Ed Sheeran is an artist who is famous for not doing brand deals and campaigns never only for the money. Without being prompted by the brand, Ed Sheeran has tweeted, posted on Instagram about and even tattooed himself with the label of Heinz Ketchup. It’s not every day that a huge popstar declares his love for your brand in such a public way like Ed Sheeran does to Heinz. Our challenge was how to retribute his love in a way that was authentic to Heinz as a brand and to Ed Sheeran’s personality. We needed to create the perfect idea that resonated with both fan bases, and that was honest and true to the brands, telling this story in an authentic way.

To retribute the love Ed Sheeran had for the brand, we decided to tattoo ourselves back - with his tattoos. We copied the placement of his tattoo sleeve to create a special edition bottle, that was auctioned off at Christie’s, with proceeds going to charity.

This idea is a rare case of a work done with a celebrity that isn’t a normal paid endorsement. Ed Sheeran was a fan of Heinz ketchup before any contract was signed and he still continues to be so after. And the only way Heinz could retribute a homage as great as a tattoo would be to tattoo ourselves back – with his tattoos.

The insight was that Heinz was finally retributing the love that Ed Sheeran has had for the brand for years, and instead of simply talking about the things the singer already did, like his tattoo, we created new assets for the narrative, such as the tattoo bottle.

The target audience for Ketchup is very vast, that’s why working with the one of the most streamed artists in the world makes sense, everyone loves ketchup worldwide, and that’s how our audiences coincided.

Because he tattooed himself with our logo, we decided to tattoo ourselves too – with his tattoos. We created a special tattooed edition bottle, using the Heinz tattoo as a base. We copied the placement of his tattoo sleeve to create a special edition bottle, that was auctioned off at Christie’s, with proceeds going to charity. The name EdChup was created to reference the singer. We also launched an integrated campaign, with the first TVC concepted and starred by the singer, print ads with no label but his tattoo, and a second version of EdChup, for everyone to enjoy.

The campaign was the most successful Heinz Global Campaign ever, achieving 8.5 billion impressions. The Special Edition bottle was sold at the Christie’s auction house, and the highest bid was £1500, making it the most expensive bottle of ketchup ever sold.