How Rethink Proved Even AI Knows "It Has To Be Heinz"

After the success of Heinz’s ‘Draw Ketchup’ campaign last year, where creative agency Rethink organised a social experiment that saw the participants draw Heinz bottles when asked to ‘draw ketchup’, the condiment giant has followed up the campaign with a futuristic and tech-forward next step. Using the image-generating AI system DALL-E 2, Rethink and Heinz fed prompts, such as ‘ketchup bottle stained glass’ and ‘ketchup bottle in psychedelic art’, to an AI and produced some fantastically imaginative, but undoubtedly Heinz, pieces of art.

This latest development in the campaign is inspired by the recent rise of AI’s popularity in all manner of creative communities online; you can’t scroll through Twitter or Instagram without seeing someone’s latest AI-generated masterpiece, short story… or, unfortunately, ape-based NFT. AI systems and online tools such as DALL-E and Midjourney have provided users with hours of entertainment in recent months, allowing people with no artistic ability or resources themselves to produce artwork seemingly pulled straight from their imaginations. Especially for those lucky few with access to the enhanced capabilities of the newly updated DALL-E 2, the results can be frighteningly good… or just frightening.

LBB’s Ben Conway spoke with Heinz’s brand communications senior brand manager, Jacqueline Chao, and Rethink associate creative director, Geoff Baillie, to discuss how they utilised DALL-E 2 to ‘draw ketchup’, why the this brand platform showcases the “strong emotional connection” Heinz-lovers have with the brand, and how AI could one day be implemented “anywhere there’s a need to explore and create visual concepts.” 

LBB> Just to take a quick look back at the history of ‘Draw Ketchup’ - what has your reaction been to how well the public and ad world responded to the original campaign? What do you think resonated with people and made it so popular?

Jacqueline> Last year, we conducted a social experiment and asked people around the world to ‘draw ketchup’ and our hunch was proven when they all drew Heinz. We were overwhelmed by the reaction to ‘Draw Ketchup.’ The positive response from consumers and the ad world not only proved the instinctual association between ketchup and Heinz at the consumer level but showcased the strong emotional connections to our brand beyond how we satisfy appetites. Heinz ketchup fans are passionate lovers of ketchup and rarely miss an opportunity to engage with the brand.

LBB> This AI idea is such a natural evolution of ‘Draw Ketchup’ - when did discussions start about doing another iteration of that campaign? Where did the initial spark to use AI come from?

Jacqueline> Since innovation is always at the forefront of everything we do, when we saw AI image generation quickly becoming the latest viral sensation and people taking to social to discuss the alarming accuracy of AI drawings, we quickly knew we needed to test this as we did with ‘Draw Ketchup’. Heinz always strives to move at the speed of culture and this is just another example of how we push the boundaries and look for ways to engage our fans in first-to-market ways.

LBB> What has the process of collaboration between Heinz and Rethink been like? Is there a balance between Heinz providing briefs and Rethink pitching ideas?

Jacqueline> Together, with the support of all our agencies, we come up with concepts and strategies that are exciting and ownable for Heinz. That’s exactly the type of work we love to create together, and having partners that can help us uncover culturally relevant moments and generate clever, groundbreaking ideas is key to continuing to engage our fans and remaining an iconic brand.

Geoff> You couldn’t ask for a better partner. Heinz always encourages the most innovative and exciting ideas, and pushes us to make those ideas even better. Every campaign we’ve done with them has been a creative collaboration. And it’s not just a dream client, it’s a dream brand. We always strive to ground our insights and ideas in brand truths, and working with a brand as iconic as Heinz makes that easy. 

LBB> For the uninitiated, could you explain the process of using DALL-E 2 to make art and roughly how the end result is produced?

Geoff> DALL-E 2’s artificial intelligence was trained to recognise different art styles, objects, and compositions which lets you ask for something that never could have existed before - for example, you could have a ‘Van Gogh painting of Marilyn Monroe in space’ - and it recognises those individual components and pieces them together. When it came to Heinz, we searched for ketchup bottles in different styles and scenarios - ‘Ketchup in Space’, ‘Ketchup bottle stained glass’, and ‘Ketchup bottle in psychedelic art’ are a few examples. It helps to try lots of styles and scenarios to get the best variety of images.

