Is Heinz ketchup has been a staple for decades. Now it’s a staple that’s testing agencies’ creativity while having fun with flavour.

In Australia, TBWA\Sydney and Eleven PR recently helped Heinz to launch its pickle ketchup by sending a human pickle into La Tomatina festival in Spain. The campaign launched on social media with hundreds of applicants vying for the role and one lucky winner eventually donning the custom-made Pickle costume and traveling to Spain for the festival.

But in Amsterdam, Gut really got into the idea of entrenching Heinz ketchup in local culture with ketchup sprinkles. Heinz Tomato Ketchup maybe beloved around the world, but in the Netherlands it faces a unique challenge – mayo. For the Dutch, mayo is the go-to condiment, leaving even the world’s most famous ketchup brand to play catchup. Besides, in the Netherlands, Hagelslag is beloved instead.

So to sow the seeds of irrational Heinz love there, Gut asked itself, “How can we make Heinz feel more Dutch?”

GUT found the answer in Hagelchup, Heinz ketchup-flavoured sprinkles and a riff on Hagelslag. The Dutch sprinkles have been a staple for generations, with the Netherlands consuming a staggering 14 million kilos of Hagelslag each year, and 750,000 slices of bread topped with Hagelslag eaten daily.

Gut’s campaign took the famous Heinz slogan, It has to be Heinz, and gave it a distinctly Dutch spin. It became, “Even if you sprinkle it, it has to be Heinz,” added drawcard, Dutch actress, Nienke Plas, and appealed directly to local culture.

Carballo, marketing director at Kraft Heinz, commented, “At Heinz, it’s always our main goal to convey irrational love and put a smile on as many faces as possible. Add an innovative surprise element with a touch of humour and you have the answer to the questions we asked ourselves: Hagelchup. We hope to surprise many fans during this exclusive activation and we look forward to seeing all the happy faces after the first bite.”

“This campaign is all about applying a uniquely Dutch lens to the universal appeal of Heinz ketchup,” stated Guillaume Roukhomovsky, creative director at GUT Amsterdam. “Sometimes, the gutsiest work happens when we take things that aren’t serious very seriously. We knew that Hagelchup was a bold idea to bring to Heinz, and the fact that the team was immediately game is a real testament to the brand’s sense of fun.”

The initiative is supported by a campaign, Introducing Hagelchup: The most Dutch ketchup ever made, that includes social, OOH, 3 tonnes of sprinkles and a physical activation and a pop-up at a snack bar in Amsterdam.

Credits
Creative Agency: GUT
PR Agency: PRSSKD
Media Agency: Dentsu
Client: Kraft Heinz
Kraft Heinz Product & R&D: Sanne Revers, Tessa Boer, Joanne Middelkoop
Kraft Heinz Client Team: Belén Llamazares Carballo, Mirthe Enklaar, Monika Nikolova, Jens Peters