Global Ads Spotlight: How Heinz scored big with Swift sauce moment
Heinz turned a blurry fan photo into a marketing masterstroke with Seemingly Ranch. Riding a viral Taylor Swift moment, the brand cooked up a campaign that smashed records, won awards, and cemented its place in pop culture. Read and watch in our Global Ads Spotlight column.
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In a year full of culture-jacking attempts, Heinz stood out by doing the unexpected: repackaging its 2019 Kranch sauce with a wink to Taylor Swift fandom and the internet’s obsession with sauce pairings.
It all started in September 2023, when Taylor Swift casually attended an NFL game with her rumoured boyfriend Travis Kelce's mom. A blurry stadium photo of Swift with a chicken tender and two mystery dips - ketchup and “seemingly ranch” - became the tweet heard ‘round the world.
Brands scrambled for attention. Hidden Valley Ranch rebranded as Seemingly Ranch on X. The Empire State Building joined the party, lighting up red and white. But Heinz - already the official condiment supplier of Arrowhead Stadium - was perfectly positioned to go long.
Within 48 hours, Heinz and its agency Rethink Toronto dropped Seemingly Ranch (Heinz’s Version), a clever nod to Swift’s Taylor’s Version re-recordings. The mock-up label turned heads online, and the follow-up Instagram post made it clear: “It was seemingly ranch, but obviously it had to be Heinz.”
What followed was a lesson in nimble brand storytelling. Heinz gave away 100 limited-edition bottles of Ketchup and Seemingly Ranch through a hashtag-driven Instagram contest. They leaned hard into Swiftie-coded imagery - including a friendship bracelet spelling “Heinz” and football backdrops to keep fans engaged.
Outdoor took the stunt to new heights. Times Square billboards and New York subway ads declared, “New power couple” and “Goes together like chicken and football.” The pièce de résistance: a branded ad truck circling the MetLife Stadium when Swift turned up again for a Jets vs. Chiefs game.
And it worked. Really worked.
Also Read: Global Ads Spotlight: How the Sydney Opera House’s 50th anniversary campaign broke new ground
According to Rethink, the campaign racked up 6.1 billion earned impressions - the most in Heinz’s history. Online sentiment stayed overwhelmingly positive (99%). The result? A staggering $160 million in earned media and a jaw-dropping 52,987% ROI. Demand for Seemingly Ranch outpaced Heinz Ketchup by 5x and sold 320% faster than Kranch.
In a poetic twist, 63% of all media articles about the Swift-Kelce romance mentioned Heinz - a condiment brand, not a celebrity tabloid.
The awards rolled in too. Seemingly Ranch snagged Gold at the 2024 One Show for Experiential & Immersive (Physical Products) and took home more Golds in the Social & Influencer and Direct categories at Cannes Lions.
