From Balance Sheets to Bubble Gum: How an Accountant Invented a Sweet Sensation

The story about accountant Walter Diemer – who invented bubble gum – reaches next-level interesting when you learn that he invented bubble gum accidentally. How on earth?! Did he invent it while ‘over-inflating’ earning projections? Or was he trying to demonstrate the importance of ‘sticking’ to the budget?

For 22 years, chemists and lab workers at Fleer Chewing Gum Company had been working on their dream project of inventing bubble gum. And they hadn’t even come close. Until one day, a 23-year-old accountant in 1927 was asked to “watch the pot” in the laboratory, sparking his inquisitive mind.

Worth mentioning, all the chewing gums invented prior to this were created by pharmacists!

So how did an accountant achieve something in a field he didn’t know much about?

Diemer developed his own strategy – he studied what the basic ingredients of the gum were and began experimenting with different proportions and techniques. Eventually, he came up with a recipe that he thought was a success and brought it to his colleagues to test.

It is important to note that what drove Diemer’s search for new solutions was cost reduction. He was not pleased with Fleer Chewing Gum Company buying chewing gum base from an outside source as it drove up the company’s expense.

Luckily enough, the recipe he created allowed the blowing of small bubbles! Plus everyone liked how it tasted.

The following day, however, Diemer discovered upon arriving at work that the gum hardened and was no longer chewable. To everyone’s great disappointment, he had to almost completely start over with his trials.

It took Diemer another four months to find a better solution. After adding more latex (a natural substance from rubber trees), the gum remained elastic and chewable for a longer period of time.

Diemer received permission to teach the factory workers how to make the new gum. As they scaled their production and made the first large batch in the factory, they all realized that this big, gray, and unattractive gum would not sell. It needed a marketable color.

Diemer wanted to find a cost-effective solution when adding coloring too. The only food coloring available in sufficient quantity at the factory that day was pink. Diemer decided to go with what he had available – a very smart entrepreneurial move.

This is why bubble gum is usually pink.

Diemer’s first product release was a big success. He took 100 pieces of the new bubble gum to the local store and sold them all in one day. The price was a penny apiece (the equivalent of 18 cents today).

As a marketing stunt, Diemer taught himself and other salespeople how to blow bubbles. Blowing bubbles attracted lots of customers. Sales broke $1.5 million (the equivalent of $27.2 million) in the first year.

Diemer started working for Fleer after high school, and he stayed with the company until his retirement. After years of traveling around the world and marketing his invention, he retired as Senior Vice President of Fleer.

Though he received no royalties for his invention, he did receive hundreds of letters from children thanking him for his creation of bubble gum.