2021 Winner
2021 Winners
Kraft Heinz
Heinz Bottleneck
The iconic Heinz Ketchup is known for its unmistakable taste, iconic glass bottle and slow pour. It’s been the ketchup for over 150 years. The problem is when you’re that old you’re at risk of being seen as old and irrelevant. And it’s especially important to be relevant in the digital space. Otherwise category entrants can steal share, which is exactly what started to happen.
As Covid-19 restrictions started to ease across Canada in summer 2021, people were doing something they hadn’t done in a year - jumping in the car and heading to cottages, parks, and destinations. And a huge part of those destinations - cookouts and bbqs.
The challenge was to inject Heinz into these summer moments in a modern, unexpected, and ownable way that would create talk value with the goal of keeping Heinz top of mind.
For the first time in over a year, roads would be packed with cars on their way to cottages and BBQs get-togethers. One way people attempt to get around summer traffic is by using navigation apps like Waze, which highlights traffic with a red line to indicate things are moving slowly.
Heinz Ketchup goes through rigorous tests to ensure the quality and taste is the exact same in every bottle. One of those tests ensures Heinz viscosity allows it to pour at the same speed every time – 0.045km/hour to be exact. Said another way, Heinz = Slow. Heinz is famous for being slow. So, they wanted to show consumers that this summer, going slow is a good thing.
Rethink partnered with Waze to utilize their app’s built in navigation and speed tracking system to target Canadians across the country that were stuck in traffic. Using real-time traffic data, they were able to track the speed traffic was going, and if traffic went at the speed of ketchup, they were rewarded with free ketchup.
They kicked off the campaign right before the July long weekend, when summer traffic is at its heaviest. They blasted their message across their social channels with a hero video explaining the campaign. It ran across all their platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Youtube. The video itself earned media attention and had high shareability online.
They also created digital OOH boards that were strategically placed along the highest traffic highways in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. Depending on the time of day when traffic was heaviest, the long copy billboards shared a message to drivers stuck in traffic that featured their offer and how to unlock it. When traffic was lighter, they simply shared a generic brand message.
They knew drivers stuck in traffic often listen to music and podcasts to pass the time, so they worked with Spotify to create radio ads and companion banner assets to further spread awareness of the message and offer.
They also worked with a range of micro-influencers to seed the campaign launch.
When people were on busy highways all summer, the Waze app would reward them for driving slow. The car on the App would actually change to a bottle of Heinz and a voucher for free ketchup and a Burger King Whopper would automatically be sent to their inbox (to avoid any driving distractions).
This was truly a high-performing brand awareness and recognition play for Heinz. The save rates of the takeover ads were 34%, compared to industry benchmarks of 22%. The campaign achieved a whopping 147,730,225 PR impressions. Additionally, Spotify reached 606,932 impressions and attained an outstanding 97.4% audio completion rate.
Best of all, by hijacking slow moving roads, they were able to get 44% of Waze users caught in traffic to redeem a bottle of Heinz before heading to their cottage or BBQ.
As Covid-19 restrictions started to ease across Canada in summer 2021, people were doing something they hadn’t done in a year - jumping in the car and heading to cottages, parks, and destinations. And a huge part of those destinations - cookouts and bbqs.
The challenge was to inject Heinz into these summer moments in a modern, unexpected, and ownable way that would create talk value with the goal of keeping Heinz top of mind.
For the first time in over a year, roads would be packed with cars on their way to cottages and BBQs get-togethers. One way people attempt to get around summer traffic is by using navigation apps like Waze, which highlights traffic with a red line to indicate things are moving slowly.
Heinz Ketchup goes through rigorous tests to ensure the quality and taste is the exact same in every bottle. One of those tests ensures Heinz viscosity allows it to pour at the same speed every time – 0.045km/hour to be exact. Said another way, Heinz = Slow. Heinz is famous for being slow. So, they wanted to show consumers that this summer, going slow is a good thing.
Rethink partnered with Waze to utilize their app’s built in navigation and speed tracking system to target Canadians across the country that were stuck in traffic. Using real-time traffic data, they were able to track the speed traffic was going, and if traffic went at the speed of ketchup, they were rewarded with free ketchup.
They kicked off the campaign right before the July long weekend, when summer traffic is at its heaviest. They blasted their message across their social channels with a hero video explaining the campaign. It ran across all their platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Youtube. The video itself earned media attention and had high shareability online.
They also created digital OOH boards that were strategically placed along the highest traffic highways in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. Depending on the time of day when traffic was heaviest, the long copy billboards shared a message to drivers stuck in traffic that featured their offer and how to unlock it. When traffic was lighter, they simply shared a generic brand message.
They knew drivers stuck in traffic often listen to music and podcasts to pass the time, so they worked with Spotify to create radio ads and companion banner assets to further spread awareness of the message and offer.
They also worked with a range of micro-influencers to seed the campaign launch.
When people were on busy highways all summer, the Waze app would reward them for driving slow. The car on the App would actually change to a bottle of Heinz and a voucher for free ketchup and a Burger King Whopper would automatically be sent to their inbox (to avoid any driving distractions).
This was truly a high-performing brand awareness and recognition play for Heinz. The save rates of the takeover ads were 34%, compared to industry benchmarks of 22%. The campaign achieved a whopping 147,730,225 PR impressions. Additionally, Spotify reached 606,932 impressions and attained an outstanding 97.4% audio completion rate.
Best of all, by hijacking slow moving roads, they were able to get 44% of Waze users caught in traffic to redeem a bottle of Heinz before heading to their cottage or BBQ.