This is the story of an insight-inspired product born with the aim to own an already existing conversation: ketchup on pasta. With a witty POV, we invited consumers to join the debate and share their opinions. And they did: #KetchupOnPasta reached 12M organic impressions, and the whole campaign reached an impressive 500M earned media impressions; increasing the engagement rate to reach a 6%.

A social media inspired, social media led campaign that we also brought to the streets: a teaser campaign, followed by influencer-led content and the product launch, the campaign generated a +38% sales on the whole range.

Heinz is a long-established, highly trusted brand in the UK market. From baked beans to ketchup the brand is a British household staple. Yes, also in Buckingham Palace. Along its history it has established a clear and recognizable TOV based on its witty personality.   

In order to bring excitement to the pasta category, it was key to embrace creativity at the speed of culture, hopping onto TikTok trends and cultural moments relevant for the audience.  

And it only felt right for Heinz to jump into the conversation that had already started on social media (mainly TikTok) about whether Ketchup on pasta was outrageous or not. The platform was filled with Italians at the verge of a breakdown when shown people’s pasta recipes featuring Ketchup. We couldn’t miss the opportunity of being at the center of such a saucy argument.  

After more than 150 years growing tomatoes, Heinz finally launched pasta sauces. But let’s be real – it was late for a tomato pasta sauce launch. In fact, it was ridiculous how long it took.   

Embracing our witty TOV we recognized our mistake and apologized to the public, through “Ridiculously Late. Ridiculously Good”.  

To increase relevance, we also tapped into cultural moments that were also ridiculously late, i.e. the Lionesses winning the 2022 Euros.   

A year later, we grew our platform with a fame idea that generated a lot of buzz: Heinz x Absolut, inspired by Gigi Hadid’s viral “Penne alla vodka”.   

During the third year we emphasized brand superiority, focusing on everything that made the range different, launching a concept with greater brand presence. Ridiculously good, Ridiculously Heinz.   

We needed more. A fame idea that put us in everyone’s mouth – quite literally - once again.   

Pasta Sauces was boring until we landed on it, so needed to keep the fun going by generating some good noise (as well as sales, obviously). 

To do so, we decided to leverage a polarizing insight we uncovered from our social listening research: Brits love our Ketchup so much they add it to everything… even on their spaghetti.  Yes. Ketchup on pasta.  

A never-ending debate that allowed us to stay true to our consumers’ behavior while offending centuries of pasta sauce etiquette with a controversial flavor for the pasta sauces range: A ketchup-flavored pasta sauce.  

We ran a social listening research to learn what the conversation was about pasta in the UK. That’s how we found a trend pranking people by putting ketchup on pasta. The trend had fueled an already existing debate (similarly to pineapple on pizza), with lovers and haters quickly joining.   

That was the breakthrough moment: It was the ideal setting to leverage our identity as #1 brand on Tomato Ketchup (with 98% awareness in the UK) while staying faithful to what consumers love about us – taste – and how they consume it – with pasta. All this while underlining what sets us apart: we’re not Italian.   

The insight: Heinz ketchup is so loved, consumers add it to everything, everywhere. Even to their spaghetti.   

The strategic decision: We decided to offend centuries of pasta etiquette by proposing Heinz to join the debate by launching a Ketchup flavored pasta sauce.  

Given the debate was already there, and there was equally lovers and haters, we decided to make consumers pick sides, provoking more debate under the concept: “Ridiculously wrong?”  

Execution  

We teased the campaign referring to the iconic ‘Pass the Heinz’ ad from Mad Men. But with our twist. We replaced Don Draper’s burgers and fries with different types of pasta and presented it on the streets of London and social media.   

Then, launched the campaign by revealing the saucy question. Expanding the conversation not only in UK but also in Italy, where 82% of its population thinks that putting ketchup on pasta is a crime.   

And then, went the extra mile: we placed a large billboard in Milan to invite the Italians to give us their opinion on the controversial launch, supporting the activation with Italian influencers and a display campaign on social media.   

By pissing an entire country off with our new product, Heinz Ketchup Pasta Sauce became the product with the highest sales rate of the entire range, increasing to 35 units per store per week, with a sold out in Tesco – surpassing by far our strongest competitor, Dolmio, during the promotion.  

Not only was the new product sold, but also the entire Heinz Pasta Sauces range grew by +38% during the campaign.  

We achieved more than 500M impressions in earned media, appearing in more than 600 media internationally. Igniting a social debate with #KetchupOnPasta reaching 12M organic impressions and + 6% ER vs 3% average.

The activation in Italy achieved 20M views on TikTok and Meta, and 3M impressions from the outdoor piece in Milan in just one day. Italians definitely hated the idea, and spread the word, resulting in more than 45M in earned media.  

And obviously, we also got lots of insults. Didn’t count them.