Heinz Plays Catch-Up With Tomato Claim

Advertiser: Heinz Ketchup

Agency: DDB Needham, Chicago

Challenge: Give consumers a reason to pass up store brands of catsup, which have been winning sales from the big brands.

The Ad: Luscious red tomatoes are sucked into a plastic catsup bottle, as an announcer explains that 25 tomatoes go into every Heinz bottle, because “lots of tomatoes make . . . food taste better.” Next, a young girl bites a drippy burger fit for a Carl’s Jr. commercial and declares, “Mine’s gotta have Heinz.”

Comment: The ad claims Heinz catsup is “second to none,” because it is made from a lot of tomatoes. The evidence sounds impressive. But is Heinz the only catsup maker to use 25 tomatoes in each 40-ounce catsup bottle? The ad doesn’t say. $$ 1/2