In 2022, we were tasked with launching the reformulated Heinz No Sugar Added Ketchup, made with sweetness from plants.

Our audience was seemingly niche: Sugar Minimizing Millennials. Health-conscious adults who scrutinize their sugar intake, habitually read product labels and, for health reasons, have had to either give up ketchup or try their luck in the spotty “better for you” condiment category. They love the ketchup of their youth, but hate how much sugar it has. This limits their options for ketchup; each one feels like a compromise on taste.

Instead of treating Heinz No Sugar Added as a niche product solving a niche problem for a niche audience, we saw the opportunity to treat it as something much bigger that answers a universal longing – a gateway for adults to step back into their childhoods (and the childhood flavors they’ve given up) without guilt or compromise.

ADULTING SUCKS

Adulthood is a magical time. Just kidding, it’s the worst, and Millennials know it. There’s always more stuff to do, like paying bills, making dentist appointments and, worst of all, cutting back on sugar.

While Heinz can’t solve all of Millennials’ #adulting problems, we can help with that last one. Heinz No Sugar Added has the great taste of Heinz with sweetness from plants, so they can cut down on sugar without missing out on their childhood-favorite ketchup.

Our campaign centered on an animated musical in the style of childhood classics that once taught Millennials what adult life would be like. But we added a twist: we put the storybook princess in the real world where, as she sings, she’s discovered “adulting sucks.” Every lyric was inspired by social posts from real Millennials about #adulting.

Our insight didn’t just inform the music, it became the music.

Insight: Cutting sugar isn’t a niche behavior, it’s an unavoidable rite of passage for every adult–a hallmark of adulting.

Not everyone cuts back on sugar, but everyone can identify with what cutting sugar is a part of: becoming an adult. On the grand stage of social media, the #adulting cultural conversation is a national lament of adulthood – where your back hurts from sneezing, you’re always tired and you’re struggling to keep your houseplants alive.

The tragedy of #adulting is compromise. It’s where responsibility reigns and indulgence is extinct. In all facets of life but especially food, adults have to put duty before desire. At least, that’s what Millennials have always thought. Heinz No Sugar Added Ketchup changes that paradigm. It can’t make adulthood less painful, but it can make cutting sugar a little easier.

Strategy: Position Heinz No Sugar Added Ketchup as a welcome break from adulthood’s many compromises.

Working with a music house, we created a song whose melody matched the fairytale 2D animation reminiscent of Millennials’ childhoods, but with contrasting lyrics about the harsh realities of being an adult. Our goal was to create a 60-second song with an original melody, inspired by music Millennials are familiar with from movies like “Beauty and the Beast” and “Fantasia.” The most important element of the song was the chorus: it had to be catchy while also presenting Heinz as the solution to one of adulthood’s problems. The rest of the lyrics, which presented pain points of adulthood like losing Tupperware lids and accidentally killing succulents, were directly inspired by social media posts from real Millennials about #adulting.

Business Impact: Our campaign led to a lift in dollar sales rate of +20% and a lift in volume sales of +1% in Q4 of 2022 vs. Q4 of 2021, a tall order given inflation and price increases.

Engagement Impact:

+8% lift in total profile likes and a +20x lift in daily follower growth on TikTok.

Our influencer content exceeded VVR CPG benchmarks by 15.76% on TikTok and was received very well on both Instagram and TikTok, driving over 70% positive sentiment.

On YouTube, the majority of our video buy, the campaign exceeded VCR benchmarks across both :15s and :6s placements. The :15s unit especially resonated with our audience, with a VCR of 84%, +14% versus benchmark.

The campaign had a halo effect across our entire funnel, leading to a significant lift in search CTR of +167% versus the overall brand.