2024 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

For over 150 years, Heinz has been known as THE ketchup. It’s famous for its distinct red colour, iconic glass bottle and slow pour.

Heinz has long been known for being a slow pouring sauce, so they’ve embraced slowness as a virtue. But today’s world is more speed obsessed than ever before. So they set out to reestablish the value of slow with a campaign that would drive engagement and increased purchase intent for the world’s slowest ketchup.

As the thick, rich sauce that’s famously slow to pour, Heinz has long been rewarding those who embrace slowness.

But in today’s world people want things fast and will do anything to avoid a wait. They revere Amazon Prime, live for Uber Eats, and even the ads they watch are getting shorter and shorter. They believed that a beloved brand like Heinz could bring people obsessed with speed back down to earth and remind them that slow can be a good thing. And to drive maximum impact, they set out to do it in a setting where they least expected it: a NASCAR race.

Midway through the NASCAR race, they aired a Heinz ad, but dramatically sped it up to transform it into the world’s first-ever 0.57 second TV spot. It went by in a blur and could only be understood if the viewer took the time to watch it in slow motion. And when people successfully slowed it down, it revealed a full 30 second Heinz ad with a hidden DoorDash voucher code.

To show the world the power of slow, they created a media placement that had never existed before: 0.57 seconds. And they launched their 0.57 second ad on TV during a NASCAR race to an audience of people geared up for maximum speed, and known for their love of Heinz.

The ad went by in a flash of red, with their target only just able to make out a bottle of Heinz Ketchup. It was a stop-in-your-tracks moment amidst the slew of conventional 30 second ads and got the attention of NASCAR viewers, who were left wondering what had just happened. From there, they retargeted their audience in digital channels and through influencers making the 0.57 spot available well beyond the NASCAR race, and spreading Heinz pro-slow message even further.

Their fans could engage with their 0.57 ad and slow it down themselves live on TV, and across numerous channels including Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Plus on their website and their custom built mobile video ads they could watch the spot at 4 different custom speeds.

The campaign was an overnight success, garnering coverage from AdAge, Design Taxi,
Smartbrief and The Drum. They were only in-market for 3 days, and still received 40M impressions, doubled CTR benchmarks, and increased website traffic on Heinz.com by 164%. With countless people flocking to their website to slow down the ad, they sold out the DoorDash promo in record speed. Most significantly, they saw a 10% increase in purchase intent. And they did it all in only 0.57 seconds.

Credits

Chief Creative Officer: Aaron Starkman, Mike Dubrick
Chief Strategy Officer: Sean McDonald
Creative Director: Zachary Bautista
Associate Creative Director: Geoff Baillie
Writer: Geoff Baillie, Phil Coulter, Shawn Weidman
Art Director: Zachary Bautista, Stefan D'Aversa
Strategist: Julian Morgan, Emma Bayfield
Producers: Tricia Lapidario
Post Supervisors: Megan O’Connor, Shannon Ing
Digital Producer: Kyle Hicks
Print Producer: Kate Spencer
Studio: Brad Kumar, Justin Chan, Kostas Loukopoulos, Dustin Gamble
Group Business Lead: Adam Ball
Group Account Director: Jamie Sutherland
Account Director: David Greisman
Account Supervisor: Jamie Flatow
Account Manager: Rachel Cloth
Director/Photographer: Shanghoon
Cinematographer: Shanghoon
Production Companies.: Free Society
Executive Producer: Tony DiMarco
Head of Production/Producer: Dan Arki
Editor: Ralph Floro
Editor (UGC Video): Austin Blackmore
Online/VFX/Motion Graphics: Frame Distillery VFX, Rob Del Ciancio
Color: Adam Kemp
Audio: Vapor Music
Audio (UGC Video): R+D Post, Ed Zych
PR: Zeno Group
Media: Starcom

Client:
Head of Brand Comms North America: Nina Patel
Director, Brand Comms: Megan Lang
Sr. Brand Manager: Jacqueline Chao
Brand Manager: Alyssa Cicero