Maxwell House - Advertising

Advertising

During the 1920s the Maxwell House brand began to be extensively advertised across the US. Total advertising expenditure rose from $19,955 in 1921 to $276,894 in 1924, and consequently the brand was cited as the most well-known coffee brand in a 1925 study of consumer goods.

Maxwell House was the sponsor of Maxwell House Coffee Time (1937–1949), featuring Baby Snooks, Charles Ruggles, Frank Morgan, Topper, and George Burns and Gracie Allen over the years in a predominately radio comedy and variety format. Maxwell House also sponsored Molly Goldberg on radio and later on television.

Maxwell House was also the sponsor of the radio version of Father Knows Best. Each episode began with the youngest daughter Kitten asking, "Mother, is Maxwell House really the best coffee in the whole world?" to which her mother would reply, "Well, your father says so, and Father Knows Best!" It was later replaced by Postum, a hot decaffeinated beverage that was touted by Father as being a calming beverage that wouldn't keep you up or make you jittery.

Maxwell House was the long-time sponsor of the early television series, Mama, based on the play and film I Remember Mama. It starred Peggy Wood as the matriarch of a Norwegian-American family. It ran on the CBS network from 1949 to 1957 and was perhaps the first example of product placement on a TV show, as the family frequently gathered around the kitchen table for a cup of Maxwell House coffee, though these segments, aired towards the end of each episode, were usually kept separate from the main storyline. Early television programs were frequently packaged by the advertising agencies of individual sponsors. As this practice became less common in the late 1950s, Maxwell House, like most national brands, turned to "spot" advertising, with the agencies creating sometimes long-running campaigns in support of their products. One such 1970s campaign for Maxwell House featured the actress Margaret Hamilton, the former wicked witch in The Wizard of Oz, as Cora, the general store owner who proudly announced that Maxwell House was the only brand she sold. Maxwell House was also a well-known sponsor of the Burns and Allen radio show, during which Maxwell House spots were incorporated into the plots of the actual radio scripts.

Along with television advertising, Maxwell House used various print campaigns, always featuring the tagline "good to the last drop." The publication of its Passover haggadah by the Joseph Jacobs Advertising Agency beginning in 1932 made Maxwell House a household name with many American Jewish families. This was part of a marketing strategy by advertiser Jacobs, who also hired an Orthodox rabbi to certify that the coffee bean was technically not "kitniyot" (more like a berry than a bean) and, consequently, kosher for Passover. Maxwell House was the first coffee roaster to target a Jewish demographic. It was also reportedly used for the first Seder held at the White House in 2009, and again in 2011, by Barack Obama.