Edward Gelsthorpe
Encyclopedia
Edward Gelsthorpe was an American
marketing executive. He used his creative skills to build markets for new products such as Ban roll-on deodorant at Bristol-Myers, Cran-Apple juice
for the Ocean Spray
cooperative, and Manwich
canned sloppy joe
sauce for Hunt-Wesson
.
, and in Pleasantville, New York
. His tuition for Hamilton College was covered by a wealthy relative who expected him to become a clergyman, but the advent of World War II
led Gelsthorpe to enlist in the United States Navy
in 1942 following his graduation with a degree in philosophy
and English literature
. He served in the Pacific Theater of Operations
on a destroyer escort
. During action in the Mariana Islands
, Gelsthorpe was awarded service star
s for his efforts to protect fellow soldiers who were being attacked by Japanese troops; he left the Navy as a lieutenant
.
, leading to the introduction of Ban in 1955; it became one of the firm's best-selling products. In April 1958, he was promoted to vice president and general sales manager. In his 13 years with the firm, he ascended the corporate ladder to become vice president and director for marketing.
He was hired by Liebman Breweries, the makers of Rheingold Beer
, in February 1961, as vice president for marketing. That spot was short-lived, and he was hired by Colgate-Palmolive
in September 1961 as vice president and sales manager of its toiletries division.
Ocean Spray hired him in 1963 as its chief executive. To that time, the company had only sold processed cranberries in juice and sauce form. Largely selling a seasonal product, consumed at Thanksgiving and Christmas, the cooperative had been facing declining sales that resulted from warnings issued in the late 1950s about potentially cancer-causing chemicals sprayed on the cranberries. Working together with Sylvia Schur
of Creative Food Services, Gelsthorpe was able to oversee the development of several brand extension
s, including its blockbuster Cranapple and other fresh and frozen fruit juice mixes, as well as a cranberry-orange relish. Sales doubled with these new products as well as efforts to promote the use of cranberry juice in mixed drinks, all leading to his nickname of "Cranapple Ed".
Gelsthorpe was hired by Hunt-Wesson
in 1968 as its CEO and president. He oversaw the expansion of the company's narrow product variety with the introduction of single serving Snack Pack
shelf-stable puddings, Manwich
sloppy joe sauce, and Skillet Dinners. To accelerate the expansion of the firm's product line, Gelsthorpe often pushed for products to begin distribution before all market research had been completed.
He was hired by Gillette in September 1972 as its president and vice-chairman of marketing. There, his fast-paced approach and outsider status did not fit with the corporate culture that was present. He left after 18 months at the helm, replaced by Colman Mockler, a 17-year veteran of the firm who came to the post with a financial background. This was followed by a position as executive vice president and chief operating officer
at United Brands
, which also proved to be a brief stint, with Gelsthorpe leaving in September 1975 after being passed over for promotion to president four months earlier. He had some more success at H.P. Hood Inc., developing Frogurt, the first frozen yogurt
marketed nationally in the U.S., and helped the regional company develop a national profile.
, Gelsthorpe died at age 88 at his home there on September 12, 2009. He was survived by his wife, the former Mary Ann MacLaughlin, whom he had met in high school and married in 1943, as well as by a daughter, three sons, and four grandchildren.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
marketing executive. He used his creative skills to build markets for new products such as Ban roll-on deodorant at Bristol-Myers, Cran-Apple juice
Cran-Apple juice
Cranapple is a trademark for a blend of cranberry juice and apple juice marketed by the Ocean Spray cooperative. The juice blend is marketed as combining the tartness of the cranberry with the sweet taste of the apple in a beverage that is fat and cholesterol free, low in sodium and is a source of...
for the Ocean Spray
Ocean Spray (cooperative)
Ocean Spray is an agricultural cooperative of growers of cranberries and grapefruit headquartered in Lakeville/Middleborough, Massachusetts. It currently has over 600 member growers . The cooperative employs about 2,000 people, with sales of $1.4 billion in fiscal year 2005...
