Kraft Heinz on how it stained luxury clothes for better rep
Kraft Heinz won the Food and Drink category at The Drum Awards for Experience for its work using cool streetwear to drive consideration with young people.
A closer look at Heinz's hot drip
Heinz Ketchup is known as the definitive ketchup. Over the past 150 years, it’s become a true global icon. But the brand was in danger of losing relevance and seeming old and nostalgic to younger audiences. Purchase consideration scores lagged with this younger target, and Heinz began to fall out of the cultural conversation. Our objective was to create a new PR-led campaign that generated earned media and drove engagement with Gen-Z and millennials who didn’t see Heinz as a contemporary brand that stands for the things they care about.
A lot of CPG brands have been using fast fashion collabs to connect with Gen-Z and millennials. But our research showed that young people are increasingly rejecting fast fashion in the name of sustainability. 62% of Gen-Z and millennials have even started looking for second-hand clothing before purchasing new. Used clothes with wear and tear, even stains, are being embraced. And this became the driving insight for our campaign. After staining clothes for 150+ years, we realized Heinz didn’t need to make a whole new branded clothing line; the brand was already on clothes all over the world.
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Introducing Heinz Vintage Drip - a thrifted collection of luxe and streetwear brands, each piece with a unique Heinz Ketchup stain. We curated the zero-waste collection in partnership with thredUP, the world’s largest resale platform and a pioneer in fashion sustainability. It featured 157 unique items from dozens of brands like Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, and Nike, all with Heinz stains. We embraced the Heinz stain as a brand symbol that has dripped on the most iconic logos in fashion to create the world’s largest (unauthorized) brand collab. One that didn’t require any resources to make new clothes and even prevented secondhand clothes from being thrown away. Items from the sold-out collection were worn by fashion influencers at NYFW, with all proceeds supporting global hunger relief. While other brands embraced fast fashion collabs, Heinz and thredUP put the stain in sustainability.
In the lead up to NYFW, we saw an opportunity to insert our sustainable collection at a time when fashion trends are top-of-mind. Ahead of the launch, we partnered with fashion and streetwear influencers to bring the collection to life with their unique style. These Gen-Z fashion icons, all advocates for sustainable fashion, included names like Antoni Bumba, Izzi Poopi, and Mirian Njoh. They showcased items from the collection on their Instagram and TikTok feeds, earning the approval of R&B singer SZA, and some even went to NYFW in Heinz-stained items from brands like Armani.
Leading up to New York Fashion Week, when fashion trends are more relevant and social and earned are full of chatter around these trends, we launched the campaign with a comprehensive strategic PR approach that led with fashion and lifestyle images showcasing the collection. Social posts, embargoed earned coverage, and launch video announced HEINZ Vintage Drip and invited people to visit www.thredup.com/heinz to shop.
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The campaign was an immense success, garnering over 1.75 billion earned impressions with 100% positive/neutral sentiment – more than 400% above our benchmarks. Our influencer campaign ER was 583% above benchmarks, helping us drive over 135k visits to the thredUP Heinz landing page. Our shoppable OLV delivered over 10MM impressions and had an ER over 100% above benchmarks and a click-through rate 20% higher than benchmarks.
Heinz Vintage Drip also scored a full segment on the Drew Barrymore Show, organic praise from the singer SZA, and was featured on CBS, Unilad, and The Daily Mail. Even other brands like Tide and Burger King jumped in on the action with unsolicited responsive social posts.
By turning drips of ketchup into a brand icon, we proved that when it’s HEINZ, it's not a stain - it's a statement.