The Case
When Heinz decided it would turn ketchup green, the 131-year-old food company knew it was sitting on a product with inherent news value. But what they weren't quite expecting
was to be scooped - six months before the product was to be launched.
Last July, Heinz told Magnet Communications, the agency handling the campaign for EZ Squirt (which also comes in red for purists), that Ad Age was going to leak the
story. Alarms went off at Magnet. "They would tell the story," says account supervisor Michael Duffield. "We would not get to control what the message was and we wouldn't get
to have as much of an impact."
Playing Ketchup
Throughout the product's development, the team had made plans as to what it would do if someone leaked the story. Working in their favor was that Ad Age had not
published the piece yet. The team had a few days to pull together a bunch of kids, shoot b-roll of them using EZ Squirt, create an audio news release and start contacting
reporters.
"We gave it to a small number of journalists who agreed not to break it until Monday," Duffield says. The next problem was that Heinz, which didn't plan to launch EZ Squirt
until January of this year, only had six bottles of ketchup to spare. A few were delivered Sunday night to morning show producers for Monday's broadcast.
On Monday morning July 10, the day Ad Age's story appeared, morning shows, newspapers and radio stations were buzzing about Heinz EZ Squirt. Jay Leno, "Good Morning
America", and The New York Times are just a few outlets that mentioned the ketchup. Duffield says the total number of media impression for EZ Squirt is over 98
million. Video tracking indicated more than 600 TV broadcasts occurred in the first 24 hours, with multiple airings in the top 75 markets. "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" even
had a question about the product.
"As a PR firm, we often seek out people and sell the news to them," says Duffield. In this case, Magnet found itself managing a deluge of media requests.
Green Ketchup...Going Once
But Pittsburgh-based Heinz couldn't expect to just bask in media attention until it rolled out the product six months later. Heinz had to step up the production - which meant
putting EZ Squirt into stores by October.
"Our plant for the first three months was running 24 hours, seven days a week in order to keep up with demands," says Kelly Stitt, brand manager for EZ Squirt.
During the first few months of production, bottles of the green stuff were reportedly going for around $10 on eBay. "It's definitely cool for Heinz that they're recognized as
an innovator now because they're a traditional company in a lot of ways," says Duffield.
What prompted the No. 1 maker of ketchup, which has more than $1 billion in annual sales, to try something so new? In the late '90s, H.J. Heinz Co. saw its share of the U.S.
ketchup market drop from the mid-40s to around 43 percent. Rather than go after the adults who buy the ketchup, the company turned to the gooey, red stuff's No. 1 fan - kids.
Along with the introduction of EZ Squirt, fiscal 2000 ushered in new advertising aimed at teens (who Heinz has identified as one of its most receptive audiences) and aired the
spots during programs like "Dawson's Creek." Limited-edition Pokémon bottles hit stores for younger kids.
The product was created by asking kids what they wanted. Their No. 1 request - a bottle they could control better. Once they got that, they suggested adding a color. While
kids might like having something that resembles green slime on their fries, Heinz also had to make sure the product appealed to the adults holding the purse strings. The solution
was to add Vitamin C to the first ketchup specially fortified for kids. Plus, "moms are glad that their 6-year-old has a bottle that they can handle better at the dinner table,"
says Stitt. "Less mess."
Pouring in the Green
While Stitt would not discuss the campaign's budget or other financial specifics, she says things are going well. In addition to already exceeding annual sales expectations, EZ
Squirt has captured 4% of the category volume share, which is what Heinz expected, she says. Heinz didn't even roll out promotions for the product until last month. For fiscal
2000, Heinz ketchup's market share rose to 54%, with volume up 6%.
Duffield says one measure of EZ Squirt's success was "the way it became a pop cultural phenomenon. It ended up being like a toy that kids wanted for Christmas."
Stitt was mum on what the future holds, but an upcoming promo with Cartoon Network's Web site may hold the answer. Kids will be able to vote for what color ketchup they'd like
to see next. Could purple ketchup soon be covering tater tots?
(Duffield, 212/367-6838; Stitt, 412/237-5924)
Eating Your Words
Not everyone was ready to squirt a bottle of green ketchup. On Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee, Kathie Lee Gifford said "eew!" to the idea, says Duffield. Julie Brannan,
Consumer VP for Magnet, quickly crafted a letter saying she found it disappointing that the perky morning show host would say yuck to something aimed at kids that she hadn't
tried. Brannon also sent Gifford a bottle (one of only two remaining). The next day, Gifford's nose was no longer wrinkled. Duffield says she nibbled on green covered fries
during the entire show.
EZ Squirt Campaign Stats
Time Frame for Phase 1: July through October 2000 (pre-launch)
Budget: $85,000 for PR during Phase 1
Key Players (Heinz): Kelly Stitt, Brand Manager; Brendan Foley, general manager Heinz Ketchup
Key Players (Magnet): Katie McSorley, EVP/Pittsburgh; Julie Brannan, VP/Consumer; Sandra Sokoloff, VP/Media; Michael Duffield, account supervisor; Ellen Wein, account
director/Pittsburgh; Susan Campbell, account executive/Pittsburgh