Our Brands
Squirt
THE BEGINNING OF THE BURST
The time was 1938 and America was facing the Great Depression.
It was a time for new ideas and hard work. A man who advanced one of those ideas was Herb Bishop, who experimented with Citrus Club, a regionally popular non-carbonated soft drink bottled in Phoenix, Ariz. Bishop created a new carbonated drink that required less fruit and less sugar. In Bishop’s opinion, it was the freshest, most exciting taste in the marketplace. He named it Squirt.
Bishop and his partner, Ed Mehren, understood the need for promotion and advertising to compete in the soft drink marketplace. In 1941, they created a likable character and named him “Little Squirt” to personify the brand. The appeal of “Little Squirt” was immediate and Bishop subsequently broadened the brand’s attraction to consumers and trade alike.
With unique advertising, Squirt became a popular soft drink in many parts of the country. In addition to being a well-liked soft drink, Squirt established itself as a mixer in the 1950s.
In 1977, Brooks Products, a bottler in Holland, Mich., purchased Squirt from Bishop. Brooks reformulated Squirt and Diet Squirt, updated Squirt’s logo and repositioned it as a mainstream soft drink. In 1983, taking advantage of the new low-calorie soft drink technology, Diet Squirt became the first soft drink in the United States to be sweetened with aspartame.
Squirt was acquired by A&W Beverages, Inc. in 1986. A&W made a commitment to support Squirt with outstanding advertising, marketing, service and innovation. Under A&W’s leadership, Squirt became one of the fastest-growing soft drinks in America. Through careful repositioning as a superior thirst-quenching soft drink, and the addition of contemporary packaging graphics, Squirt has shown dramatic sales growth since 1987.
Today, the Squirt brand is part of Plano, Texas-based Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc., an integrated refreshment beverage business, marketing more than 50 beverage brands throughout North America.
What’s in a name?
The soft drink seemed to “squirt” into your mouth, just like a freshly squeezed grapefruit. For Herb Bishop, the soft drink could have only one name.