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Based on a satirical view of the advertising industry, Heinz wanted to shock consumers with a new product that is not what it seems. In this case, it has replaced its mayonnaise with a kind of ‘ketchup’ which is actually made up of ‘hagelslag’. That is to say, the traditional Dutch chocolate chips that it now recreates in the form of a sauce.
And no, this is not a real product that you can buy, but a powerful marketing strategy to educate the Dutch that ketchup is an ideal choice for their fries.
To execute this campaign, Heinz collaborated with advertising agency Gut Amsterdam to create a very limited supply of ketchup ‘hagelslag’ with the intention of ‘applying a uniquely Dutch optic to the universal appeal of Heinz ketchup’, Guillaume Roukhomovsky, creative director at Gut Amsterdam, tells AdAge.
The brand first presented the product in a video, noting that they were ‘proud to present the most Dutch product they have ever made’, before launching their limited offering at Amsterdam’s Heertje Friet market for a single weekend.
‘Why does a “patatje met” always only have mayonnaise on it, and what would it be like if we could sprinkle Heinz tomato ketchup on top in the form of traditional Dutch chocolate chips,’ shared Belén Llamazares Carballo, marketing director at Kraft Heinz, in a statement. ‘This way we would merge the best of two Dutch traditions’. All with the mission to ‘convey irrational love and put a smile on as many faces as possible’.