Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
At 100, baking icon Betty Crocker is still a household name
How does a brand remain a household name for a century? Betty Crocker has a simple recipe: Keep changing.
In October, the icon became a centenarian and has now wrapped up her 100th holiday baking season. General Mills, the company that owns her likeness, intends to keep her relevant another century by embracing more diverse cooks and bakers and finding new ways to reach them in their kitchens.
“Betty Crocker remains relevant because she and her product lines adapt to shifting political, social and economic currents,” culinary anthropologist Pauline Adema wrote in the encyclopedia “American Icons.” “Her tenacity in the American imagination — and in our kitchens — attests to her timelessness as a merged corporate and domestic icon.”
In 1921, Betty’s signature started appearing on response letters to home bakers seeking kitchen advice. Then she was on radio shows, cookbooks, cake mixes and her own website.
In 2021, thousands of Instagram posts featuring photogenic bakes were tagged #CallMeBetty Crocker.
“Betty has been associated with that pride and accomplishment in the kitchen,” said Maria Jaramillo, director of the Meals & Baking business unit at General Mills, which includes Betty Crocker. “How can we make sure the next generations have that knowledge of how to bake, how to cook, so it’s truly inclusive for everyone?”
Marketing food to the largest possible audience, as Betty Crocker does, is increasingly difficult amid a “commoditization” of many popular products, said Doug Jeske, president of Meyocks, a branding and marketing agency.
Increasingly, marketers are using what’s called “mentor branding,” Leske said. It’s a way for the company to ingratiate itself with customers by offering them more information, inspiration and even advocate for their interests.
“Of course, Betty Crocker was a mentor even before she was a product brand, so the folks at General Mills have been on to something for a long time,” Leske said.
In 1921, the Washburn-Crosby Co., a predecessor to General Mills, ran a contest in the Saturday Evening Post promoting Gold Medal Flour that inadvertently produced some market research. In addition to completed puzzles, letters poured in asking for baking advice, and the company concocted a character to answer them. “Betty” was chosen for its friendliness; “Crocker” was the last name of a retired company board member.
And in 1924, Betty was given a voice — and later a variety of voices — with a daytime radio program. “Betty Crocker Cooking School of the Air” debuted on WCCO (the station’s call sign named after its then-owner, Washburn-Crosby Co.). The show was picked up by NBC and would run for more than two decades.
In the 1930s, Betty was officially personified for the first time beyond a voice and a signature: A painted portrait released in 1936 was the first of eight different faces for the brand over the next 60 years.
The short-lived “Betty Crocker Show” premiered on CBS in 1950, one of several programs to feature Adelaide Hawley Cumming as the “First Lady of Food” over the next 15 years.
Also in 1950, “Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book” aka the “Betty Crocker Cookbook” aka “Big Red” was released. Millions of copies have been sold.
“This was the first time a cookbook had step-by-step instructions,” Jaramillo said. “Before then, the way you learned to cook was generation to generation.”
The pandemic caused a massive spike in at-home eating and baking, a trend that is continuing into Betty’s 101st year.
With the help of social media influencers and other modern tactics to reach consumers, Jaramillo said she is confident new generations of cooks and bakers will embrace the brand.
“A lot of people have either re-discovered the joy of baking or have gotten into baking,” she said. “As long as we continue to provide inspiration, we should be able to celebrate 200 years of Betty Crocker.”