How Heinz Combats Counterfeit Ketchup in Restaurants
Imagine sitting down at your favourite restaurant, reaching for a familiar Heinz ketchup bottle, and unknowingly pouring a different, inferior ketchup onto your plate. Many restaurants refill empty Heinz bottles with other ketchup brands, misleading consumers who expect the signature quality and taste of Heinz.
This is a common frustration for Heinz lovers and up until now, there has been little they can do about it…
To address this issue, Heinz turned to innovation, unveiling a clever solution that merges marketing ingenuity with brand protection.
The Colour-Coded Label: A Simple Yet Powerful Solution
Enter the colour-coded label, a smart idea brought to life by the creative minds at Wunderman Thompson. The concept is straightforward but highly effective: a label featuring a specific shade of Heinz red that matches the exact hue of the brand’s iconic ketchup.
This ingenious design enables customers to quickly and easily verify whether the ketchup inside is authentic Heinz. By empowering diners with a visual tool to identify counterfeit products, Heinz ensures that its brand promise of quality is upheld, even outside the confines of grocery shelves.
Marketing Meets Brand Protection
Heinz didn’t stop at creating a new label; they transformed it into a full-fledged campaign titled Is that Heinz? The results speak for themselves. This initiative has not only amplified consumer awareness but also yielded measurable success. Authentic usage of Heinz ketchup in Heinz-branded bottles increased by an impressive 24%, demonstrating how the campaign effectively curbed counterfeiting practices.
Engaging Audiences Digitally
In today’s world, no campaign is complete without a digital element. Heinz embraced this reality by adding an Instagram filter to their Is that Heinz? campaign. This filter allows users to confirm the authenticity of their ketchup by comparing the colour against the official Heinz red.
This struck a chord with consumers, driving digital engagement and building a stronger connection with the brand. By combining a practical tool with a playful, shareable element, Heinz expanded its reach and reinforced customer loyalty.
Why Counterfeit Ketchup is a Problem
Counterfeit ketchup isn’t just a branding issue. Poor-quality substitutes poured into Heinz bottles can damage both the customer’s trust and their perception of the Heinz brand. Protecting against this practice ensures that diners receive the high standards they expect.
A Blueprint for Brand Protection
Heinz’s colour-coded label campaign highlights the critical importance of proactive brand protection strategies. By addressing counterfeiting through a combination of creativity, consumer empowerment, and digital innovation, Heinz has set a powerful example for other brands facing similar challenges.
As the Is that Heinz? campaign demonstrates, staying ahead of counterfeiting threats requires not only vigilance but also a willingness to think outside the box—or, in this case, the bottle.
