Heinz Is Convincing Vampires Go Vegetarian
For many people, ketchup has long served as an edible blood replacement in pranks, videos, and of course — Halloween celebrations!
Over the past 2 years, Heinz has been celebrating Halloween with its limited edition Tomato Blood Ketchup Bottle. Before you freak out, just let you know, Tomato Blood Ketchup is just Heinz Ketchup dressed up for Halloween. According to MarketingDrive, this year Heinz enlists a 280-year-old “vegetarian vampire influencer” Toby (Played by E.J. Marcus) who gave up the traditional vampire lifestyle of eating the blood of humans to instead eat Heinz Tomato Blood Ketchup.
The Vegetarian Vampire
The concept was first introduced through a sneak peek video on Heinz’s TikTok in late September and then officially released a few days later through a longer promotional video on YouTube. At the same time, the vegetarian vampire has been posting its own “vlog” constantly via Heinz’s account as well.
I guess ‘Toby” just really wants you to switch to Heinz Tomato Blood because “humans are people too”
The Fun Little Details
If you look closer, the coffin that Toby is in (The first image) is actually the shape of the label of the Heinz’s bottle. I also took a close look at the seasonal product itself. The classic bottle was redesigned to read “Tomato Blood” in a big font while the words “Tomato Ketchup” as stated underneath. The bottle’s traditional tomato image is also replaced with imagery of blood, while the “57 Varieties” phrase is replaced with “57 Blood Types” Maybe just the force of habit of being a designer, I always look for those small playful details, and those really excited me.
The Meaningful Connection
Heinz went extra mile by taking the time to respond to its followers as seen in the comments of the “what I eat in a day” video on TikTok. The brand did a good job keeping the conversation going in the comment section and keeping its audience engaged with a consistent tone of voice and visual branding (Toby will remain as the brand image for rest of the October)
Not only the content is funny and entertaining, Heinz is also tapping into the vegan movement by showing a vampire who gave up his traditional blood-thirsty lifestyle for a peaceful, vegetarian one that embraces Heinz ketchup.
I think the campaign itself is really smart that using the basic idea behind it all is that people have been using ketchup as a fake blood for Halloween for a long time. It pushes acknowledges the link that already exists between ketchup and Halloween.
