It is Tabasco. For 135 years, people have continued to demand it. It has been delivered overnight by FedEx to astronauts about to take off, and has also been sent to thousands of American soldiers to flavor their military rations. In 1932, the UK launched the "Buy British" campaign and banned British MPs from eating the hot sauce in official dining rooms, triggering a "Tabasco Storm". "Perhaps Tabasco thrives so well because it has a posture. It's not worried about how it looks, and it's not trying to please everyone, and there's a bit of a danger in that," says Texas McNair. Mark McGarrah of McGarrah Jessee said: "It manages to retain its edge, maintain its stance and stay true to its identity, but still feel fresh and relevant. A sense of the times." McGrath has followed the privately held company's path to success.

Tabasco did all this very effectively, so the sales volume of hot sauce exceeded that of more than 1,000 other competing brands. Tabasco hot sauce is exported to more than 160 countries and regions, and the trademark on the bottle is available in 21 languages ??or dialects. Such a large business scope is unrivaled. It was this little bottle of hot sauce, weighing two ounces and bearing its iconic green and white diamond logo, that still found its way into Cuba during the U.S. embargo; and was used as a welcome treat when U.N. peacekeepers entered Cambodia to end the civil war. Gifts; they can be found at even the most remote roadside stalls in Africa. At the same time, it has also ascended to the elegance of high-end restaurants.

“Even in remote areas, people know about it,” said Stephen Romero, Tabasco’s vice president of international marketing. “You can find it in every country around the world. A bottle of Tabasco hot sauce.”

However, Tabasco, the brand founded by the McIlhenny family, was not satisfied with the illustrious reputation it had achieved. Recently, the company has signed up a number of experts in India and China in the hope of winning fans when the new flavors are launched globally.

“We are growing aggressively right now,” said Paul McIlhenny. He is the great-grandson of the founder of Tabasco and is currently president and CEO of McIlhenny Company. "A lot of people around the world don't eat hot sauce. I don't know if that's lucky or unfortunate, but we can make food less bland and tasteless."

That's what the company has been trying to do from the beginning: maintain product quality , and actively carry out marketing. The original marketing tool was in the 1890s, when the company compiled a revue and toured around the country. Shane Bernard has been engaged in research on the history of Tabasco. He opened the work diary carefully recorded by Edmund McIlhenny and showed that the founder of Tabasco The importance of global markets was recognized, and within a few years of its founding, Tabasco was exporting to London, England, which in turn introduced Tabasco to the British colonial market. Tabasco has been expanding its business around the world. The approach it takes is to find local advertising partners to attract people from different cultural and dietary backgrounds, including Japan, Russia and Brazil. (Japan is the market with the highest sales volume outside the United States.) The expansion of Tabasco means in some places an extension of American local characteristics, in some places it means adherence to tradition, and in other places it is a premium product. The launch of hot sauce is, to some extent, a status symbol for the user.

“Even if there is only one recipe, the same classic Tabasco sauce from year to year, we try to make the marketing unique,” ??Mr. Romero said.

Perhaps the most important step in Tabasco's global development was when Mr. McIlenny's grandson Walter joined the Marine Corps. Walter later retired from the Navy as a Commodore.

From 1949 to 1985, he served as the head of Tabasco. Because he personally experienced the boring food in the army, he packed Tabasco hot sauce in small homemade jars and sent it to the American troops stationed in Vietnam. Now, every American soldier has a small bottle of this hot sauce in his ration. At the request of thousands of soldiers stationed abroad, Tabasco cemented his relationship with the military by sending them large bottles of hot sauce for free.

Tabasco hot sauce has thus flown into the most remote corners of the world. Dr. Bernard kept countless emails, letters and photos from soldiers. Over the years, the soldiers named their planes the USS Tabasco, flew Tabasco flags over field camps, or stuffed hot sauce bottles with sand from the camp and mailed them home. Tabasco even makes hot sauce bottle holsters that attach to bullet belts. All of the items will be on display at the Tabasco Museum, which will open in New Orleans next year.

This exhibition will document how Tabasco never changed his true nature while maintaining a sense of the times. A decade ago, when it became apparent that most people were "eating at the wheel" rather than cooking at home, Tabasco began advertising its hot sauce as a condiment as well as an ingredient. "McChierni has reinvented Tabasco where necessary so that it remains relevant to customers," said Martin Manion, Tabasco vice president of marketing.

The process included creating four new flavors while retaining the characteristics of Grandpa’s Red Hot Sauce. "Grandpa's Red Hot Sauce" is the company's internal nickname for the original recipe. Tabasco further promotes its image through branded products, such as making strings of pepper lights to decorate Christmas trees. If someone wants to give a Tabasco bottle as a gift, the company also provides them with a label bearing the gifter's name.

Tabasco refuses to reveal its profits, sales, or even what percentage of its budget it spends on advertising. But marketing is clearly a top priority. “Our promotion formats range from the simplest to the most complex,” Mr. Ma Ning said. He recalled a promotion 10 years ago, when Tabasco customized 10 Nissan multi-purpose sports cars, using chrome bottles as hood decorations and painting a flame graphic on the body. Distributed as giveaways. The text used in the company's promotional activities is also unique. The latest advertisement reads: "It's like love. No matter how uncomfortable it was last time, you always want a little more. Original Tabasco Hot Sauce."

There is also an annual chef competition, where whoever comes up with the most delicious recipe using Tabasco sauce will win a $10,000 prize. The promotion also includes: a Tabasco family cookbook, a CD of professional Tabasco recipes for restaurants and a food show. Tabasco displayed hot sauce for ice cream at the food show.

“There’s more than one way to market advertising. Tabasco does a whole package of marketing better than any other food company,” says Gary Namm. He oversees the account at The Food Group, Tabasco's food service promotion partner. "A lot of clients will say, 'Do this, do this, do this, and have a nice day,'" he said. "(Tabasco) welcomes new approaches and new ideas. Tabasco is always forward-thinking." ”