When Peter Shankman pictures a tin of Old Bay Seasoning, a childhood tableau leaps to mind. It's a "cold winter night in Manhattan. At 6 p.m., I'd come home and go into the kitchen and open the cabinet and I'd always see that can. It's a good feeling, a good memory there."
It's also a good example of a positive image that has endured, says Shankman, who runs a marketing firm in New York. But when he thinks of Yoo-hoo, the chocolate drink once trumpeted by baseball great Yogi Berra, "warm and fuzzy" isn't in the picture. Instead, he sees extreme skateboarders slicing through the air, with Web site copy to match: The skaters and Yoo-hoo are "two naturally thrashing things that go together as smoothly as chugging down an ice-cold YH tallboy."
Old Bay is one of those venerable brands, particularly resonant in the Chesapeake Bay region, that continues to cash in on its retro image.
That's not the case with Yoo-hoo, a brand reinvented by Shankman's firm, the Geek Factory, with a campaign starring skater guys, skater chicks and loud music targeted at a new generation of Yoo-hoo chuggers.
This is a tumultuous time for ad folks in the food industry, charged with revitalizing old brands and creating new ones for audiences who crave change, integrity and lifestyle compatibility in one tidy package.
It's a climate where branding backflips to please the client abound. Pepsi-Cola, for example, recently launched a "360-degree marketing campaign" with new product graphics every few weeks.
In the midst of this Madison Avenue tempest, Old Bay's contents and logo remain steadfastly the same.
With its primary colors and geometric shapes, the Old Bay brand signifies a trusty building block for the kitchen. (Some may see a similarity to artist Piet Mondrian's rectangles.) Those cute little crab, shrimp and chicken icons practically qualify as folk art. And with its bold lettering, the Old Bay container can broadcast to customers from the far end of the grocery aisle.
"It's so distinctive," says Sherry Trabert, an avid Baltimore cook and Old Bay stalwart. "As soon as you see it, even in a movie or on a cooking show, you know right away what it is."
Just as she recognizes the Old Bay canister, Trabert knows its taste: "A crab cake without Old Bay doesn't taste like a crab cake to me. It adds that Maryland flavor."
"When people see that can, they know exactly what it is," says Laurie Harrsen, a spokeswoman for McCormick & Co., which purchased the Old Bay brand in 1990. "You wouldn't want to change that look, no matter what."
Peering at a vintage 1950s Old Bay can, Harrsen notes how little it differs from today's version. A lobster has been replaced by a chicken -- a move to suggest uses for the spice beyond fish. The label "Old Bay Seafood Seasoning" became "Old Bay Seasoning" for the same reason. Other than that, the closure has been redesigned and some minor labeling material updated.
With a blend of celery seed, mustard, red pepper, black pepper, bay leaves, cloves, pimento, ginger, mace, cardamom and paprika, Gustav Brunn, a German immigrant who settled in Baltimore, created Old Bay in the 1940s. The lip-searing mix became synonymous with steamed crabs and other regional seafood specialties.
Under McCormick, Old Bay has spread across the United States, the Caribbean, Canada, Central America, Asia and in military commissaries worldwide. According to the most recent figures from marketing research firm Mintel, Old Bay's sales grew nearly 17 percent from 2003 to 2005.
Related products, including Old Bay Cocktail Sauce and Old Bay with garlic and herb seasoning, extend the brand's reach, as do Utz potato chips seasoned with Old Bay.
Even as the brand remains the same, McCormick must use the latest marketing techniques to pitch its wares, says Claire Rosenzweig, president of the Promotion Marketing Association. "If you have a secret recipe, it probably tastes as good today as it did 100 years ago," she says. Still, "there has to be an appropriate integrated marketing communications strategy."
With Old Bay, that strategy takes the shape of promotional events, such as the high-stakes "Old Bay Peel & Eat Shrimp Classic," to heighten brand awareness.
