Heinz has created a brilliantly simple yet effective advertising campaign with a billboard that plays on iconic colour associations. Spotted alongside a movie poster for Deadpool and Wolverine, Heinz placed their own billboard displaying bottles of Heinz Tomato Ketchup and Heinz Yellow Mustard.
The genius lies in how it draws parallels between the signature costumes of the Marvel characters and Heinz’s famous condiments. Wolverine is famously clad in a yellow and black suit much like the bright yellow Heinz mustard bottle. Deadpool, meanwhile, is always dressed head-to-toe in red like the Heinz ketchup.
Whether the Heinz billboard is a real world installation or digital creation is unclear. But by juxtaposing their products next to the movie imagery, Heinz has incredibly associated their brands through unmissable visual cues. The copy on the ad “Now you can’t unsee it” encourages the viewer to notice this resemblance and have it stuck in their mind.
What makes this ad so clever is how it creates buzz through sheer creative concept alone. Rather than costly TV or online campaigns, Heinz leveraged people’s passion for these pop culture characters to generate word-of-mouth sharing on social media.
Since first circulating images online, photos comparing the sauces to costumes have spread widely. Heinz tapped into fandom enthusiasm, letting the visual similarities speak for themselves without overt branding.
The campaign demonstrates Heinz’s understanding of their iconic packaging equities, playing on the instant recognizability. It’s a simple yet tremendously engaging concept that leaves consumers smiling and thinking of the products. Even better, it’s repeatable by finding new picture pairings to prolong engagement. For Heinz, this low-budget idea proves creativity sometimes matters more than large expenditures.
