Episode 128 - Heinz Vintage Drip Ad Reviewed by Bose, E.On and Automated Creative

Heinz is one of the most recognisable brands in the world. Yet, in their latest ad, they’re going further - with some rogue fashion collaborations that are… maybe not that convincing?

Advertisers Watching Ads is looking at the Vintage Drip ad chosen by our partners Contagious. The concept is quite interesting and there’s a sustainability message behind it, but is it executed well enough for the brand to really gain something from it?

Our guests Jim Mollica (Chief Marketing Officer at Bose), Scott Somerville (Chief Marketing Officer at E.On UK), and Dan Moseley (Managing Director of Automated Creative North America) weren’t exactly convinced. What do you think?

Heinz Vintage Drip Ad Reviewed by Bose, E.On and Automated Creative

Transcript is automatically generated, so not perfect, but you get the idea!

Tom Ollerton 0:00

Hello, and welcome to Advertisers Watching Ads. This is a weekly show where brands discuss other brands' ads.

Tom Ollerton 0:31

My name is Tom Ollerton. I'm the founder of Automated Creative. We are brought to you as ever by our partners, Contagious, so please go and check those guys out after the show. But before we see this week's ad, let's meet this week's guests.

Jim Mollica 0:44

Hi, everybody, Jim Mollica. I'm the Chief Marketing Officer of Bose.

Scott Somerville 0:48

Yeah, and I'm Scott Somerville. I'm the Chief Marketing Officer of E.ON in the UK.

Dan Moseley 0:52

I'm Dan Mosley. I'm the Managing Director of Automated Creative, North America.

Tom Ollerton 0:57

What a fantastic panel of old geezers, I appreciate that! But we'll, I will redirect you to our female only episode at the end of the show, but let's see this week's ad.

Tom Ollerton 3:01

On a scale of one to five, how many fingers would you give this campaign? So one, two, three...

Jim Mollica 3:07

Well, wait, I gotta split it. The creative idea is probably a four. The execution is probably a two.

Tom Ollerton 3:16

I'm gonna put, I'm gonna mark you down as a three. What is actually going on here?

Dan Moseley 3:20

I think this is Heinz, probably one of the world's largest or like most recognizable brands, and they've had tons of recent campaigns where they've kind of played in that space of, "Draw Ketchup," everyone immediately draws Heinz, or I think they had one where it was AI generated ketchup immediately spits out loads of Heinz. What do you do when you've got almost the problem of too much recognition and playing in a space where you start then using the ketchup itself as a brand is brilliant, using that to hit the audiences in fashion, do it across sustainability messaging, do it across just really easy PR-able buzzword hits of fun and bring some humor back to products and fashion and all that kind of good space. It, a lot is going on. I think there's not really a very quick summary. It feels like yes, they're playing a little fashion drip but what they're actually doing with this is they're allowing the product to sit and be talked about in so many different ways that they previously thought was flawed. So yeah, really, really great work.

Scott Somerville 4:31

The one point wherever it was 5-8 billion views, it's only good if you then do something with it. And I liked it. But what do you do next? I guess would be my... But I feel miserable already. Like, I really liked it. But good work but what do you do with it, right? And that's the... And that's because it's engaging.

Jim Mollica 4:47

It's a super creative idea, but I'm not sure how I feel about it. I think it's tough to judge unless you know what the real objective is, but the execution and the strategy could have been so much more. I just feel like they approached it a bit in an old school antiquated way where, rather than trying to truly take over fashion week, they pre-program press a couple of days before to all hit around this event, which the press didn't, is reporting about what they're doing, not about the event itself. And I think you missed the point when you have all of that attention, at the same time, because I was there during fashion week, and I heard nothing about this entire and this is my business, I heard nothing about this, during that entire time.

Scott Somerville 5:38

For me, seven out of 10. How'd you make it better? The other bit that could have kicked on was where they were sort of, you know, looking at the sort of streetwear kind of collaboration space, of every, you know, the world's biggest brand tie up. It did feel like there were loads of different bits popping off around it. And again, that was a space where they could have started talking about, you know, the impact of fast fashion or recycling stuff, and indeed their own story of how they're trying to get better. So it just felt like there was jumping off points that could have taken on if they'd been braver, right?

Dan Moseley 6:07

There's something in the strategy of this that felt a bit when using other people's IP or products to kind of start getting that reach, and then especially, you know, throwing them on a case study as if it's this huge collab, that also is starting to come through in some of their other work. So the tip campaign where really what you're doing is you're taking small businesses who already have a lot of pressures right now, you're then adding another pressure that people are potentially walking into their restaurants and starting to do these kind of guerilla marketing actions. It feels quite a weird move for someone like Heinz that is such a household staple, and it's such a trusted brand to suddenly start hacking other brands or going into restaurants and causing issues. And it feels like quite strange, long term strategy for something that is such a trusted, kind of, well looked at brand.

Jim Mollica 6:58

It feels like when you're at the pinnacle, and you have that incredible, you know, love, trust and respect. Why are you trying to play a challenger's game? It just feels strategically, like that's a risky proposition. And you're playing in a, you know, you're taking a little bit of the low road, which didn't reconcile in my head, even though the idea is creative.

Scott Somerville 7:25

The bringing people together, niceness of when do you use a Heinz product? Any of them tend to be family meal times, it's that warmth. And that's a, you know, forgive the pun, that's the ingredient that's missing here for me, I think. And again, I like it. Nice, creative idea, but could have been richer, could have been better. When do you use Heinz stuff? It's that family bit in the heart. The point of being cynical and throwing stones at other people, that's not Heinz. Again, it's that warmth and the comfort of the brand in all of their products. What are they up to? They're not edgy. They're not, you know, whatever. It's Heinz!

Jim Mollica 8:00

Think about a moment in time, the last time you spilled something on a shirt, right? Coffee, mustard, whatever. What emotion if you cared about that shirt? Like I'm thinking about that white Stone Island pullover I had, and I spilled mustard on it. And this wasn't a," Oh, cute!" Like, "Hey, oh, isn't that unfortunate?" moment. I went mental. Now, could they have done it back to the execution play? Could they have done it where they got some really cool street artists in New York, that actually created products around you know, food product that had designs with it? And there was a bit of a maybe you change the angle on it, to get more attention? I don't know. Maybe.

Scott Somerville 8:41

It comes back to the execution. I think you know, what we're all getting is that... It's nice, but could it? You could have just gone out wee bit further, you could have done the thing, right? Because if you're talking and it shows my age, right? As you, child of the whatever, late 80s, early 90s, we paint and draw on t-shirts. And again, that collab thing of do you take the stain and turn it into a different doodle type thing. And again, it's just...

Tom Ollerton 9:01

Thumbs up or thumbs down on would you sign off this campaign in its current form? On a count of three... One, two, three... Wow, you can't be on the fence!

Scott Somerville 9:14

Alright. I'll go no in hindsight but I'm cowardice, right?

Tom Ollerton 9:18

In hindsight... Guys, thank you so much for your time. We'll see you all next week.