Heinz launches first global campaign, focused on irrational fan love for the brand

Beyoncé sang that she had hot sauce in her bag. But Heinz fans carry mini ketchup bottles. Heinz has kicked off a new global campaign, marking the first time in its 150-year history where the brand is unified under one creative strategy. The campaign pays homage to the brand by celebrating the irrational love people have for Heinz. The fan stories featured in the creative—including Heinz ketchup tattoos, swiping hotel mini ketchup bottles and smuggling tins of Beanz through airport security—were sourced from social media, news articles and through word of mouth. “As we looked to unify the brand under one global brand platform, we dove into the world of our consumers and found they all shared one thing: the irrational lengths they go to for Heinz products,” Diana Frost, Kraft Heinz’s chief growth officer for North America, said in a statement. “As a brand obsessed with our consumers, we created ‘It has to be Heinz’ as our love song back to them. Our fans are our muses.” In addition to the anthem above, the campaign, developed with Wieden+Kennedy New York, includes five spots focusing on true and could-be-true stories around Heinz. One spot shows a woman taking mini ketchup bottles off a hotel room service cart, another shows a Heinz collector. A vignette shows a man bringing ketchup to a sushi tasting, and another judgingly closing their partner's fridge after seeing they don’t have Heinz ketchup. The spots are set to the song “It’s Love” by Chris Knox. “The best part about it all is that we don’t have to make anything up,” said Jessica Ghersi, associate creative director at Wieden+Kennedy. “The stories are already out there. We just had to find them and let them shine.” The new campaign will run on TV, online video, cinema, social and out-home-home, and debut in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Germany before rolling out to additional markets in the coming months. Other recent Heinz campaigns have focused on soil degradation using Fortnite, selling the same amount of hot dogs as buns in a pack, and calling out restaurants for refilling Heinz ketchup bottles with generic brands.

Heinz launches first global campaign, focused on irrational fan love for the brand

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