Meatloaf has never been considered sexy. It’s comforting and thrifty, old-fashioned family food. But now it is making a play to be hot right now and sexy, thanks to some smart creative thinking by agency, Rethink, and Heinz sauce brand, A1, hacking this week’s People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive edition.
A1 is making meatloaf the Sexiest Meat Alive, reinventing it as beefcake.
The centre of the campaign called Beefcake is a full-scale partnership with People. A1 took over a two-page spread before the magazine’s centrefold as well as appearing in a faux digital cover, followed by a homepage takeover after the Sexiest Man Alive reveal on People.com.
A1 also enlisted a line-up of creators to celebrate the “beefcake” spirit, encouraging fans to share their own upgraded versions of the dish at a1beefcake.com using the hashtag #A1Beefcake.
The campaign follows A1’s witty AI versus A1 social activation earlier this year by Mischief @ No Fixed Address, continuing the brand’s effort to insert itself into culture, and bring the brand back into favour by reminding them how great it is.
(When US Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, accidentally referred to AI as “A.1.” at the ASU+GSV Summit, Mischief and Kraft Heinz posted an A.1. bottle labelled “For education purposes only,” with a banner declaring, “Agree. Best to start them early.” The caption read, “You heard her. Every school should have access to A.1.”)
Rethink led campaign strategy and production. PR and creator support was managed by Zeno Group; paid media by Carat and social by The Kitchen.
Credits:
Creative Agency: Rethink
Chief Creative Officers: Aaron Starkman & Mike Dubrick
Executive Creative Director: Xavier Blais
Group Creative Directors: Zachary Bautista & Geoff Baillie
Art Director: Jaclyn Mcconnell
Copywriter: Jay Bawar
Strategy Team: Julian Morgan, Tanvi Swar & Sydney Pottow
Production Team: AJ Merrick, Kyle Hicks & Narissa Ward
Business Lead: Adam Ball
Account Team: Kai De Bruyn Kops, Ilhaam Jiwaji, Madeline Birkhold, Niousha Javidneshan
Retoucher: Kostas Loukopoulos
Artist: Todd Bennett
Media: Carat
Production Company: Impossible Studios
Director: Parker Seaman
Photographer: Paul Bolasco
Executive Producers: Marco D’Angelo & Iain Ross
Food Stylist: Zoe Rousseau
Post Production: R&D Post
Editor: Nick Greaves
Post Production Supervisor: Shannon Ing
VFX: The Vanity
Music & Sound: The Eggplant
PR: Zeno Group Canada
