Ireland’s Ogilvy Advertising Pittsburgh’s Heinz Ketchup
By Ryan Strength

   When one thinks of the city of Pittsburgh, there are many things that can come to mind. Our championship-winning sports teams, the many bridges, the universities, and Point State Park are just a few examples. It is a beautiful, culture-filled city. However, when I think of Pittsburgh, I immediately think of Heinz ketchup.
   While ketchup is not the only product made by the H. J. Heinz Company, it is one of the most popular of the 57 varieties. In fact, up until very recently, the Heinz labels included a pickle with the company’s name on it. After 110 years, the pickle has been retired and it has been changed to a tomato with the tagline “grown not made” underneath it. This change, as well as the new advertisements in the United States, proves how proud of its tomatoes the Heinz Company is. It also “emphasizes Heinz’s heritage as the world’s largest processed tomato company with a deep dedication to tomato quality from seed to bottle.”
   This label change indicates that the H. J. Heinz Company is committed to fresh ingredients in their products. Furthermore, the Heinz website has a page describing the dedication to tomatoes. Only a select group of trusted farmers are chosen to grow tomatoes from Heinz seeds. The codes printed on each bottle of ketchup can determine what varieties of seeds were used, what farm they were grown on, and where the ketchup was bottled.
   Smith Brothers Advertising Agency, also Pittsburgh-based, created the advertising campaign for Heinz in the United States. Recent commercials show a seed growing into a vine, then a tomato, then a glass bottle of Heinz ketchup. The tagline “grown not made” is displayed. It is obvious to me that the Heinz dedication to their tomatoes was a huge factor in the creative team’s work at Smith Brothers.
    On our trip to Ireland, we visited international advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather. Heinz is not listed as a client of the agency’s, so I was rather shocked to see an advertisement for Heinz Ketchup in a video reel of Ogilvy’s work. I made a note to myself to ask Ms. Woods, an account manager, about it when the time for questions came.
   The tagline on the Heinz advertisements in Ireland was “from field to plate.” I found it interesting how similar the concept was to that of the Smith Brothers advertisements. I asked Ms. Woods if the creative team had any communication with the creative team from the United States. She said they do not really work with agencies in the U.S., but some ideas are slightly communicated, mostly in the “higher-up” positions.
    The idea for the Heinz campaign in Ireland was to make moms feel better about their kids eating ketchup. Because ketchup is not an incredibly healthy food choice, the creative team focused on the fact that the Heinz Company grows its own tomatoes.
   On the Heinz United Kingdom website, they concentrate on the company’s dedication to quality products. One paragraph includes, “… unlike many other Ketchups [Heinz] uses no artificial colours, flavours, preservatives or thickeners in its Ketchup.”
   I was intrigued to see how these two advertising campaigns, created across an ocean from each other, can be so closely related. To me, this only proves the quality of the product and the passion and dedication the advertisers have for their jobs. In the words of Jo Wood, “My job is to be a guardian of the consumer and the brand.”