With the Weck glass jar, the Weck company created an extremely successful brand.
Using heat sterilization, the company developed a process to preserve fruit and vegetables for multiple years. The cooked food was filled into special, airtight jars.
In 1893, the anti-alcoholic and vegetarian Johann Carl Weck patented the process. Carl Weck’s trademark symbol was a strawberry, the design of which was simplified more and more over time.
A company magazine, no-nonsense advertising and specifically selected housewives as multipliers were part of the marketing strategy of the company, which joined the Werkbund early on. The term Ein-Wecken (preserving) for conserving fruit or vegetables brought the company name into common usage.
This use of brand or company names is also known, for example, from Tempo tissues as a synonym for paper handkerchief or Uhu for glue.
Weck’s successful marketing could not prevent it from having to file for insolvency in the summer of 2023. However, the company has very recently been purchased by a group of investors, meaning that most of the existing jobs as well as the glass jars with the strawberry have been saved.
