THE STORYTELLER

CHRIS TURNER

Hellmann's Mayonnaise is about as basic a product as you'll find in your average supermarket. It's made from a few simple ingredients--egg yolks, vegetable oil, vinegar--and it's got a pedigree that dates back to a turn-of-the-20th-century New York deli. Since 1912, it has been packed in standard glass jars bedecked with a simple blue-ribbon label; the single largest word on the jar aside from the brand name is the word "REAL." If you're the guardian of a brand with a legacy this proud, you treat it like a delicate heirloom. And if you're a brand manager at Unilever Canada--the current owner of the brand and one of the largest purveyors of packaged goods on the planet--and you need to remind yourself why, you simply mumble "New Coke" under your breath like a mantra.