ADC Awards
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Category
AI / Idea
Annual ID
ADC102_ART003S
About the Work
Heinz Ketchup is a cultural icon. But being a longstanding, well-established brand meant it was in danger of losing relevance with younger audiences.
This past summer, text-to-image AI generators took the Internet by storm. We saw an opportunity to participate in an exciting cultural conversation while proving to a younger audience of tech and art fans that Heinz is the ketchup.
We turned to DALL-E 2, an AI generator so advanced that it wasn’t yet available to the general public - and asked it what "ketchup" looked like. The result? Even to Al, ketchup looks like Heinz. And as the prompts got weirder, the Al still generated results that looked like Heinz.
On social, we pushed the experiment further by asking for suggestions for new ketchup-based image prompts. We turned these suggestions into the first-ever campaign with visuals generated entirely by AI - and co-authored by our fans.
We produced a run of Heinz bottles replacing the label with our Heinz AI images, and opened art galleries both in the real world and the metaverse, where people flocked to view all the Heinz AI images. We also featured our AI imagery in OOH boards around the world.
Originally launched in Canada and the US, the campaign quickly went global, generating over 1.15 billion earned impressions (worth over 2500% more than our media investment). We received coverage in leading trade, art, tech, and lifestyle media outlets like Fast Company, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, and Forbes. On social our engagement rate was 38% higher than benchmarks, and even other brands like Ducati and Sportsnet chimed in with AI Ketchup image mashup requests.
In the end we proved our point: Heinz is ketchup. Even the machines agreed.
This past summer, text-to-image AI generators took the Internet by storm. We saw an opportunity to participate in an exciting cultural conversation while proving to a younger audience of tech and art fans that Heinz is the ketchup.
We turned to DALL-E 2, an AI generator so advanced that it wasn’t yet available to the general public - and asked it what "ketchup" looked like. The result? Even to Al, ketchup looks like Heinz. And as the prompts got weirder, the Al still generated results that looked like Heinz.
On social, we pushed the experiment further by asking for suggestions for new ketchup-based image prompts. We turned these suggestions into the first-ever campaign with visuals generated entirely by AI - and co-authored by our fans.
We produced a run of Heinz bottles replacing the label with our Heinz AI images, and opened art galleries both in the real world and the metaverse, where people flocked to view all the Heinz AI images. We also featured our AI imagery in OOH boards around the world.
Originally launched in Canada and the US, the campaign quickly went global, generating over 1.15 billion earned impressions (worth over 2500% more than our media investment). We received coverage in leading trade, art, tech, and lifestyle media outlets like Fast Company, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, and Forbes. On social our engagement rate was 38% higher than benchmarks, and even other brands like Ducati and Sportsnet chimed in with AI Ketchup image mashup requests.
In the end we proved our point: Heinz is ketchup. Even the machines agreed.
2023 Awards
Total Points: 21
Silver Cube
Credits
Agency
Rethink
PR / Marketing Agency
Middle Child / Toronto
Zeno Group / Toronto
Client / Brand
Kraft Heinz
Music / Sound Production Company
Circonflex
Media Agency
Carat / Toronto
Starcom / Toronto
Art Director
Zachary Bautista
Copywriter
Xavier Blais
Geoff Baillie
Aman Soin
Chief Creative Officer
Aaron Starkman
Mike Dubrick
Creative Director
Xavier Blais
Zachary Bautista
Photographer
Emma Laberge
Strategist
Sean McDonald
Julian Morgan
Account Director
David Greisman
Catherine Blouin-Mainville
Associate Creative Director
Geoff Baillie
Account Manager
Ashlynn Labinaz
Broadcast Producer
Alex Butt
Digital Producer
Sheldon Sam
Group Account Director
Jamie Sutherland
Head of Brand Communications
Megan Lang
Interactive Designer
Alex Fleming
Post Supervisor
Megan O’Connor
Shannon Ing
Emma Rozenblum
Print producer
Aj Merrick
Proof reader
Marie-Hélène Lessard
Studio Artist
Cadu Rocha
Studio Director
Brad Kumar
Video VFX
Dustin Gamble
Jean-Nicolas Duval
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