IRRATIONAL LOVE 

For the first time in a long time, Heinz dramatically increased the price of ketchup due to record inflation. As a result, consumers were switching from Heinz to cheaper ketchup alternatives.

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Our challenge was to reassert Heinz’s category leadership and prove it’s a brand worth paying for. And to do that, we’d have to win the hearts and minds of consumers all over again, rekindling America’s love for The World’s Favorite Ketchup.

People go to irrational lengths for Heinz. 

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Few brands have 153 years of history to build on. What Heinz built over this time, no competitor even comes close to having: fandom.

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We uncovered real stories of people who carry Heinz packets everywhere (Adele), walked out of restaurants that don’t serve it, have Heinz tattooed on their biceps (Ed Sheeran), ordered custom-labeled Heinz Ketchup bottles for their wedding day, and put Heinz on everything from fries to sushi. 

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Heinz fans don’t have a saccharine kind of love for the brand. They have an obsessive, idiosyncratic, irreverent love that manifests in ways so powerful, they may be deemed strange or outright unbelievable.

Our campaign breathed new life into Heinz’s existing brand platform, It has to be Heinz. No longer a statement of taste and ubiquity from Heinz, the platform evolved into a simple, never-ending celebration of the irreverent, irrational ways people love our brand. Every story told in advertising was inspired by real fan stories – a campaign for fans, by fans. 

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RESULTS

• Reversed volume sales decline in just 9 weeks after two price increases

• +2X Ketchup Repeat Purchase vs. Private Label

• 98% positive/neutral sentiment on organic social, exceeding Heinz’s historical average by 20%

• 3.2X TikTok engagement rate and viewership vs historical benchmark