By Cam Hao Ren

For the launch of Heinz’s newest pickle ketchup flavour in Australia, the sauce superpower sent a human pickle to the La Tomatina festival in Spain—a viral moment to celebrate the unique flavour.

Orchestrated by Eleven and TBWA\Sydney, the campaign kicked off on social media with a nationwide competition to determine who would play the human pickle, with hundreds vying for the role. The lucky winner was Angus Cummings from Sydney’s North, who recently donned the custom-made pickle costume and travelled to Spain for the festival.

From the advertising perspective, the Heinz human pickle campaign is the perfect blend of PR and modern marketing and something both experts and students completing a Masters of Marketing online program can look to as an example of humour as a marketing strategy.

The History of Heinz and Humour

Kraft Heinz ANZ head of marketing, Andrea Payne, said the creative decision was made to expand their brand globally and play on Australia’s love for their two favourite things. Tomato sauce and pickles.

“To launch our delicious new flavour of Heinz ketchup we wanted to leverage the irrational love Australians have for both pickles and our ketchup by creating work that continues to expand the meaning of our global brand platform,” said Payne.

Payne also commented that pickles have a long history with Heinz, dating back over 150 years. The Heinz founder, Henry J Heinz, apparently loved pickles so much he was nicknamed “the Pickle King”.

TBWA\Sydney also played a massive role in bringing Heinz to Spain, and most importantly—the human pickle. Katrina Alvarez-Jarratt, Executive Creative Director for TBWA\Sydney also released a statement regarding the marketing move.

“There really is no other brand that could create a moment like this for their product. This campaign is a wildly joyful celebration of Heinz Tomato ketchup and the delicious taste of pickles, neatly visualising the product’s flavour in a way that people will remember. Plus, watching someone in a pickle costume being pelted with tomatoes is just joyful, sharable and fun.”

While the campaign was initially launched via social media, the promotional stunt earned worldwide coverage. Videos of the event and human pickle were shared globally, supported in traditional media formats across social and digital film.

Generating Leads with Laughter

Fun and unique campaigns have become popular in the marketing world, as it’s an effective and great way to establish a connection with viewers and elicit an emotional response. Heinz’s human pickle is just one great example of this.

Funny and quirky videos are also the leading content on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. People go on these platforms to watch humorous content and share it with friends, which also makes it an ideal target for companies looking to expand their reach and market products.

There’s an old advertising adage that goes, “If you can make someone laugh, you can sell them.” This statement is also supported by various studies, like Oracle’s happiness research study. 

In the study conducted by Oracle, they found that 90% of people were more likely to remember a brand’s ad if it was funny. The same study also reports that 48% of people said they felt like they didn’t have a relationship with a brand unless it could make them smile or laugh.

The field of marketing psychology also reinforces the idea that people are more likely to have positive ideas and relationships with brands that make them laugh or smile. Many people buy a product or service based on how it makes them feel.

Heinz’s human pickle isn’t the first brand advertisement to focus on quirky humour. Fun marketing has been an effective tool utilised by many companies around the world, especially in the food and beverage industry.

Various food and beverage companies, including Red Rooster and Lidl have banked on fun and quirky advertisements in the past. The human pickle isn’t the only time Heinz has delved into humour for their marketing, either.

Heinz “Barbiecue” sauce campaign, Image credit: Angelina Halim

Previously, Heinz UK partnered with Mattel to celebrate the 65th anniversary of Barbie with a special “Barbiecue” sauce. The whole launch campaign for the sauce was riddled with humour, with Heinz first teasing the sauce alongside the idea of a “Tomato Kenchup”.

Red Rooster’s fun and quirky marketing idea was a campaign for creating the first wearable tech to satisfy chicken cravings. “Enter crave_wave, an AI software we’ve built into a t-shirt that actively listens to your stomach via an in-built microphone”.

The idea is absolutely outrageous, and you can’t help but love it. Especially in the current landscape, where we are a technology-driven society and artificial intelligence is making headlines every other day.

Lidl croissant bag campaign, Image credit: Angelina Halim

Even a supermarket chain, Lidl, delved into fun marketing with a collaboration with well-known designer, Nikolas Bentel. The fun collaboration plays into the recent trend of luxury and stylish bags from high-end fashion brands.

But, instead of high-end quirky and fashionable bags, it’s bagged, baked goods. They released a “croissant bag”, that is designed to look like a rolled paper bag, but it’s really made from leather.

The croissant in the faux rolled paper bag serves as a purse. The entire bag is also complete with a gold chain handle and a trolley coin for added flair. While you can’t eat anything from Lidl’s collaboration, it absolutely nails being quirky and fun.

Heinz’s human pickle campaign exemplifies how humour and creativity can create a memorable, sharable marketing moment. By blending fun with a unique product launch, Heinz effectively engaged audiences worldwide, showing that playful, emotional connections can drive brand recognition and loyalty. It’s a successful strategy that other brands can learn from.