators developed their top brand positions.)