Do you know who Frederic J. Baur of Cincinnati is? Chances are you have enjoyed one of his simplest and noble inventions. Something he was proud of, and an invention well ahead of it's time. It literally changed the way snacks were packaged, marketed and sold.
Baur died in May 2007, after a battle with Alzheimers, he passed away quietly in a Cincinnati hospice at age 89. While his life and his life's work was not mourned much outside of his hometown, his professional life was a microcosm of breakthrough marketing (good and bad).
On the good side, he showed just how you can turn a really simple idea into a wildly successful product by innovating and marketing it creatively.
Pringles potato chips in a can was his baby. He designed it in 1966, it was patented in 1970, and chips have never been the same. In later years they even sold advertising screened on to each individual chip!
On the down side, Pringles lowers the bar for everyone else. All of the chips are exactly the same. (Where do they keep the mold chip by which all others are formed?). And other chips soon copied his invention.
And on the really weird side, Baur put in his will that he wanted to be cremated and buried in a Pringles can. His family chose the "Original" can.
You can't take it with you.
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