Here’s a heartwarming story...

In 2017, after Kraft and Heinz merged, the company slashed adspend by 39% from pre-merger levels. Advertising was seen as an expense rather than an investment. 

Sales fell in nine out of the next twelve quarters. In Feb 2019, reporting the losses, Kraft Heinz shares went into freefall, plummeting 30% on one day alone.  

In July 2019, former global CMO of Anheuser-Busch Miguel Patricio became Kraft Heinz CEO, saying “We have to build a culture of creativity.”

Media spend went up an immediate 30%, concentrated on the heritage brands such as Heinz Ketchup. 

With work from Rethink, Toronto and Wieden+Kennedy, Heinz has taken over from Burger King as a serial winner of Lions at Cannes. 

Not to mention a 12% global net sales increase and nearly 50% sales increase in the USA between 2019 and 2024. 

In celebration of creativity that works, here are some of our favourite ketchup campaigns.

Agency: Rethink, Toronto
Client: Heinz Ketchup
Year: 2020 - 2024
Title: It Has To Be Heinz
Awards: Cannes Lions Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix 2024
Case history: HERE

It was lockdown. People were going out of their minds with boredom. Heinz created a 570-piece puzzle. 57 were available as giveaways in 17 countries before Heinz responded to demand and started selling them for $24.99, the proceeds going to food charities. 

Agency: Wunderman Thompson, Istanbul
Client: Heinz Ketchup
Year: 2023
Title: Is That Heinz? 
Awards: Cannes Lions Brand Experience Bronze
Case study: HERE 

‘It Has To Be Heinz’ was ingeniously brought to life in Turkey where the exact red of Heinz ketchup was added in a stripe around the label of a see-through bottle.

If the contents didn’t match the stripe, they were fake. Over 500 restaurants in Turkey started ordering the new bottles to prove to customers they served the real stuff.

Agency: The Kitchen, Toronto
Client: Heinz Ketchup
Year: 2023
Title: #FindTheKetchupBoatGuy
Awards: Cannes PR Bronze

The Kitchen is Heinz’s in-house agency. When Elvis Francois, a fisherman from Dominica, was rescued after being adrift at sea for 24 days, he said he had survived thanks to a bottle of ketchup.

Through a social media campaign Heinz set out to find him and give him a new boat.

And gain over a billion media impressions along the way. 

See the case history HERE.  

Agency: Wieden+Kennedy, New York
Client: Heinz Ketchup
Year: 2024
Title: Irrational Love
See the ad: HERE

Inspired by real life, the campaign shows the weird things people do when they are obsessed with Heinz ketchup.

Agency: Soko, Brazil
Client: Heinz Ketchup
Year: 2023
Title: Heinz Tattoo Ink
Awards: Cannes Lions Brand Experience Bronze
Case study: HERE

Many tattoo inks are made with inks that cause allergic reactions, especially the reds.

Heinz, whose ingredients are pure, stepped in to make sure that their fans’ tatts were non-harmful.The Heinz-themed tatts that ensued got turned into outdoor.

10,000 orders placed for the safe ink in a week.

Agency: David
Client: Heinz Ketchup 
Year: 2019/2023
Title: Edchup/Kingchup
Ed’s TV commercial: HERE

Ed Sheeran has the Heinz logo tattooed on his arm.

On National Ketchup Day (it exists!) special edition bottles of Heinz Ketchup went on sale. Ed even wrote the TV script.

In addition, Heinz made 150 bottles based on Ed’s tattoo which were sold for charity. One is in the V&A museum.

On 2023, Kingchup was a celebration of the coronation of King Charles. A neat way of reminding UK shoppers they can buy personalised bottles online.

Agency: FP7/McCann, Dubai
Client: Heinz Ketchup
Year: 2025
Title: The First Ad Ever Interrupted By A Movie

Playing right now in Dubai Mall Reel Cinemas the ad has two parts.

Part One is before the main film and Pat Two is after the film has finished and after the credits have rolled.

For those patient enough to stay, there is Heinz merch and discount deals.

It’s slow advertising, like Heinz ketchup is slow but rewarding.

The Dubai Lynx Awards winners were announced on April 9th. 

Creativity is alive and kicking in the region.

🏆 Ten Grand Prix winners for you: 

Agency: Impact BBDO, Dubai
Client: An Nahar Newspaper
Title: The New President
Award: Dubai Lynx Creative Strategy Grand Prix
Case study: HERE

Lebanon is a political shambles.

An Nahar took 90- years of independent journalism and with machine learning trained an AI to look objectively at the country’s problems. Online, readers could ask the AI President for answers.

The campaign led to a 28% increase in subscriptions. 

Tech gives admirable new life and new meaning to print. 

Agency: FP7 McCann, Dubai
Client: Puck
Title: Selfless Shelves
Award: Dubai Lynx Direct Grand Prix/Glass Award for Change Grand Prix
Case study: HERE

In the shattered economy of Lebanon, women are trying to earn a living by selling preserves.

Puck sells a million jars of cheese a year.

They collected their used jars, sanitised them and invited women to fill them at the Puck kitchen in Beirut. Then they placed the jars on supermarket shelves as well as selling them online.  

Hundreds of women accepted the invitation and thousands of jars have been sold. 

Every little helps, as they say. 