cooperative, and Manwich
Manwich
Manwich is the brand name of a canned sloppy joe sauce produced by ConAgra Foods, Inc. and Hunt’s introduced in 1969. The can contains seasoned tomato sauce that is added to cooked ground beef in a skillet. It is marketed as a quick and easy one-pan meal for the whole family...
canned sloppy joe
Sloppy joe
A sloppy joe is an American dish of ground beef, onions, sweetened tomato sauce or ketchup and other seasonings, served on a hamburger bun. Commercially made sauces are also available. Textured vegetable protein may be used as a vegetarian substitute for the meat...
sauce for Hunt-Wesson
Hunt's
Hunt's is the name of a brand of preserved tomato products owned by ConAgra Foods, Inc. The company was founded in 1888, in Sebastopol, California, as the Hunt Bros. Fruit Packing Co. by Joseph and William Hunt. The brothers relocated to nearby Santa Rosa in 1890, and then to Hayward in 1895...
.
Early life and career
Gelsthorpe was born on June 14, 1921 in Philadelphia. He was raised in Winchester, MassachusettsWinchester, Massachusetts
Winchester is a town located in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, eight miles north of Boston. With its agricultural roots having mostly disappeared, it is now an affluent suburb...
, and in Pleasantville, New York
Pleasantville, New York
Pleasantville is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 7,019 at the 2010 census. It is located in the town of Mount Pleasant. Pleasantville is home to a campus of Pace University and to the Jacob Burns Film Center...
. His tuition for Hamilton College was covered by a wealthy relative who expected him to become a clergyman, but the advent of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
led Gelsthorpe to enlist in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
in 1942 following his graduation with a degree in philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and English literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
. He served in the Pacific Theater of Operations
Pacific Theater of Operations
The Pacific Theater of Operations was the World War II area of military activity in the Pacific Ocean and the countries bordering it, a geographic scope that reflected the operational and administrative command structures of the American forces during that period...
on a destroyer escort
Destroyer escort
A destroyer escort is the classification for a smaller, lightly armed warship designed to be used to escort convoys of merchant marine ships, primarily of the United States Merchant Marine in World War II. It is employed primarily for anti-submarine warfare, but also provides some protection...
. During action in the Mariana Islands
Mariana Islands
The Mariana Islands are an arc-shaped archipelago made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the north-western Pacific Ocean between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east...
, Gelsthorpe was awarded service star
Service star
A service star, also referred to as a battle star, campaign star, or engagement star, is an attachment to a United States military decoration which denotes participation in military campaigns or multiple bestowals of the same award. Service stars are typically issued for campaign medals, service...
s for his efforts to protect fellow soldiers who were being attacked by Japanese troops; he left the Navy as a lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
.
Marketing
After a number of unrelated positions after the completion of his military service, Gelsthorpe was hired as a salesman by Bristol-Myers. He became director of specialty sales, and was named as director of sales promotion in the firm's product division in June 1954. He bought on the spot the rights to a design offered to him by an amateur inventor that would apply deodorant using a roll-on ball similar to the way ink is applied to paper by a ballpoint penBallpoint pen
A ballpoint pen is a writing instrument with an internal ink reservoir and a sphere for a point. The internal chamber is filled with a viscous ink that is dispensed at its tip during use by the rolling action of a small sphere...
, leading to the introduction of Ban in 1955; it became one of the firm's best-selling products. In April 1958, he was promoted to vice president and general sales manager. In his 13 years with the firm, he ascended the corporate ladder to become vice president and director for marketing.
He was hired by Liebman Breweries, the makers of Rheingold Beer
Rheingold Beer
Rheingold Beer, introduced in 1883, is a New York beer that held 35 percent of the state's beer market from 1950 to 1960. The company was sold by the founding Liebmann family in 1963...
, in February 1961, as vice president for marketing. That spot was short-lived, and he was hired by Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American diversified multinational corporation focused on the production, distribution and provision of household, health care and personal products, such as soaps, detergents, and oral hygiene products . Under its "Hill's" brand, it is also a manufacturer of...
in September 1961 as vice president and sales manager of its toiletries division.