To further entice converts, a clubby atmosphere prevails on the Old Bay Web site, which spotlights recipes, culinary suggestions from far-flung visitors and one Baltimorean's confession that the theme for his marriage was "Love, Honor and Old Bay."
On the Web site, you'll find the requisite "Old Bay story" featuring the enterprising Brunn, but you'll also see trendy recipes such as Napa Shrimp Stir-Fry and Shrimp Bruschetta.
If McCormick's strategy is to promote Old Bay as a "lifestyle brand," the spice colossus is on the right track, says Kirsten Osolind, the founder of re:invention inc., a Chicago marketing company.
She compares Old Bay's signature image to the Domino sugar sign that is visible from vistas throughout Baltimore. "It hasn't been tampered with much over the years, and it has evolved into something that has its own soul. It taps into the minds of people who are most loyal to the brand."
Mess with a beloved lifestyle brand and "you end up with a fiasco, like New Coke," Osolind says.
For competitors, Old Bay's branding power works all too well. Like Kleenex and Xerox, it has become the all-purpose name for a product. But not all seafood seasoning is from Old Bay. J.O. Spice, a Baltimore company, supplies dozens of regional crab houses and restaurants with seafood seasoning.
"When the boys on WPOC talk about beer and crabs and Old Bay and name some restaurants [where they don't use] Old Bay, that's the frustrating part of it," says Don Ports Jr., third-generation owner of J.O. Spice. Until recently, the smaller firm, which also distributes Old Bay, has primarily focused on the wholesale market.
Nancy Faidley Devine prepares thousands of crab cakes scented with Old Bay for her family's seafood stall in Lexington Market and a bustling mail-order business. "I just think the blend of seasonings makes it very indigenous to this area," Devine says. She sees no reason to change Old Bay's logo.
If a brand's not broken, don't fix it, says Joe Duffy, founder of Duffy & Partners International Branding and Design in Minneapolis. "I love old brands and ones that have retained their identity over the years."
That said, Old Bay's emblem is "clunky," says Duffy, who has reinvented the Minute Maid orange juice and Fresca brands, among many products. "I have to believe there is a way of retaining that heritage and that nostalgia" while updating Old Bay's trademark look, he says.
But some things should never change, like Old Bay, which conjures up the same, timeless images as Faidley's does, Devine says. "We haven't changed," she says. "Everything here looks exactly the same. It's Baltimore."
stephanie.shapiro@baltsun.com
Napa Shrimp Stir-Fry
Makes 5 servings
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 teaspoons Old Bay Seasoning (divided use)
3 cups shredded napa cabbage
1 cup shredded jicama
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup chopped green onion
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup honey-roasted cashews
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley for garnish
Heat oil in wok or large skillet. Stir-fry shrimp and 1 teaspoon Old Bay over medium-high heat until cooked, about 3 minutes. Remove shrimp from pan and set aside.
Add cabbage to warm skillet and stir-fry 2 minutes over medium-high heat. Add jicama, carrots, green onion and remaining Old Bay. Cook while stirring for about 3 minutes. Add the cooked shrimp.
Blend chicken broth and cornstarch in small bowl until smooth. Pour into shrimp mixture and continue cooking until thickened, stirring frequently. Stir in cashews and serve garnished with parsley.
From old-bay.com
Per serving: 358 calories, 28 grams protein, 19 grams fat, 4 grams saturated fat, 20 grams carbohydrate, 4 grams fiber, 202 milligrams cholesterol, 750 milligrams sodium
Salmon Loaf
Makes 6 servings
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup butter or margarine
16 ounces canned salmon, drained and flecked
2 teaspoons of Old Bay Seasoning
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 eggs
1 cup milk
Cook onion and celery in butter until tender. Mix remaining ingredients in large bowl; add onion and celery. Pour into greased loaf pan. Place in pan of hot water. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
From 1950s-era Old Bay can
Per serving: 219 calories, 21 grams protein, 14 grams fat, 6 grams saturated fat, 3 grams carbohydrate, trace fiber, 156 milligrams cholesterol, 604 milligrams sodium