Agency: Impact BBDO Pakistan
Client: Sting (energy drink)
Title: Speedy Disclaimer Hijack
Award: Dubai Lynx Film Grand Prix
Case study: HERE

Energy drink Sting placed its commercials immediately after ads with speedy disclaimers, showing the voice-over artist delivering the speedy disclaimer, thanks to Sting.

Turning the plonky part of other people’s ads into entertainment, that’s innovative thinking, we think. 
 

Agency: Bigtime Creative Shop, Riyadh
Client: Riyadh Season
Title: Obsession
Award: Dubai Lynx Social & Influencer Grand Prix
Video: HERE

To promote the rematch fight between boxers Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, Riyadh Season capitalised on what fans enjoyed most about these fighters: their mutual obsession.

AI, easter eggs and real-life moments all threaded together in an amazing two-minute film. 

Same agency, same fight but after the event:

Agency: Bigtime Creative Shop
Client: The Ring
Title: The 4th Judge
Award: Dubai Lynx Digital Craft Grand Prix
An Inside Look: HERE

An AI, data-powered video analysis of the fight to score it more accurately than the human judges. Not to replace them but “to bring clarity to every decision.”

The judges had Usyk a winner by 116-112, the tech had him a little more ahead at 118-110. 

No more dodgy decisions ever, then, we wonder.  

Agency: RBWA\RAAD, Dubai
Client: Al Joumhouria
Title: Breaching the Algorithm
Award: Dubai Lynx Industry Craft Grand Prix
Case study: HERE

Social media algorithms seem to erase or bury images about war in the Middle East.

Independent newspaper Al Joumhoria recreated the censored photographs with typed letters and symbols to bypass the digital barriers and let the truth out. 

Agency: SRMG Labs, Riyadh
Client: Billboard Magazine
Title: The Second Release
Award: Dubai Lynx PR Grand Prix
Case study: HERE

Saudi Arabia is changing but in the 1980s, the female singer Etab had to leave her country in order to have a singing career.

In 2024, Billboard remastered her song Ya Saudi and released it two days before Saudi National Day.

It became a second national anthem and she won a posthumous Cultural Impact Award. And got the relatively unknown Billboard brand some respect and attention. 

Agency: TBWA\RAAD, Dubai
Client: KFC
Title: The Bribe Bucket
Award: Dubai Lynx Media Grand Prix
See the social video: HERE

Every time a gamer reposted KFC’s social film they got given a voucher they could use to bribe other players to go easy on them in Call of Duty. 

How to reach an audience that’s proud advertisers can’t (usually) reach them.

Bravo.

Agency: Careem
Client: Careem
Title: Careem Beach
Award: Dubai Lynx Outdoor Grand Prix
Case study: HERE

Food and beverage vendors are forbidden on Dubai’s beaches. Careem, the ‘Everything You Need’ app rented umbrellas which had 5G connectivity.

Now they could find your precise spot on the beach and deliver anything and everything you wanted.

One Dubai resident called it “life changing”. Hmmm…

The ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) in the UK does a brilliant (and difficult) job of regulating advertising.

Is it ‘legal, decent, honest and truthful’ was a slogan introduced in 1962 when the organisation first came into being.

Every year, they get hundreds (and occasionally thousands) of complaints about ads.

Here are a few. Some seem less shocking to us than others.   

To start with, let's look at one from Paddy Power, who have a history of questionable ads.

Here’s “Blind Footballer” with a cat being kicked into a tree by a blind footballer; it was the most complained-about ad of 2010, with 1,313 complaints, but it was not banned.  

2,345 complaints
Client: Booking.com
Title: Yeah!
Year: 2015
See the ad: HERE

They used the word “booking” as a substitute for a similar sounding word that begins with “f”. Booking great idea.

The ASA ruled that the ad was unlikely to encourage children to start swearing like their parents. 

1,671 complaints
Client: KFC
Title: Zinger Crunch Salad
Year: 2005
See the ad: HERE

Call Centre workers sing with their mouths full of KFC Zinger Crunch Salad. Shock horror.

This will encourage bad manners, said complainants. Unlikely to undermine parental authority, said the ASA.

No ban. 

1,204 complaints
Client: The Christian Party
Title: There definitely is a God
Year: 2009

This ad was made in response to a humanist ad, “There’s probably no God: now stop worrying and enjoy your life,” which got 1,045 complaints.

Complainants of the Christian Party response argued that the claim “There definitely is a God” could not be substantiated.

The ASA ruling was, basically, get a life. 

1,066 complaints
Client: Volkswagen
Title: The Fight 
Year: 2009
See the ad: HERE

Gratuitous violence. Children could be influenced. That was what viewers complained about.

VW said the fight was a metaphor and not real.

The ASA banned it from running before the 9.0pm watershed. 

1,063 complaints
Client: Moneysupermarket.com
Title: Epic Strut
Year: 2016
See the ad: HERE

The most complained about ad of 2016, viewers reckoned Gary’s moves were overtly sexual and thus disturbing to children.

The ASA said the ad was humorous and would not cause offence.

No smacked wrists.

948 complaints
Client: Yves Saint Laurent - Opium
Title: Sophie Dahl
Year: 2000

At the time, the most complained about ad in the ASA’s history.

You’ve got to draw a line somewhere and the ASA drew it.

Banned. 

This month, Tom Fishburne celebrates his 25th anniversary drawing cartoons every week to poke fun at marketing and advertising.

His website is HERE where you can sign up for his newsletter to get a regular supply of his gentle sideswipes.

As former creative directors, here are three we relate to.