Better late than never.
That’s apparently the feeling over at Heinz headquarters as the brand has announced it’s planning to launch an ad campaign that it was pitched 50 years ago — by one Don Draper.
Heinz initially rejected the “Pass the Heinz” campaign from fictional ad agency Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce’s leading man because it didn’t show any actual ketchup products and instead put the focus on foods — French fries, cheeseburgers, steak — that go great with a bit of the red stuff.
The ads, which may spark debates about whether ketchup and steak go together (up there with arguments about if a cheeseburger is a sandwich), will be running on billboards in New York City and appearing in various print and online publications. (This editor’s answer to those questions? No and yes, respectively.)
Anselmo Ramos, the CCO of Heinz’s current ad agency David, said that the campaign got revived after he met with Draper and heard the old pitch from ’67 over a couple of old fashioneds.
“This is just 100 percent on-brand positioning,” Ramos told AdWeek. “You look at these beautiful shots of empty fries, or a burger, and there’s something missing. And when you say ‘Pass the Heinz,’ that’s all you need to say. You don’t need to show the product.”
Draper was certainly ahead of his time, but we’re glad Heinz was finally able to catch up.
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