JB–005Heinz Global Masterbrand, 2023
Irrational
Love
One global platform for a 153-year-old brand, told in five tracks.Strategy: Joe Bae
Wieden+Kennedy New York
Wieden+Kennedy New York
The film / It has to be Heinz
People show
their love in
irrational ways.
their love in
irrational ways.
Tracks 01 and 02 / Liner notes70% of sales.
0% of growth.
0% of growth.
Heinz led ketchup almost everywhere, and had run out of room with the people who already loved it. Boomers and Gen X made up 70% of sales and none of the growth. Gen Z drove 60% of new growth and felt far less for the brand: ten points lower on emotional connection than the generations before them.The brief was to reimagine a global icon for the next generation without losing the last one. Chasing a Gen Z trend would have aged in a year. We went looking for something that could last fifty.
We ran interviews in six countries, an anthropological study with US academics, social listening on every platform, and a dig through the company's own archive.All of it pointed one way. Henry J. Heinz never compromised on quality and the company still doesn't: it patents its own tomato seeds and employs seven tomato masters. People answer that obsession with their own. Heinz tattoos. A suitcase of Beanz on a spiritual retreat. A bottle kept in a handbag, in case.
6 countries / 5 research methods / 1 truthPage 3
True story 01Ringo packed a suitcase of Heinz Beanz for a retreat in India.
Image to come: the suitcase of Beanz
Image to come: the license plate
True story 03A dad put KETCHUP on his license plate. He doesn't drive fast.
True story 02A boyfriend brought his own bottle to a ten-course sushi tasting.
Image to come: the sushi counter
Image to come: the wedding
True story 04A grandfather left a wedding to go and find some.
Track listIrrational Love / JB–005
01TaskUnite Heinz under one global platform for the first time in the brand's 153 years.
02InsightBecause Heinz is made with care and obsession, people go to irrational lengths for it.
03StrategyCelebrate the real, irrational ways people love Heinz.
04PlatformHeinz is made with, and inspires, irrational love. The line people see: It has to be Heinz.
05ResultsGlobal sales up 12%. Away-from-home sales up 22%. 320 million impressions.
Lead strategist: Joe Bae
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy New York
Market: GlobalGold Clio
Silver Effie
WARC shortlist
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy New York
Market: GlobalGold Clio
Silver Effie
WARC shortlist