In a new social experiment, Kraft Heinz Canada anonymously asked participants to simply “draw ketchup.” The experiment “stretched” across five continents and people taking part in the project had no idea what brand the initiative was for. All they knew is the subject they had to focus on: ketchup! The results were pretty amazing as most of them drew a Heinz ketchup bottle.

“Consumers love the unmistakable taste of Heinz, and people around the world give credit to Heinz Ketchup as the original and only option out there. We wanted to uncover that instinctual and intuitive association consumers have between ketchup and Heinz,” says Daniel Gotlib, Associate Director of Brand Building & Innovation at Kraft Heinz Canada.

Interestingly, with this initiative made in partnership with agency Rethink Canada, the brand learned that, when people think of ketchup, they visualize a bottle of Heinz in all of its glory: From its color to name, label, and the iconic shape of the packaging.

Most of the participants drew the Heinz bottle from memory. Others chose to express their imagination on ketchup through details, such as the label, the iconic number 57 on the neck of the bottle, or a tomato hanging from a vine. Some of the illustrations were messy and others were finely represented. And although each participant expressed their ideas differently, most of them had something in common: When asked to draw ketchup, they drew Heinz.

Those labels were then featured on a limited-release run of Heinz bottles and on digital billboards. The campaign also included an invitation for Canadians to draw ketchup, submit their work on drawketchup.ca, and watch it as it comes to life.

People could submit their works until January 31st, the brand announcing that will reveal the winners on February 5th. The best 250 drawings will be the subject of a custom box and bottle. “We know our fans are extremely passionate about Heinz Ketchup, and so we are excited to give them the chance to celebrate their love for the brand by offering them an opportunity to bring their drawings to life on personalized bottles,” concluded Gotlib.

“Amazing!” thinks Ivan Gurkov, contributor at our sister-site, Brandingmag, about Heinz’s initiative. “Not many brands have managed to develop the product itself into the brand’s strongest asset,” he adds. “Think of it – in principle, the products in any industry are very similar and indistinguishable. Just the competitors trying to give what the majority of the market wants, with reasonable quality and price – and that makes their products similar. Bread is bread, ketchup is ketchup – just good products. That’s why, to differentiate their offerings, companies create brands.”

“And yet, there are some amazing exceptions, where the product itself – without advertising noise and promotions, just through its characteristics and attributes – happens to be remarkable enough. Such iconic products are the LEGO brick, the glass bottle of Coca-Cola, the bottle of Absolut vodka, and, obviously, the bottle of Heinz.”

The brand’s call for drawings is over but that doesn’t mean that one can’t put their imagination to test, right? How accurately can you draw a bottle of Heinz or a car logo, for example, just from memory? Challenge your mind and start drawing!

Credits:

Client: Kraft Heinz Canada

Agency: Rethink Canada