‘Ghost brands’ tickle the fancy of business historians

How many “ghost brands” come immediately to mind? These are popular consumer products that were once mainstays…but have since “fallen dormant or out of favor.” These products are also commonly referred to as “orphan brands.”

Seth Anderson, a Chicago-based marketing consultant, said: “Some ghost brands disappear from stores altogether, while many others remain but are banished to bottom shelves in supermarkets or drugstores and get little or no marketing support.”

 

Anderson has compiled an A-List of about three dozen ghost brands that once enjoyed considerable success in the marketplace, ranging from A to W – as in “Aim” toothpaste and “White Rain” shampoo. 

Aim was introduced in 1973 by Unilever, and White Rain was launched in 1952 by The Gillette Company. You can still find these products, but they’ve been passed along to assorted “parent companies.” 

Fate brought Aim and White Rain together in the 21st century to reside in a stable of products housed under the umbrella of International Wholesale Inc. of Allen Park, Mich. 

An interesting “ghost brand” story from the annals of American commerce is the saga of James Smith. He was born in Fife, Scotland, and arrived in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in 1847. He opened a restaurant there and specialized in making sweets, including candy and ice cream. 

Early on, sons William and Andrew Smith joined the business. In 1852, the Smiths bought a cough drop recipe from a peddler named Sly Hawkins and made their first batch of “Smith Brothers Cough Drops.”

 

Their new lozenges were tasty “cough candy” for customers “afflicted with hoarseness, cough or colds.”

William and Andrew inherited the business after their father died in 1866. They developed one of the first factory filled packages with trademark branding, using their own pictures on their product packaging. 

Writing for Family Business magazine in 1990, Robert N. Steck said: “The Smiths spelled out the word ‘trademark’ below the family portraits. William’s picture appeared right above the word ‘trade,’ and Andrew’s above the word ‘mark.’”

 

“From that point on, the two brothers were universally known as ‘Trade’ and ‘Mark.’ Under ‘Trade and Mark’s management,’ the family business prospered. But as with all family businesses, the problem of management succession arose,” Steck wrote. 

“To which member of the rising generation should the business be trusted? Would that person prove capable? The answer to the first question was easy. Mark had never married, and Trade had but one son, named Arthur. But the answer to the second question was more difficult, for Arthur let it be widely known that he considered the family business boring.” 

“Nor did Arthur’s instincts for business seem particularly sharp. He once brought in a consultant to help determine the best markets for the product. In doing his analysis, the consultant asked Arthur, ‘Where do your biggest orders come from?’ Arthur replied, ‘Why, the postman brings them.’” 

Steck said: “Smith Brothers Cough Drops survived and prospered despite Arthur” and remained a family business for more than a century, until the company merged with Warner-Lambert Pharmaceutical Co. in 1963. 

At the time, TIME Magazine reported: “Though the Smith Brothers cough-drop business prospered under the founder’s sons, William and Andrew, Smith Brothers in recent years has lagged far behind such aggressive drops as Vicks and Luden’s.” 

“Warner-Lambert President Alfred E. Driscoll…plans to move Smith Brothers into his American Chicle division, which turns out Chiclets, Dentyne and Rolaids. Chicle’s crack 500-man sales force is likely to give competitors a few sore throats.” 

The article continued: “Driscoll…has no intention of tampering with the secret formula for the cough drops. It is known only to the late William Smith’s stepson, who each six months mixes a new batch of the formula in solitude.” 

F&F Foods of Chicago purchased Smith Brothers from Warner-Lambert in the 1970s, and the brand slowly faded into oblivion, disappearing from store shelves. 

The latest effort to revive Smith Brothers Cough Drops was launched in 2016 by LanesHealth of Manchester, N.H., a subsidiary of G.R. Lane Health Products Ltd., of Gloucester, England. 

Shoppers can still find online posts that offer the four Smith Brothers flavors – black licorice, honey lemon, wild cherry and warm apple pie.

 

Whatever happened to Pine Brothers Softish Throat Drops? 

These squishy…almost gummy…“glycerine tablets” were invented in 1870 in Philadelphia by brothers John Herman and George William Pine, who operated a confectionary. 

That’s going to be a “ghost product” story with a happy ending…just you wait and see.