Issue #161

Reader

Most companies aren't short on ideas.

They're one fry short of making them turn heads, open eyes, and matter.

So how does a $25 billion condiment company take a 150-year-old product and show virtually every industry what staying relevant actually looks like?

By realizing something most companies miss:

Heinz turned a French Fry box into a dipping tray.

Turned a fictional Mad Men pitch into $55 million in earned media.

A ketchup shortage into a marketing opportunity.

And now?

They've patented a three-setting lid that turns “Do you want ketchup?” into:

Like. Love. Crazy Love.

Meanwhile, companies with genuinely innovative products are putting people into medically induced comas with their marketing.

So I went digging.

And discovered Heinz has been following a playbook that has almost nothing to do with ketchup and everything to do with differentiation.

I broke it down into 4 moves any company can steal.​

I cover:

→ Why your next crisis might actually be your next campaign.
→ The difference between acknowledging customer friction and eliminating it.
→ How Heinz turned something you throw away into something people talk about.
→ And why the most powerful thing in your next campaign might be the thing you leave out.

Same ketchup. Different experience.

And the most important lesson? You don't have a boring product or service. You have boring branding that can, and must, be fixed.

If a 150-year-old condiment company can keep customers entertained and competitors terrified...

any other explanation is an excuse costing you business, sales and relevance.

​READ: THE HEINZ PLAYBOOK →​

Stay brilliant.

David

If you're wondering whether your brand is leaving money on the table, let's find out. I do an UNdiscovery Call — just you and me, nobody else. No junior strategist. No gatekeeper screening you first. It's a Brand Assessment to isolate exactly where you're leaving money on the table. Not a pitch. A diagnosis. [Schedule yours here.]