Gold-winning print campaign for Heinz Ketchup sees a massive boost in social and sales

Chances are, if you try to visualise tomato ketchup, you’ll immediately conjure up the image of Heinz’s flagship Ketchup. But as iconic as their brand is, it never pays to get complacent when your competitors are snapping at your heels for a market share. So Heinz wanted a memorable, stand-out campaign that proved this intuitive association between the red stuff and Heinz.

In a drive to reignite an emotional connection with Heinz and boost customer loyalty, agency Rethink Toronto conducted a creative social experiment across five continents and 18 countries. They asked people in anonymous focus groups, on international video calls and in man-on-the-street surveys to complete one simple task – ‘Draw ketchup’.

The skill of the amateur artists varied enormously, but one thing united all the drawings – they all unmistakably depicted Heinz. Most drew a bright red bottle from memory, others sketched the label showing a tomato hanging from a vine, and some even drew the No. 57 on the neck of the bottle.

As well as being turned into magazine ads and outdoor advertising, Heinz has taken the drawings in all their sometimes hilarious, wonky glory and featured them in a funny video online. The labels will also be featured on a limited run of Heinz bottles.

‘Consumers love the unmistakable taste of Heinz, and people around the world give credit to Heinz Ketchup as the original and only option out there,’ says Daniel Gotlib, Associate Director of Brand Building & Innovation at Kraft Heinz Canada. ‘We wanted to uncover that instinctual and intuitive association consumers have between ketchup and Heinz. When we anonymously asked consumers to simply draw ketchup, we learned that when people think ketchup, they think and visualise Heinz – everything from our deep red colour and distinctive name to the keystone label and, of course, our iconic glass bottle.’

Heinz saw a near 1500% uplift in social conversations about the brand as well as a 12% uplift in sales. Phenomenal results that are testament to the power of branding and to the creative effectiveness, physicality and emotional connection to print and paper. And a simple, powerful example of how print can provide a boost to digital.