Campbell Soup & Garbage

I am currently studying the Principles of Marketing through an online course. Today's reading assignment contained a story that you'll find interesting.

"More than 125 years have passed since advertising pioneer N.W. Ayer conducted the first organized marketing research project in 1879. A second important milestone is the development of marketing research occurred 32 years later, when Charles C. Parlin organized the nation's first commercial research department at Curtis Publishing Co., publisher of The Saturday Evening Post.

Parlin got his start as a marketing researcher by counting soup cans in Philadelphia's garbage. Here is what happened. Parlin, an ad salesman, was trying to convince the Campbell Soup Co. to advertise in The Saturday Evening Post. Campbell Soup resisted, believing that the Post reached primarily working-class readers, who preferred to make their own soup. Campbell Soup marketers were targeting higher income people who could afford to pay for the convenience of soup in a can. To prove Campbell wrong, Parlin began counting soup cans in the garbage collected from different neighborhoods. His research revealed that working-class families bought more canned soup than wealthy households, who had servants to cook for them. Campbell Soup soon became a regular Saturday Evening Post client. It is interesting to note that garbage remains a good source of information for marketing researchers even today. Prior to recent cutbacks in food service, some airlines studied the leftovers from on board meals to determine what to serve passengers."

(Source: Boone & Kurtz. Contemporary Marketing, 2006.)

Using people's garbage for marketing research is an interesting concept. I know that garbage tells alot about people, but I never thought about studying their garbage to gain valuable marketing data. You best beware if you find me sorting through your garbage...I could be collecting information for my new marketing idea.