LBB>  When did you first get access to DALL E 2 and what have been the most interesting and exciting experiences and discoveries you’ve made with this technology? Is it the future of creativity? 

Geoff> Everyone sensed there was something special about these text-to-image generators, especially DALL·E 2’s program. Before we dove into developing the AI ketchup campaign, we let ourselves have fun with the program for a little while. As we toyed around with making bizarre images, we realised how sophisticated this technology is. When it comes to integrating artificial intelligence and creativity, we think this is just the beginning. 

The future is coming up fast. Anywhere there’s a need to explore and create visual concepts, AI could one day be implemented. As it grows and becomes more advanced we think it'll be similar to Photoshop or 3D printing - a tech tool that helps creatives and brands to express themselves and bring ideas to life. It’s already happening with artists and campaigns like ours but there’s so much space for it to be applied.

LBB> How long was the process of researching and playing around with DALL-E before you got a knack for how it reacted best to prompts? What is the most effective method to using an AI for image generation?

Geoff> It’s pretty user-friendly, so it didn’t take too long to get a hang of it. But it helped to learn from AI artists and the resources the AI art community is sharing online. It’s so new that it feels like the whole world is learning together. There are a lot of ways to make magic but we found that the most effective method was to start with simple prompts and go from there.

LBB>  How did you react to seeing DALL-E 2’s ketchup art generations for the first time? Have you been following the online craze about AI art?

Jacqueline> Watching these unique, surreal images being created in seconds was overwhelmingly impressive. We’ve long said that when people think of ketchup they think of Heinz. DALL-E 2's creations proved that no matter what we were asking or how many different variations were tested, even AI knows when it comes to ketchup, it has to be Heinz. 

LBB>  Which was your favourite prompt/set of images and why?

Jacqueline> It’s hard to pick favourites because we loved them all, but of the images: the bottle in a pool, the ketchup bear and vaporwave ketchup were at the top; they all look distinctly different, while still being quintessentially Heinz. Looking at these images, we’re seeing a lot of Heinz(isms). They’re not totally perfect, but whether it’s the keystone label or our iconic slow-pouring glass bottle, there’s no question that our distinct brand elements are incorporated.

LBB> This time around, the public can get involved by sending AI prompts to Heinz’s twitter account - how important is this aspect of the campaign?

Jacqueline> We used DALL-E 2 - one of the most advanced AI image generators available. DALL-E 2 is far more advanced than many of the other AI generators that people are using, but not everyone has access to it yet. By asking our fans to tell us what other AI ketchup creations they’d like us to try out and sharing the most unique, interesting results on our social channels, we’re giving ketchup fans an opportunity to try DALL-E 2 for themselves.

LBB> From a brand perspective, what does it mean to have such a strong identity and recognisability? HEINZ is practically synonymous with ketchup after all - what does this leverage allow you to do in terms of marketing?

Jacqueline> We’ve long said that when people think of ketchup they think of Heinz, and now we know that something as unbiased as AI does, too. It’s very clear that Heinz ketchup has strong brand affinity globally because campaigns such as Draw Ketchup and Heinz Hot Dog Pact resonate on an international level. This allows us to leverage our status as the most iconic ketchup to create innovative programs that people can connect with, keeping Heinz top of mind with consumers and in culture.

LBB> Are there any plans to expand this campaign further? Will we see more iterations of ‘Draw Ketchup’ in the months and years to come?

Jacqueline> At Heinz , we are always looking for ways to put creativity and culture at the forefront of our campaigns in contextually relevant ways. As part of any campaign, we look to find the right intersection between our brand and relevant culture in order to drive consumer engagement. Our goal is to insert our brands at the speed of culture and uncover unique ways to engage fans in territories that are completely ownable to Heinz. So if there’s an opportunity to build on this insight further in a way that resonates with the current moment, that’s definitely something we will continue to explore.