Monday 7 November 2011


The Student Awards centre on a collection of live creative briefspresenting modern communication challenges.

Get the young eating Heinz Salad Cream again!


Background

Heinz Salad Cream was the first brand to be developed exclusively for the UK market by the HJ Heinz company in 1914, it took 8 years to perfect! The brand has been a UK favourite for almost 100 years. From the 1920s to the 40s, Heinz Salad Cream had it all its own way: it was simply the only salad dressing on the market. During the Second World War, it was particularly popular, giving the often bland wartime foods more flavour.
But times change... new dressings and seasonings became available and the growth of foreign travel inspired people to try new food! Salad Cream, a treasured taste of the past, now had real competition.
Consumers expanded their sauce consumption to include mayonnaise and other salad dressings and the fortunes of Heinz Salad Cream started to decline. By the 1990s it was clear that the brand needed some fresh thinking and impetus, or due to declining sales Heinz may have to stop making Salad Cream. This news was met with a huge public outcry of affection for the brand ‘save our salad cream’ so plans were reversed.
Later that year Heinz Salad Cream received a new bottle shape reminiscent of the 1914 original as well as quirky advertising across TV, radio and posters, and an interactive website. Since then other memorable campaigns from the brand have been the sponsorship of Emmerdale (2006), Ladybugs Picnic TV advert (2008) and Gran TV advert (2010).
More recently Heinz Salad Cream has been included as part of the ‘It Has To Be Heinz’ TV and radio commercials. Heinz Salad Cream is still the ‘Original Tangy Taste’ that makes it one of Britain’s best-loved sauces.
From a goodness perspective, Original Heinz Salad Cream is at least 50% lower in fat than the standard mayonnaise market leader, has no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives and is rich in Omega 3. The company launched its first ever flavoured salad cream in July 2010 – Lemon and Black Pepper, which expanded its usage to chicken and tuna. A second new flavour – Cucumber and Dill was launched in March 2011, delicious with burgers and fish. Both have brought in new salad cream fans and brought modernity to this heritage brand.

The creative challenge

Today Heinz Salad Cream holds a special place in many people’s hearts as a brand they remember from their childhood; happy carefree summer days. The unique tangy sauce adding taste to favourites like cheese and cold meat sandwiches and salads.
However, over the years as food choices have become more varied and there are more sauce alternatives on the market, many consumers have slowly forgotten about Heinz Salad Cream. Recent research has shown that some consumers perceive it as being old fashioned and less versatile/relevant than other sauces. Although the product is very widely stocked in supermarkets some consumers struggle to find it when dining out (it’s not often found in cafés or pubs) and as a result it’s not at the forefront of many people’s minds.
What we do know is that when people try it, they really love the taste of Heinz Salad Cream and start buying it again! We need to re-engage consumers to remind them of the great taste Heinz Salad Cream has. Our challenge is to get more 18-29 year olds eating Heinz Salad Cream, a young consumer market who may favour mayonnaise instead or haven’t eaten salad cream for years. We want to embed new eating behaviours for Heinz Salad Cream, making it more relevant for ‘today’s’ foods e.g. pizza, chips/potatoes, chicken and fish, sandwiches, wraps or as a dip. Mayonnaise adds moisture to food where salad cream adds both moisture and taste.

Brief

Develop a creative campaign that attracts young people to Heinz Salad Cream, encouraging them to eat it on or with ANY of their favourite foods. Reinforce the message that Heinz Salad Cream is a tasty and versatile sauce for today.

Creative Requirements

Get young people to either discover or rediscover the brand. Generate excitement around this unique quirky brand and engage consumers through upbeat/fun messaging. Get young people talking about Heinz Salad Cream again and be proud to say that they eat it!
The idea can take any format you feel appropriate. It would be ideal to have the potential to work across all manner of channels (new and traditional media, packaging, new products ideas, even the name is up for grabs!). Feel free to incorporate the Heinz Salad Cream Keystone logo, ‘It Has To Be Heinz’ logo and images of our packs into your work where appropriate. All assets can be found in the project pack.

Target Audience

18-29 year old adults, who are looking to add taste/tang to their favourite foods and sandwiches. They are an up-beat and sociable bunch, who love their food.

Brand Benefits

Heinz Salad Cream adds a unique zing to food.

Mandatories

Heinz to be used in capital letters. Creative/campaign must have food values (but not high brow food). Creative/campaign brings modernity to the brand. The ‘It has to be Heinz’ logo is also included in the brief’s project pack. If you wish to use this, please note that it shouldn’t be used as a standalone logo, but rather within a sentence/context, eg. To zing up your sandwich ‘It has to be Heinz’.

Some Links

Read all about us at our site (www.heinz.co.uk), or become a Facebook fan (www.facebook.com/HeinzSaladCream) and chat with other fans who adore the taste of Heinz Salad Cream.

Previous TV advertising links:


Deliverables, Artwork and Additional Information

For guidance on how to submit your work please adhere to the main deliverables information in the Student Awards section of the YCN website. Any additional supporting information referenced in the brief can be found in the supporting project pack.

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