Ocean Spray hired him in 1963 as its chief executive. To that time, the company had only sold processed cranberries in juice and sauce form. Largely selling a seasonal product, consumed at Thanksgiving and Christmas, the cooperative had been facing declining sales that resulted from warnings issued in the late 1950s about potentially cancer-causing chemicals sprayed on the cranberries. Working together with Sylvia Schur
Sylvia Schur
Sylvia Zipser Schur was an American food columnist and innovator. She wrote cookbooks and has been credited with developing Clamato and cranapple juice. She also wrote recipes for Ann Page and Betty Crocker and helped develop menus for restaurants, including the Four Seasons in Manhattan...
of Creative Food Services, Gelsthorpe was able to oversee the development of several brand extension
Brand extension
Brand extension or brand stretching is a marketing strategy in which a firm marketing a product with a well-developed image uses the same brand name in a different product category. The new product is called a spin-off. Organizations use this strategy to increase and leverage brand equity...
s, including its blockbuster Cranapple and other fresh and frozen fruit juice mixes, as well as a cranberry-orange relish. Sales doubled with these new products as well as efforts to promote the use of cranberry juice in mixed drinks, all leading to his nickname of "Cranapple Ed".
Gelsthorpe was hired by Hunt-Wesson
Hunt's
Hunt's is the name of a brand of preserved tomato products owned by ConAgra Foods, Inc. The company was founded in 1888, in Sebastopol, California, as the Hunt Bros. Fruit Packing Co. by Joseph and William Hunt. The brothers relocated to nearby Santa Rosa in 1890, and then to Hayward in 1895...
in 1968 as its CEO and president. He oversaw the expansion of the company's narrow product variety with the introduction of single serving Snack Pack
Hunt's Snack Pack
Hunt's Snack Pack was introduced in 1968 as a shelf-stable pudding in single-serve aluminum/metal cans. The pudding was sold in plastic cups in 1984—the first brand in the category to do so—and clear plastic cups beginning in 1990.-Flavors:*Banana...
shelf-stable puddings, Manwich
Manwich
Manwich is the brand name of a canned sloppy joe sauce produced by ConAgra Foods, Inc. and Hunt’s introduced in 1969. The can contains seasoned tomato sauce that is added to cooked ground beef in a skillet. It is marketed as a quick and easy one-pan meal for the whole family...
sloppy joe sauce, and Skillet Dinners. To accelerate the expansion of the firm's product line, Gelsthorpe often pushed for products to begin distribution before all market research had been completed.
He was hired by Gillette in September 1972 as its president and vice-chairman of marketing. There, his fast-paced approach and outsider status did not fit with the corporate culture that was present. He left after 18 months at the helm, replaced by Colman Mockler, a 17-year veteran of the firm who came to the post with a financial background. This was followed by a position as executive vice president and chief operating officer
Chief operating officer
A Chief Operating Officer or Director of Operations can be one of the highest-ranking executives in an organization and comprises part of the "C-Suite"...
at United Brands
Chiquita Brands International
Chiquita Brands International Inc. is an American producer and distributor of bananas and other produce, under a variety of subsidiary brand names, collectively known as Chiquita. Other brands include Fresh Express salads, which it purchased from Performance Food Group in 2005...
, which also proved to be a brief stint, with Gelsthorpe leaving in September 1975 after being passed over for promotion to president four months earlier. He had some more success at H.P. Hood Inc., developing Frogurt, the first frozen yogurt
Frozen yogurt
Frozen yogurt is a frozen dessert containing yogurt or other dairy products. It is slightly more tart than ice cream, as well as lower in fat...
marketed nationally in the U.S., and helped the regional company develop a national profile.
Death
A resident of East Dennis, MassachusettsEast Dennis, Massachusetts
East Dennis is a census-designated place in the town of Dennis in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 3,299 at the 2000 census.-Geography:East Dennis is located at ....
, Gelsthorpe died at age 88 at his home there on September 12, 2009. He was survived by his wife, the former Mary Ann MacLaughlin, whom he had met in high school and married in 1943, as well as by a daughter, three sons, and four grandchildren.