‘It Has To Be’ Heinz Campaign
Introduction
In early 2009 Heinz saw their market share depreciating, they realised the impact of the recession had effected consumers spending power and ultimately people were turning to cheaper alternatives in all core product ranges “ Private label is a big player and were going to have to deal with it as an organisation and an industry” (WARC “It has to be Heinz: Maintaining leadership in uncertain times”, 2010).
Further more retailers were also persuading consumers to purchase their own brand labelled products as they are more affordable than Heinz “ Concerned at the impact this might have on sales of its brands, Heinz took action to prevent erosion of its market share” ( IGD: “Heinz General Mills Award for Consumer Understanding”, 2009) they did this through launching a £5million campaign called “ It Has To Be Heinz” their goal was “Appealing to the heart, not the wallet, was the means by which Heinz could reframe the value debate and bring key consumer groups back to the brand“ (WARC “It has to be Heinz: Maintaining leadership in uncertain times”, 2010). The “umbrella” campaign used a wide variety of “creative consumer facing activity” ( IGD: “Heinz General Mills Award for Consumer Understanding”, 2009) including the usage of TV, Print, PR , and was also supported by in store marketing.
Objectives of the Campaign:
Having decided to appeal towards consumers unique emotional connection with the brand Heinz had some key objectives to endeavour towards.
We can use the mnemonic “DRIP” (Fill,2002) to highlight their key objectives. Firstly they wanted to ‘Differentiate’ their product’s from “value brand” products by “ Building on the emotional connection that the Heinz brand holds with consumers” (Talking Retail: “Heinz launches its biggest marketing campaign in five years”, 2009) they knew that consumers did not possess emotive ties towards buying value branded products like they did