Heinz has launched a new global brand platform that unifies the company’s branding around the world. “It has to be HEINZ,” is inspired by real consumer love for Heinz brands including ketchup and beans.
“The strategy to unite the Heinz brand under one global creative platform focuses on paying homage to the brand by celebrating a universal truth: consumers across the globe share an irrational love of Heinz – from real fans’ personal love affairs with the brand, to the extreme lengths one will go to to have Heinz, to the obsession and care the brand’s products are made with,” said Megan Lang, head of Heinz Brand Communications, North America. “The iconicity of the Heinz brand inspires this irrational love across generations worldwide – something very rare for a brand to be able to tap into.”
The effort was created in partnership with agency Wieden+Kennedy and includes Kraft Heinz’s largest media investment to date. The spots focus on word-of-mouth fan stories like those who have gotten Heinz tattoos and those that carry Heinz products in their purse.
“As a brand that is consumer-obsessed, fan behaviors and insights are at the heart of everything we do,” said Lang. “What’s interesting is that we didn’t have to invent or contrive anything as we developed this platform – because in a sense, our consumers wrote it for us, as we kept uncovering more and more of these incredible stories from across the world. We found that what united generations of fans worldwide was the irrational lengths they go to for Heinz products. It Has to be Heinz’ is our way of sharing our love right back with them.”
The new platform will be featured across channels –TV, online video, OTT, cinema, out-of-home and social including platforms such as Reddit, TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat.
“We are launching with an anthem film that features a compilation of true and could-be-true stories of fans’ love for Heinz, as well as five shorter-form vignette style spots that bring to life these idiosyncratic and irrational stories,” Lang added. “It Has to be Heinz will debut across a variety of platforms in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Germany, and will roll out to additional markets over the next six months.”
While the effort disproportionately targets a younger global demographic, the campaign is designed to appeal to any generation of Heinz fans.
