Heinz Ketchup is known the world over for its glass bottle, iconic red, keystone label and superior quality and unmatched taste.

But being a 150 year old brand comes with a unique set of challenges. In Heinz’ case, the brand was at risk of losing its icon status and being undercut by generic, off-brand ketchup. Our objective over 5 years was to re-ignite an emotional connection with Heinz by engaging consumers with culturally relevant brand experiences that would prove its iconic status. Showing not saying that It Has To Be Heinz.

We created a series of work over 5 years that proved It Has to Be Heinz.

Pour Perfectly solved a 150 year old mystery by showing consumers the perfect angle to get Heinz out of the bottle.

When the world shut down, we gave consumers something to do: A 570 piece puzzle in Heinz red.

We launched a campaign asking people to Draw Ketchup. Everyone drew Heinz.

When AI started trending, we tapped into the conversation and asked it to draw ketchup. Even AI drew Heinz.

We rallied the nation to put an end to uneven bun and weiner packages with Hot Dog Pact.

We launched Ketchup Fraud to put an end to restaurants refilling Heinz bottles with inferior ketchup.

When a fan account shared Taylor Swift eating ketchup and “seemingly” ranch at an NFL game, we relaunched Kranch, a struggling ketchup-ranch mashup, as Heinz Ketchup and Seemingly Ranch.

We needed to reignite love for the Heinz brand, but knew that stating our superiority ourselves would be meaningless and futile. Instead of trying to imbue new meaning, we collectively looked out into the world and uncovered the brand’s core truth: Heinz IS ketchup. As such, we had the opportunity to assert ourselves in a way that no other condiment in the world could. We didn’t need to say “It Has to Be Heinz” if there was a whole world of people out there who would say it for us.

Heinz Ketchup is known the world over for its glass bottle, iconic red, keystone label and superior quality and unmatched taste. So, when we needed to reignite the love for our iconic sauce, we didn’t try and imbue new meaning, we turned to the truth. We created a series of work over 5 years, each one speaking directly to an ownable truth for Heinz. We didn't rely on having to say we're superior ourselves, we got the world to tell that story for us

Pour Perfectly

We started with Pour Perfectly, solving a 150 year old mystery by showing consumers the perfect angle to get Heinz out of the bottle by turning the label on our bottle 31 degrees. Driving consumer engagement online and at shelf to give people a reason to engage with Heinz again.

Heinz Ketchup Puzzle

When the world shut down due to COVID-19, we gave consumers something to do. A 570 piece puzzle all in Heinz iconic red. Playing with a cultural moment when most brands took a somber route, we created something worth talking about.

Draw Ketchup

As the original ketchup brand, when you think of ketchup you think of Heinz. Something no other brand can claim. So, we tapped into this truth with a social experiment where we asked participants to draw ketchup and they drew Heinz. This allowed us to tell everyone that no other ketchup compares without us having to say it ourselves.

AI Ketchup

When AI services like Dall-E AI first started trending, we tapped into the cultural conversation and again asked AI to draw ketchup and it drew Heinz. Becoming the first brand to utilize AI in this way.

Hot Dog Pact

Consumers have been upset over uneven hot dog and bun packages for decades. So, we decided to put an end to it. Rallying the nation to sign a petition to end the discrepancy, and we won. Wonder Bread created even packaging.

Heinz Fraud

Restaurants fill Heinz bottles with inferior ketchup and consumers notice. So, we tapped into the conversation to get consumers to be our advocates. Creating a fresh and first of its kind business-to-business campaign.

Vintage Drip

Merch drops are everywhere. Instead of creating more clothing that contributes to landfills, we targeted Gen-z by partnering with online second hand retailers to sell high end fashion that was stained with Heinz. Proving Heinz isn’t a stain, it’s a statement.

Heinz Super Bowl LVII

Super Bowl 57 happened in 2023. 57 is the Heinz number. So, we hacked the super bowl by playing with a cultural conversation around Roman numerals, something no one understands. We simply showed that LVII = 57.

As a result of our strategy to reignite brand love and Heinz iconic status, we’ve seen a +12% Global Heinz Ketchup Sales Growth compared to year-over-year numbers since 2019. Additionally Heinz has stolen +3.2 share points back from our competition. Growing market share, while competition declined. We grew Household penetration 1.7x faster than the total category. Dollar share went from 72.6% in 2019, to 74.1% in 2023. Retail sales alone saw a 47.24% increase from $578MM in 2019, to $851MM in 2023.

In 2023, Heinz achieved ‘Icon’ status by KANTAR – only 4% of all brands (food or otherwise) achieve this status, putting Heinz in an elite position within the category. After 5 years of showing, not telling consumers why It Has to Be Heinz, we saw consideration for Heinz jump +3pts, while value perception increased by +3pts.