2023 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

Heinz Ketchup is a cultural icon and synonymous with ketchup itself. However, the brand was facing the challenge of appearing old and nostalgic to younger audiences, resulting in declining affinity scores and reduced cultural relevance. In an effort to engage a new, younger audience of tech and art fans, Kraft Heinz saw an opportunity to leverage the excitement around AI-generated imagery to demonstrate that Heinz is still the definitive ketchup.

To explore what unbiased AI thinks of when it sees ketchup, Kraft Heinz turned to DALL-E 2, the most advanced AI image generator at the time. The results were remarkable - even to the AI, ketchup looked like Heinz. As Kraft Heinz explored increasingly bizarre prompts, such as "Renaissance Ketchup Bottle" and "Ketchup Tarot Card," the AI still produced images that were unmistakably Heinz. These AI-generated images were used in the brand's first-ever campaign co-authored with fans on social media.

The campaign also featured a long-format video that used the iconic Heinz bottle's bottom as a red dot, paying homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey. The video took viewers on the brand's journey of AI discovery, from the realization that AI associates ketchup with Heinz to the creation of otherworldly images inspired by
fan prompts.

The campaign extended beyond social media, with custom Heinz bottles featuring AI-generated images and an art gallery in the metaverse that allowed visitors to interact with the AI-generated images. Eighteen of these images were displayed on OOH boards, generating over 850M earned impressions globally.

The Ketchup A.I. campaign successfully engaged a younger tech and art audience and proved that Heinz is ketchup - even the machines agreed. It generated significant earned media coverage in leading outlets such as Fast Company, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, and Forbes, with a 38% higher engagement rate on social media than past campaigns. The campaign's success also inspired other brands to join in, with companies such as Ducati and Sportsnet requesting their AI Ketchup image mashups.

Credits

Chief Creative Officer: Aaron Starkman, Mike Dubrick
Chief Strategy Officer: Sean McDonald
Creative Director: Xavier Blais, Zachary Bautista
Associate Creative Director: Geoff Baillie
Writer: Geoff Baillie, Xavier Blais, Aman Soin
Art Director: Zachary Bautista
Interactive Designer: Alex Fleming
Strategist: Julian Morgan
Producer: Alex Butt, Steph Walker-Wells
Post Supervisor: Megan O'Connor, Shannon Ing
Digital Producer: Sheldon Sam
Print Producer: AJ Merrick
Studio: Brad Kumar
Group Account Director: Jamie Sutherland
Account Director: David Greisman
Account Manager: Ashlynn Labinaz
Editor: Tyler Erdelac, Anna Vershinina
Video VFX: Dustin Gamble, Jean-Nicolas Duval
PR: Middle Child / Zeno
Media: Carat / P57
Client: Megan Lang