McCormick’s Girly Spice Check

While we have a certain nostalgia toward old spice containers, the new promotion for McCormick has BrandlandUSA intrigued. For anything that asks the average kitchen warrior to dissect the packaging of a spice container has to be good.

McCormick’s premise is simple. The spice you might have in the kitchen is probably outdated. It categorizes spices according to packaging. If the package is tin, its really old. If the packaging says Baltimore and it is glass (see screen capture), it is over 15 years old. Newer packages have numbering on them; on their website you can plug those numbers into the website and determine the date.

That being said, we think a key part of the brand of McCormick is Baltimore, and we hate to lose that. Glad the company is still headquartered in Sparks.

Another bit: McCormick’s has just purchased Lawry’s from Unilever. You know Lawry’s, the spice maker that is known for its spice mixes like Lemon Pepper and Garlic Salt, and for Adolph’s Meat Tenderizer. We hope McCormick isn’t into changing its new brand names around. For while McCormick is a good name, McCormick is a better name if it keeps Lawry’s and Adolph’s as sub brands or product brands. Then McCormick is just the parent company brand.

BrandlandUSA Rule: While we hate for any great old packaging to be thrown away (we hope the folks at McCormick have a good corporate archive), letting customers understand the product, down to its packaging, helps instill long-term brand leadership. It is no wonder that McCormick, of all the former regional spice brands, is the world’s largest spice company.

Author

  • Garland Pollard

    J. Garland Pollard IV is editor/publisher of BrandlandUSA. Since 2006, the website BrandlandUSA.com has chronicled the history and business of America’s great brands.

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