2023 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

Valentine's Day is the second busiest day for restaurants, but it's not as popular for at-home dining, which posed a challenge for McCain and Heinz. We had to find a way to shine a spotlight on ketchup and fries for romantic dinners during this holiday.

Heinz has been the top condiment brand for 150 years, and McCain sells one in every four fries worldwide. Both brands aim to reinforce their iconic status and be the cultural reference point for ketchup and fries. To achieve this, we planned to find and create
cultural moments.

We identified an opportunity in conversations around power couples, a phenomenon that the internet is currently obsessed with. We wanted to reinforce the status of fries and ketchup as one of the greatest power couples of all time. We paired McCain fries with Heinz ketchup, creating an unbeatable and iconic duo that everyone would think of when they hear the words ketchup and fries.

Throughout February, we built anticipation by launching a series of escalating romantic gestures. We began with a subtle first-tell of a budding relationship: unfollowing everyone except each other on social media. Then, we progressed to OOH declarations of love outside each other's head offices and flirty social media posts, including an iconic naked Heinz bottle and a potato carved in that shape. We also had customer giveaways on social media, such as engraved lockets and inflatable McCain fries trays with an area for Heinz ketchup to create a romantic bath experience. McCain even flew a helicopter banner over Heinz's head office. It all culminated on February 14th, when the two brands claimed the title of the newest power couple and offered a one-day deal: buy McCain fries and get Heinz ketchup (or vice versa).

In just one day, we saw over 900 coupons claimed, an overall sales lift of 9% and 10% for McCain and Heinz, respectively, and over 700% increase in brand engagement.

Credits

Chief Creative Officer: Aaron Starkman
Executive Creative Director: Leia Rogers, Mike Dubrick
Creative Director: Sean O’Connor
Creative Director / Art Director: Zachary Bautista
ACD / Art Director: Grace Cho, Jake Hope
ACD / Writer: Cam Spires, Geoff Baillie
French Writer: Karine Doucet
CSO: Sean McDonald
Planning Director: Darren Yada, Julian Morgan
Strategist: Sam Massooleh
Agency Producer: Claire Khan, April Haffenden, Yogi Omar,
Keegan Shay
Photographer: Clinton Hussey
Studio Artist: Jonathan Cesar
Editor: Thomas McKeen, Nigel McGinn, Taylor McWade,
Leigh O’Neill
Audio Production: Wave Productions Ltd

Props:
Nick Melchin: Pro Modelbuilders
Lynne Gonzaga: Strategic Lift
Group Account Director: Karlee Bedford, Sarah Riedlinger
Account Director: Kai de Bruyn Kops, Elsie Blackman
Account Manager: Emily Anzarouth, Michelle Rupisan

PR:
McCain Foods Canada: Rethink
Kraft Heinz: Middle Child

Clients:
McCain Foods Canada
Matthew Kohler - Managing Director, Canadian Retail
Michael Embir - Dir. Marketing Retail
David Roy - Sr Brand Manager, Potato
Kathryn Miskell - Sr IMC Manager
Nita Sandhu - Associate Brand Manager

Kraft Heinz Canada
Nina Patel - VP, Brand Building and Innovation
Daniel Gotlib - Associate Director, Brand Building & Innovation
Chanel Simpson - Senior Manager, Brand Building & Innovation
Carlos Vidanes - Senior Associate Brand Manager, Brand Building
& Innovation

Kraft Media Company: Carat
Kraft Heinz Experiential Commerce Agency: SALT XC
McCain Media Company: UM
Coupon Execution and Fulfillment: DACS Marketing & Sponsorship