The One Show
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Category
Public Relations
Annual ID
OS26_BS039M
Background
Every Super Bowl, fans spend billions on beer, drink over 325 million gallons of it, and watch slow-pouring, celebrity-laden beer ads. The Big Game is dominated by Big Beer. And while ketchup is always at the table on the biggest party day of the year — it sits in the background, largely ignored behind all the beer.
The challenge was clear: make Heinz visible, desirable, and culturally relevant without paying for a Big Game ad. So, Heinz hijacked the biggest symbol of American drinking culture – the beer keg – to steal the Super Bowl.
The challenge was clear: make Heinz visible, desirable, and culturally relevant without paying for a Big Game ad. So, Heinz hijacked the biggest symbol of American drinking culture – the beer keg – to steal the Super Bowl.
Creative Idea
If beer can be kegged, why can’t ketchup?
Introducing Heinz KegChup.
Heinz KegChup is 114 ounces of crisp, cold Heinz in an aluminum, beer-style keg.
A simple redesign transformed Heinz from a side condiment into the centerpiece of the Super Bowl party. Not just a stunt, but a cultural takeover.
Introducing Heinz KegChup.
Heinz KegChup is 114 ounces of crisp, cold Heinz in an aluminum, beer-style keg.
A simple redesign transformed Heinz from a side condiment into the centerpiece of the Super Bowl party. Not just a stunt, but a cultural takeover.
Insights & Strategy
We noticed a simple truth: people gravitate to what is visible, and visibility is status.
Beer kegs signal generosity, hosting skill, and game-day authority. A condiment bottle? Signals the bare minimum of effort. If Heinz could hijack the keg, it could become the symbol of the party itself.
Our strategy was to take on game day beer culture and make ketchup unignorable. We’d turn Heinz into the object the whole party gathers around, and become the centerpiece of the Super Bowl celebration.
Beer kegs signal generosity, hosting skill, and game-day authority. A condiment bottle? Signals the bare minimum of effort. If Heinz could hijack the keg, it could become the symbol of the party itself.
Our strategy was to take on game day beer culture and make ketchup unignorable. We’d turn Heinz into the object the whole party gathers around, and become the centerpiece of the Super Bowl celebration.
Execution
The twist: A week before the Super Bowl, we seeded what looked like a classic beer ad across social—built on familiar beer tropes, ice-cold “thirst-trap” visuals, and the iconic beer brand voice of Real Men of Genius to make it feel both familiar and disruptive. It was crafted to spark speculation and media curiosity. Then we revealed HEINZ KEGCHUP—“the first ever keg of unmistakably rich Heinz ketchup.” Overnight, a simple product redesign became a press story, driving headlines, website sign-ups for pre-sale, and early earned coverage before kickoff.
Game time: We partnered with NFL quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick and Chef Guy Fieri to stage live KegChup moments at Super Bowl 60 tailgates in San Francisco—designed as media magnets. Fans chanted, dipped, and shared, creating broadcast-ready visuals that fueled coverage across entertainment, food, and sports outlets.
Ritual hijack: During the Big Game; Heineken, Miller Lite, Dos Equis, Budweiser, and Guinness took the bait—commenting, resharing, and riffing on KegChup with their audiences. We turned those beer brand responses into stories, pitching real-time updates, creating custom content, and inserting Heinz into game-day coverage cycles. The biggest beer brands in the world became amplifiers for the KegChup, extending our reach across their audiences and into mainstream media.
Every touchpoint fed a single narrative: Heinz hijacked the keg—and the headlines—moving ketchup from the sidelines to the center of Super Bowl culture without buying a Big Game ad.
Game time: We partnered with NFL quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick and Chef Guy Fieri to stage live KegChup moments at Super Bowl 60 tailgates in San Francisco—designed as media magnets. Fans chanted, dipped, and shared, creating broadcast-ready visuals that fueled coverage across entertainment, food, and sports outlets.
Ritual hijack: During the Big Game; Heineken, Miller Lite, Dos Equis, Budweiser, and Guinness took the bait—commenting, resharing, and riffing on KegChup with their audiences. We turned those beer brand responses into stories, pitching real-time updates, creating custom content, and inserting Heinz into game-day coverage cycles. The biggest beer brands in the world became amplifiers for the KegChup, extending our reach across their audiences and into mainstream media.
Every touchpoint fed a single narrative: Heinz hijacked the keg—and the headlines—moving ketchup from the sidelines to the center of Super Bowl culture without buying a Big Game ad.
Results
- Heinz x Super Bowl conversation increased by 5,600% YoY
- Generated over 1 Billion earned impressions without a Super Bowl spot
- 70k total media spend
- 5 top beer brands engaged organically
- 23K fans signed up for KegChup, crashing the website
- Most engaged post in Heinz ketchup history
- 97% Positive Sentiment
- 320+ Earned Media Engagements
- 13 top-tier outlets: Access Hollywood, BuzzFeed, CBS Mornings, Complex, Delish, E! Online (seeding), Food & Wine, iHeart, Men’s Journal, Parade, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, US Weekly (seeding), Yahoo!
- Generated over 1 Billion earned impressions without a Super Bowl spot
- 70k total media spend
- 5 top beer brands engaged organically
- 23K fans signed up for KegChup, crashing the website
- Most engaged post in Heinz ketchup history
- 97% Positive Sentiment
- 320+ Earned Media Engagements
- 13 top-tier outlets: Access Hollywood, BuzzFeed, CBS Mornings, Complex, Delish, E! Online (seeding), Food & Wine, iHeart, Men’s Journal, Parade, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, US Weekly (seeding), Yahoo!
2026 Awards
Total Points: 3
Merit
Credits
Brand-Side / In-House Agency
The Kitchen North America
PR / Marketing Agency
Zeno Group
Client / Brand
Kraft Heinz / Chicago
Chief Marketing Officer
Todd Kaplan
Content Creator
Sonia Faye
Creative Director
Daniel Szczepanek
Executive Creative Director
Simon Au
Social Media Manager
Carly Kennedy
Group Strategy Director
Snigdha Mathur
Head of Strategy
Kathleen Bokar
Senior Copywriter
Dexter Chen-See
Social Copywriter
Sahil Pradeep
Sr. Art Director
Joy Yu
Sr. Producer
Brian Vecchione
Colleen Boychuk
Sr. Strategist
Tiyana Hunter
Account Manager
Aida Mekonnen
Associate Director, Brand Communications
Jamie Mack
Content Lead
Bayly Shelley
Director, Public Relations
Jenna Thornton
Group Account Director
Brandon Morrison
Head of Accounts
Karin Carlisle
Head of Production and Operations
Julie Benevides
Head of The Kitchen
Tom Evans
Sr. Account Director
Marco Cianfagna
Sr. Brand Manager, Heinz
Jacqueline Salamack
Keenan White
Sr. Manager, NA Brand PR & Media Relations
Kate Mitchell
VP of Elevation Marketing
Angie Madigan
VP of Marketing
Daniel Gotlib
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