Key Numbers (April 2009):

Sales: $10,148.1M
One year growth: 0.8%
Net income: $923.1M
Income growth: 9.2%
Employees: 32,500

Heinz is one of today’s most popular and long withstanding brands and although they are most famous for their ketchup, the name accounts for 5,700 products (not by coincidence) and covers countless other brand names like Boston Market, Bagel Bites, Classico, and T.G.I Friday’s. Developed by Henry John Heinz and his brothers, Heinz ketchup has earned it’s right as a permanent condiment in both our kitchens and restaurants for over a century.

The question begs, what makes their ketchup so successful? Does the majority of the population just enjoy tomatoes? Is the taste of Heinz ketchup far superior than other kinds? Is it the extra vinegar as Malcolm Gladwell suggests (Gladwell, 42)? Maybe that’s it. Or is it the brand? I’m sure the product has it’s place among consumers based on it’s own merit, but I can’t help but wonder how much of their longevity had to do with their brand and marketing. After all, the brand held enough power to culturally define a part of passing generations. The brand made it’s way from Pittsburgh in 1869 to the public market in 1946 and into the homes and families we know today. They even brag about it on their website: “Heinz Ketchup is a classic American icon that has been a part of families’ lives for more than 130 years.”

Their logo, for the most part, has not changed since their inception. A few minor subtleties to keep it modern perhaps, but the icon remains just as the company first designed it resembling Pennsylvania, the keystone state, or as some believe, a bean shape.

What’s more important is their marketing strategy. Some time in 1982 Henry Heinz came up with the slogan “57 varieties” after seeing a sign advertising 21 styles of shoes on a train in New York. The numbers 5 and 7 were chosen for personal reasons as the brand encompassed over 60 products at the time. Not much had changed until the 1960’s when they introduced “Beanz Means Heinz” in such copy as “A million housewives every day pick up a tin of Beans and say, Beanz Meanz Heinz”, or “Don’t be mean with the Beans Mum, Beanz Meanz Heinz.” Three decades later c.1996 they started using “Heinz Buildz Britz” however, after sales had declined, it was quickly dropped for a new campaign asking the public “Keep it or can it?” over top of re-run ads from the sixties and seventies. Despite the popular vote of keeping the slogan they went with something new: “The bean. The superbean.” Realizing their mistake in 2004 they tacked on a ‘z’ to Beanz reminding consumers of their original tagline.

Currently the brand is recovering from a hit they took from AMV BBDO’s UK television commercial featuring Heinz Deli Mayonnaise and two men kissing. The ad ran for a few weeks in June 2008 before being withdrawn after a number of serious complaints. To make things worse, the gay rights movement saw the withdrawal as insulting and the brand undertook further damage by removing the commercial, seen here:

More recently, the brand has changed their ketchup label by removing the classic pickle image, a move that has left loyal Heinz fans angry. A Facebook page is currently protesting the change here. The label also carries a new tagline, “Grown not made” which will soon be promoted in late Spring.

Trivia

• In 1900 Heinz made history putting up New York City’s first large electric sign at Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street. A total of 1,200 lights illuminated a 40-foot-long green pickle and its advertising message.
• In deference to the Sabbath, Heinz’s advertisements never ran on Sundays.
• In 1946 the company insignia went to war; the 57th Squadron of the 446th Army Air Force chose for its emblem a winged pickle marked ‘57.’

Sources

http://www.answers.com/topic/h-j-heinz-company

http://www.greenfieldvillageonline.com/biographies/heinz.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._J._Heinz_Company#2008_advertisement_controversy

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2009/01/25/heinz_pickle_sh.ART_ART_01-25-09_D6_NKCLCQB.html?sid=101

Gladwell, Malcolm. What The Dog Saw. “The Ketchup Conundrum.” New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2009.

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