For a marketing team, sometimes the best answers to tough questions can come in a fit of inspiration. The problem? Flat-lining condiment sales, reported Mashable. Heinz's solution? Dress up dozens of weiner dogs as hot dogs and send them running through a field with a gorgeous mountainous background for a Super Bowl commercial. How did nobody think of this sooner?
Watch the amazing commercial below uploaded by Heinz Ketchup's YouTube channel in anticipation for the Super Bowl. Prepare to feel complete joy and serenity, as well as a craving for a condiment-covered hot dog. Marketing at its best.
The ad carries a hilarious caption. "There comes a time in every wiener dog's life when you look in the full length doggy mirror and ask yourself, am I going to be a plain old boring hot dog forever? Or am I going to jump this rusty chain link fence and join the rest of the wieners in an epic stampede across the globe to seek out the most amazing tasting collection of Heinz Ketchups, so that I can be the best hot dog I can be? And that moment is a defining one, for every wiener dog. These little wieners chose wisely to Meet the Ketchups. Wiener," said Heinz Ketchup's channel.
"When people think about Heinz they usually think about ketchup, but we actually have a much bigger family. We wanted to make sure we did it in a compelling visual way and what is more compelling than a stampede of hot dogs?" said Michelle St Jacques, vice-president of marketing at Heinz, according to Mashable. How right she is.
The ad intends to remind the world that there's more to Heinz than plain ketchup with its "Meet the Ketchups" campaign. The company now makes mustard, sweetener-free ketchup, organic ketchup, barbecue sauce and sriracha ketchup as well as the good old Heinz 57 regular ketchup known and loved by the world.
Apparently, the commercial was a bit of a feat to film. "It was certainly something that required quite a bit of orchestration in terms of having dozens of wiener dogs. We had to make sure we got them all running in the right direction," said St Jacques. Maybe the ketchup family waiting to greet them all had treats in their hands!
"We tried to find something simple, visual and fun to communicate that hot dogs can't resist the great taste of Heinz. So what better way than to introduce the extended Heinz Family than with a 'weiner stampede' during the Super Bowl? Heinz is an iconic American brand associated with great-tasting food and fun moments between family and friends, and its ads should reflect that," said Anselmo Ramos, founder and chief creative officer of the David Creative Shop, which made the ad, according to Adweek.
This ad is a truly wonderful piece of marketing art, and we dare you to try to only watch it once.
