• by Danielle Oster , November 28, 2023

Heinz ketchup has some serious fans -- serious enough to want the instantly recognizable logo on their body forever. Inspired by fans’ tattoos of Heinz ketchup bottles or logo, the brand teamed up with creative agency Rethink for a campaign making it a little easier to take the plunge and get Heinz-branded ink with the “Heinz Tattoo Label.”

The limited-edition release, available via a sweepstakes, features a peelable label that, according to the brand, doubles as a tattoo stencil that can be used by tattoo artists to match the Heinz keystone logo and forever mark fans with a testament to their favorite condiment

To bring the idea to life, Heinz and creative agency partner Rethink recruited some help from the people who know tattoos best.

"When we found out that there were people all over the world with Heinz tattoos, we couldn't ignore their commitment. So we took one of our most distinctive brand assets, the label, and turned it into a way of celebrating and inspiring our fans’ irrational love,”  Rethink Partner and Executive Creative Director Xavier Blais said in a statement. “Getting this stencil into the world was a true team effort involving tattoo artists, parlors, and tattooed fans from around the globe.”

Heinz megafans interested in branded ink can enter for a chance to win one of 100 specially designed labels via the sweepstakes landing page, beginning today.

To promote the giveaway, and the tattooed fans who inspired it, Heinz launched an ad campaign with Publicis Groupe’s dedicated Publicis 57 unit handling media buying and planning. The campaign features a digital video appearing via paid social on Instagram and YouTube, as well as OOH billboards in Chicago and New York City. Paid media components will incorporate data-driven targeting to connect the brand with a younger target audience.

The campaign is part of a broader global creative strategy for the brand, celebrating the “irrational love” it inspires in its rabid fanbase and the obsessive lengths brand and fans alike go to for the product.

Another recent effort, “Slowmaster 57,” introduced “the world's first ketchup racetrack ramp,” inspired by the “quantifier” machine in Heinz’s factory which ensures thickness and consistency standards in the ketchup. The “Slowmaster 57” was designed as a “specially designed miniature model” to put the product to a slowness test ensuring a speed of 0.028 miles per hour or under -- if you can muster the patience to wait it out, that is. “Slowmaster 57” was introduced as a promotion tied to the F1’s Yas Marina Circuit event in Abu Dhabi, UAE.