Be complete with Heinz Ketchup
Having a celebrity advertise products can be an effective marketing tool (Elkins 2019). Celebrity endorsement is a promotional tool which promotes brand awareness, enhances credibility, and gain brand visibility (Elkins 2019). Therefore, many brands and businesses have applied this tactic to their marketing campaigns for decades and exceeded expectations such as the collaboration between Ellen DeGeneres as Oscar’s hostess and Samsung in 2014 has marked a social media marketing history with 3 million retweets in only two days (Examples n.d.). Another excellent example of the use of celebrity endorsement in a marketing campaign is ‘Ed Chup’ from Heinz Ketchup which was launched in June 2019. The campaign is Heinz Ketchup’s first partnership with the brand’s biggest fan, the English acclaimed artist, Ed Sheeran (Figure 1). The video generated 1.35 million views on YouTube and 3.1 million views on Ed Sheeran’s Instagram after two weeks (Conaxess Trade 2019). Moreover, it was also recognized as the second-most viewed campaign on social media in June 2019 (McCabe 2019).
Figure 1: A scene from the ad. Reproduced from: Youtube 2019
Follow the voice...
First of all, to produce a successful marketing campaign, Heinz Ketchup has done very well in the first step that to have a well-told story instead of a revolutionary and novel one (Dietrich 2019). The brand creates an atmosphere that resonates with the clients when the brand shares a story that reflects the human challenges, according to I-scoop (n.d.). In this case, viewers can feel relatable with Sheeran’s feelings when he entered the ‘fancy’ restaurant and when he found Heinz Ketchup missing on the table. Therefore, this perspective demonstrates that Heinz has put itself as a brand in the customers’ shoes to understands their needs and desire instead of utilizing a product-oriented approach like many of the brand’s old commercials (Newcomb 2019).
If Ed loves Heinz, you will too
Furthermore, Sheeran’s volunteer to represent the brand is also a key point. He reached out directly to the brand to reveal that he had written a commercial for his favorite ketchup without being employed (O’Brien 2019) (figure 2). His willingness to speak for the brand gives the audience a sense of authenticity and truthfulness. Moreover, Sheeran is also known as a hardcore fan of Heinz with the brand’s logo tattooed on his arm, therefore, it increases the credibility of both the celebrity and the brand.
Figure 2: A scene from the ad. Reproduced from: Youtube 2019
Lastly, I would not change a thing in this campaign. If it were launched in Vietnam, it would be a success due to the novel and interesting storytelling since there has not been one created in the Vietnam market.
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Reference:
Conaxess Trade 2019, ‘Heinz and Ed Sheeran in a collaboration: create the ‘Edchup’’, Conaxess Trade, 4 July, viewed 23 May 2020, <https://www.conaxesstrade.com/heinz-and-ed-sheeran-in-a-collaboration-create-the-edchup/>
Dietrich, O 2019, ‘Campaign: Heinz Ketchup – Ed Chup’, The restless CMO, 26 June, viewed 24 May 2020, <http://therestlesscmo.com/post/campaign-heinz-ketchup-ed-chup>
Elkins, H 2019, ‘The effect of celebrities in advertisements’, Chron, 29 March, viewed 23 May 2020, <https://smallbusiness.chron.com/effect-celebrities-advertisements-56821.html>
Examples n.d., ’10 successful celebrity marketing examples’, Examples, viewed 24 May 2020, <https://www.examples.com/business/successful-celebrity-marketing-examples.html>
I-scoop n.d., ‘Using storytelling to strengthen your brand’, I-scoop, viewed 23 May 2020, <https://www.i-scoop.eu/using-storytelling-strengthen-brand/>
McCabe, M 2019, ‘Turkey of the week: Ed Sheeran’s Heinz ad is missing secret sauce’, Campaign, 20 June, viewed 23 May 2020, <https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/turkey-week-ed-sheerans-heinz-ad-missing-secret-sauce/1588203>
Newcomb, A 2019, ‘Ed Sheeran creates Heinz Ketchup commercial – watch the ad’, Today, 18 June, viewed 20 May 2020, <https://www.today.com/food/ed-sheeran-creates-heinz-ketchup-commercial-watch-ad-t156524>
O’Brien, K 2019, ‘Ed Sheeran’s DM to Heinz becomes an actual TV ad’, The Drum, 17 June, viewed 23 May 2020, <https://www.thedrum.com/news/2019/06/17/ed-sheeran-s-dm-heinz-becomes-actual-tv-ad>