Adwatch: Heinz Ketchup 'Seed'

by Neil Godber, Board planner, MCBD, Marketing 27-Jun-07

Scanning the Adwatch table this week, naturally, I started at the top of the tree with Sheila's Wheels. The execution is part of a long-running campaign, gaining in scale with each iteration, but maybe I've seen one too many Aussie apocalypse movies to rid myself of wanting Mel and Tina to leap out of the bush as a finale.

So I carry on down the list to a much-loved brand of mine - Heinz. I
remember its heart-warming ads of old: child, soup, African music and my
jealousy at not having been involved in them. This latest ad is no

different. I like it, lots.

While the Northerner in me asks how a blob of ketchup can be so bad, the
Southern mummies must be more sensitive to evil ingredients and food
origins.

Maybe it's a case of swinging the pendulum to position the product out
of an ersatz category, dragging ketchup into the world of fresh dips and
sauces. Or maybe, as a flagship product, it's a taste of things to come
from a company on top of categories that are trapped too much in my
childhood. In any event, at the basic messaging level of conveying that
ketchup is made from natural ingredients, this campaign works in
spades.

It is often said that while getting to the message is difficult, the
hardest part is getting the tone of the activity right. This ad (and I
confess to first experiencing this campaign via the excellent posters)
manages to reach modern mum in a way that is both warm and charming, and
which plays on the heritage of the brand.

The print work uses the iconic bottle shape to gain recognition, while
the steady pace of the TV execution mirrors the natural growth of the
'ketchup'. Maybe it is too much to hope that the earlier '130-year-old'
work was a softener for the growth theme, but I would like to believe
so.

If there were one small complaint, it would be that a new variant has
been slipped into the ad. It's a nice touch to manage to get it in, but
I don't know of many tomato chilli plants, at least not in my garden -
maybe they have them in some genetically modified ones - but we'll
forget that niggle.