In the third part of the iconic pack series Julie Hall, sales director at Sun Branding Solutions, explores the history of Oxo.

For the nineteenth century housewife, producing tasty food on a budget was a continual challenge. Meat was a rare luxury for many, however the discovery of meat extraction in the middle of the century opened the door to new commercial products that became popular with the middle classes.

Oxo came about as an attempt to create a cheaper version of the bottled meat extract sold by the Liebig’s Extract of Meat Company. English chemist Henry Enfield Roscoe developed a liquid, christened Oxo, in 1899. However this was still rather expensive for the mass market, until in 1911 the company developed a bouillon cube that could be cold for a penny. It was just in time for the stock cube to become a stock item for WWI troops – 100 million cubes were consumed and the hand-wrapped foil packaging helped keep them in tip top condition.

The Oxo company was an early adopter of all manner of marketing tactics that are commonplace today, such as mail in offers, outdoor advertising (as seen on London’s Oxo Tower), and sponsorship (it provided fortifying drinks to marathon runners at the 1910 Olympics). However, it is the powerful brand name, derived from ‘ox’ to emphasise its beefiness, and the logo that has been an enduring strength for more than 100 years.

Throughout its history, the cardboard Oxo cube containing 12 of the individual blocks, has become a staple of the kitchen. What started as a protein substitute has allowed generations of would be chefs to discover new recipes. It has mirrored Britain’s emergence from the land of meat and two veg, to that of the more culinary adventurous with herb infused stocks, and the Shake and Flavour seasoning range.

Oxo has also moved on from purely being beef based to cover other stocks – lamb, ham, chicken and vegetable – all of which retain the iconic cube pack. However, since 2009 the ‘cubes’ have actually been X-shaped, a design innovation that is supposed to make the sometimes tough little cubes easier to crumble.

Julie Hall, sales director, Sun Branding Solutions

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