There's nothing more direct than saying things in your own voice. That's why, to give Italians a chance to have their say on the launch of the new Heinz Tomato Ketchup Pasta Sauce in the UK, we set up a free phone line connecting them directly to Heinz UK and announced it on a big billboard next to a classic English phone booth.

It's not very often that a brand advertises a complaint phone number, especially not their own. But it was World Pasta Day, and more than ever, Italians needed to speak up for pasta. Literally.

Italy is the motherland of pasta, and they take it very seriously. There’s a whole etiquette for it; things that you should do and things that are prohibited. Adding Ketchup on pasta is one of the red flags. Truth is 82% of Italians think that pasta on ketchup is the number one culinary crime. Tiktok is actually full of Italians at the verge of a breakdown when shown people’s pasta recipes featuring Ketchup.  

World Pasta Day was approaching and Heinz wanted to do something in Italy, just like any food-related brand. There was a big challenge to address: Heinz is an American brand with low credibility in the land of pasta. And actually, none of its pasta sauces are available on the Italian market. We needed to think on a clever way to be present on the most important day of Italian gastronomy to generate awareness and create a bond with the Italian community, even if the brand had really nothing to do with pasta in Italy. All this on a shoestring budget, of course.

Meanwhile, not far away, Heinz was committing the number one Italian sacrilege by launching a tomato ketchup pasta sauce in the UK.

No one has more say about pasta than the Italians. And there’s no one more qualified to put an end to the ongoing ridiculous debate in the UK over the launch of the new Heinz Tomato Ketchup Pasta Sauce. For World Pasta Day we had an idea: let the Italians have their say. We set up a free phone line connecting them directly to Heinz UK, and we announced it in a big way so that the whole country could join in. Giving Italians the chance to speak up for pasta on World Pasta Day was the best gift we could offer—especially after what we did in another country.

We decided to leverage the recent launch of Heinz Tomato Ketchup Pasta Sauce in the UK, for World Pasta Day. In Italy. Bold move. Specially with such big challenges on the table: Heinz is an American brand with low credibility in the land of pasta. And 82% of Italians believes that pasta on ketchup is the number one culinary crime.

We decided not to overlook our weakness but to turn it into our opportunity. How? Increasing cultural relevance inviting Italians to have their say on the new product, exploiting a successful campaign from another market, quickly and smartly (with low budget). By provoking them, even if that meant they hated us a little bit, we managed to create a bond with the Italian community in the most important day of their gastronomy. Even if we had really nothing to do with pasta in Italy.

We set up a direct free phone line to get Italians in touch with Heinz UK, and we invited them to do so through a strategically placed billboard in one of the busiest squares in the center of Milan, Colonne Di San Lorenzo. The giant billboard (14x8 meters) presented the controversial new product along with the question “Ridiculously wrong?”, the phone number and a very direct call to action: Tell them what we think.  Underneath the billboard, we installed a classic English phone boot for Italians to call for free.  

The billboard was on display from October 16th to October 31st, including World Pasta Day (October 25th).

Due to its strategic placement, the billboard got more than 3 million impressions. The activation was also promoted on social media, reaching more than 14 millions of impressions (40% more than planned ) and more than 9 millions unique reach (80% more than planned). Comments and UGC show a super positive community sentiment.

In earned media, it got more than 45 million impressions from PR, news and marketing pages, even appearing in one of Italy’s most prestigious newspapers: Corriere della Sera.

But most importantly, hundred of angry and pretty funny calls were received, putting on record that ketchup on pasta is, in fact, ridiculously wrong.