Mrs Elswood, is that really you? A fresh face… with an added twist on the lid
► HER WARM smile is fondly familiar to countless Jewish households across Britain — and it hasn’t changed for decades.
But now Mrs Elswood has been given a comprehensive makeover with her first new look since the Nineties, the JC can exclusively reveal.
The smiling brunette, who for years has been the face of the gherkin and pickled vegetables brand, has been reborn as a more youthful redhead, with her green gingham blouse replaced with a red-check top.
And in a startling twist, the jars’ traditional white lids are replaced with bright red ones, while an up-tothe minute touch sees the label now inform shoppers that the gherkins are not only kosher but “vegan”.
But for the more conservative Mrs Elswood fans there is one nod to tradition on the new label — a reminder that the firm was founded in 1947.
Starting out as a family business called Marela Pickles, the firm started out selling pickled cucumbers and vegetables in a mostly Jewish East London market, before expanding into supermarkets.
Pickles have long been a Jewish staple, especially for Ashkenazim, to preserve vegetables throughout the long, cold Eastern European winters.
After Marela Pickles died off, three former employees — Sam Goldman, Joe Rubin and Dennis Mendel — founded a new pickle company in the Seventies. With two of the trio hailing from Elstree and the third from St John’s Wood, they used a portmanteau of the two areas for the name of their fledgling foodie business, combining “Els” with “wood”. Despite the longevity of the last Mrs Elswood, the face on the jar has actually changed several times over the decades.
Food marketing experts Brilliant Agency devised the latest incarnation. Its creative director, Laurra Davis, told the JC: “She has been through several iterations.
“She was a real person for a while, a model from an agency, but was replaced by the smiling, illustrated lady some years later.”
Last year, Empire Bespoke Foods, which owns Mrs Elswood, took the decision to give its homely ambassador a new look.
The decision wasn’t purely cosmetic, according to Mrs Davis. “She was looking a bit dated, but also, the brand was struggling to keep up-to-date in terms of technology. The illustration wasn’t equipped to be used on social media and online,” she said.
“As the world becomes more digital, brands now need to adapt to things like web and social media so this meant creating a logo that can be scaled up or down without losing quality, which the previous illustration didn’t allow.”
The plan was to keep her recognisable. Empire Bespoke Foods senior brand manager Mat Moyes told the JC: “People empathised with this character — Mrs Elswood.
“They saw her as cute, old-fashioned, very dependable and loyal – qualities close to one’s heart.
“Our challenge was to retain this
The most important thing was her keeping her warmth
lovely position of being close to communities and yet modernising it.”
The designers didn’t want Mrs Elswood to lose any of her charm. Mrs Davis explained: “The most important thing was Mrs Elswood herself keeping her warmth, and her motherly qualities whilst bringing her up to date with a slightly more youthful face and hairstyle.”
The newly digitised Mrs Elswood has bright red lowlights giving her a bit of a glow and helping her stand out prominently on the dark green wallpaper on the jar.
As for the jar lid going from green to red, Mrs Davis said: “That works with the gherkins and really makes them pop.
“We felt it was important to retain the brand’s heritage whilst also creating a new naming and colour convention, so that each product would be much easier to identify on shelf.
“The vibrant red lid was introduced to give the jars real shelf standout and to pay homage to the red ribbon [that the brand name sits on] that has become synonymous with the Mrs Elswood logo.”
Of course, pickles have a long shelf life, but Mrs Elswood is here to stay, especially having been given top marks for sustainability.
Mr Moyes said: “Our glass jars are recyclable and pickling itself is a sustainable process.”