Heinz partners with vampire influencer to promote 'Tomato Blood' ketchup

E.J. Marcus takes on the role of 'Toby the Vegetarian Vampire' in Halloween campaign

Published On
Oct 06, 2022

Editor's Pick

Plenty of brands have worked with influencers for social media campaigns, but few can say they’ve partnered with a 280-year-old vegetarian vampire. In the latest campaign from Heinz, the condiment brand does exactly that. 

To promote the relaunch of its “Tomato Blood” packaging, a limited-edition design timed with Halloween, Heinz worked with Wieden+Kennedy New York to create a fictional vegetarian vampire who prefers the taste of Tomato Blood to actual blood. Heinz tapped actual influencer E.J. Marcus, who has almost 400,000 followers on TikTok, to play the vampire character known as “Toby the Vegetarian Vampire.” 

Throughout October, people can follow along with Toby’s adventures and his passion for Tomato Blood on Heinz’s Instagram and TikTok accounts. So far, Heinz has posted four TikTok videos featuring Toby, including one of him going on a “hot veggie vamp walk”—a parody of the “hot girl walk” trend on the platform—with a bottle of Tomato Blood. Another follows Toby on a visit to Six Flags, where he orders a bowl of the amusement park’s limited-edition “Bloody Nacho Fries,” but asks for all of the ingredients besides Tomato Blood to be removed. 

@heinz_us a nightly routine is SO important. get heinz tomato blood and u too can go on hot veggie vamp walks #hotveggievampwalk #vegetarianvampire #fyp ♬ original sound - heinz

Several of these videos are cross-posted as Reels on Heinz’s Instagram, where the brand has changed its bio to read “toby the veggie vamp.” On both TikTok and Instagram, Heinz posted a portion of a PSA-inspired video in which Toby encourages other vampires to become vegetarians and only consume Tomato Blood. The spot originally aired during the AMC premiere of “Interview With the Vampire” on Oct. 2. 

“The next time you want to eat someone, I hope you’ll reconsider and go vegetarian,” Toby says in the video. “I hope you’ll switch to Heinz Tomato Blood. Because humans are people too.” 

The hashtag #heinztomatoblood, where TikTok users can find Heinz’s videos starring Toby, currently has 1.2 million views. Along with this TikTok and Instagram content, Heinz and Toby will take over several channels on the entertainment wiki site Fandom and host a “special vampire-themed activation on Twitch” later this month, according to a press release. 

This social media campaign is the latest push from Heinz to promote its spooky seasonal product. Last year, the brand released a costume set that included its Tomato Blood product as an alternative for fake blood, and in 2020, the company challenged TikTok users to create gory Halloween costumes that included the product as fake blood. The hashtag created for that challenge, #HeinzHalloween, racked up over 5.1 billion views on TikTok.

Credits

Date
Oct 06, 2022
Client :
Heinz
Agency :
Wieden & Kennedy - New York
Executive Creative Director :
Karl Lieberman
Creative Director :
Christine Santora
Creative Director :
Will Binder
Copywriter :
Sara Carr
Copywriter :
Michelle Lamont
Copywriter :
Holden Rasche
Art Director :
Bowook Yoon
Head of Integrated Production :
Nick Setounski
Executive Producer :
Sam Kilbreth
Producer :
Tara Toliver
Account Director :
Price Manford
Management Supervisor :
Carina Polini
Account Supervisor :
Miriam Charry
Assistant Account Executive :
Emily Rivera
Project Manager :
Danielle Hillman
Social Strategy :
James Williams
Social Strategy :
Syd Hutnik
Social Strategy :
Ni'A Landon
Brand Strategy :
Alex Nguyen
Brand Strategy :
Joe Bae
Brand Strategy :
Zack Plutzer
Comms Strategist :
Angel Navedo
Comms Strategist :
Abel Rodriguez
Director of Business Affairs :
Anna Beth Nagel
Business Affairs :
Andrea Fagan
Traffic :
Sonia Bisono
Traffic :
Jacqueline Crane
Senior Art Producer :
Tania Pirozzi
Production Company :
Some Assembly Required
DP :
Jordan Parrott
Camera Operator :
Bryan Bonilla
AC/DIT :
Melanie St.Clair
Gaffer :
Luke Becker-Lowe
Production Manager :
Ryan Charland
Stylist :
Sheyna Imm
Hair & Make Up Artist :
Celestina Masiello
Sound Mixer :
Eric Rice
Production Designer :
Luiza Rose
Art Coordinator :
Callan Christiano
Casting Director :
Stacy Gallo
Editorial Company :
Some Assembly Required
Editor :
Melissa Burns
Post Producer :
Matthew Snetzko
Colorist :
Melissa Burns
Mix Company :
Some Assembly Required
Mixer :
David Murray
Photographer and Director :
David Ebert

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