Heinz Canada is celebrating 100 years as the king of condiments with the launch of a national anniversary campaign that proves everything old can be new again.
To celebrate its Canadian centennial, the ketchup maker has re-launched three of its vintage spots that originally aired in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s.
The spots represent the company’s most successful Canadian Heinz Ketchup TV efforts, said Joan Patterson, communications and corporate affairs leader, Heinz Canada.
In fact, Canadians still contact the company, asking for a copy of these spots, or suggest Heinz airs them again, she added. Tags have been added to the front and back end of each spot, explaining the Canadian history of Heinz and directing viewers to an online contest.
In “Slide,” which first ran in 1991, three young woman sitting at the counter of a diner catch the eye of a man sitting a few stools over by sliding him a bottle of Heinz ketchup. He dresses his burger and coyly slides it back. Just as he’s about to bite into his burger, the bottle once again slides down the counter, but this time stops in front of the guy sitting beside him.
The TV ads will run on English and French conventional and specialty channels until Aug. 2. Genesis handled the media buy.
Heinz is giving Canadians the chance to win $25,000 in cash or one of 100 instant win Broil King BBQs through its Heinz Ketchup Fan of the Century contest, housed at HeinzItUp.com.
Visitors to the site can explain in 100 words or less why they are the biggest Heinz ketchup fan of all time. Over 5,000 people have entered the contest since it launched in March, said Patterson. The contest closes Aug. 31.
“Consumers feel that [Heinz Ketchup] is their brand, it’s not ours, we’re just the stewards of it, and they definitely feel a real kinship with Heinz Ketchup,” said Patterson. “So this is an opportunity for them to tell us how much they love it.”
In addition to the TV and in-store support, a PR effort invited members of the press to whip up the Great Canadian Heinz Ketchup Cake—a red velvet-like dessert that apparently tastes like “carrot cake without all the work.”
Cake recipe stories have appeared in the Windsor Star and across Sun Media’s properties.
Breakfast Television’s Toronto host Kevin Frankish made the cake at home and brought it to the studio for a tasting. High View Communications handled the PR push.
The cake recipe as well as several others is available on the Heinz site, along with an online kids game, nutritional and product information.
“Canada is an integral part of the Heinz story and we are proud to be celebrating 100 years of manufacturing in this country,” said Peter Luik, Heinz Canada president and CEO, in a release. “We are grateful to Canadians for their loyalty over the years and want to show our thanks with this innovative recipe and exciting contest opportunity.”
Individual Heinz packages, distributed through various retail and fast food locations, now include facts about Heinz, for example: “Did you know that there is 25 tomatoes in every one litre bottle of Heinz ketchup.”
Packaging includes a 100th anniversary logo, created by Corporate Visuals, and Heinz is supporting its anniversary and contest with point-of sale materials by Accumark, the agency behind the microsite and POS. Toronto agency John St. handled the tags added to the TV spots.
