Catch Up Lady

Sweet Jesus. Ketchup Packet Campaign Makes You Think Twice About Ketchup.

Via The Daily What, these ketchup packets extolling the dangers of land mines were recently rolled out in New Zealand as part of CALM:  Campaign Against Landmines. 

In case you weren't quite clear on what's going on, the press release clarifies:

Using a ketchup sachet, we demonstrated the horrific nature of living in a land mine affected country and how much a part of everyday life that horror is. The idea is simple: as you tear open the sachet you also rip through the child’s leg and the ketchup inside pours out like blood.

Terribly effective visual there friends, and kudos for the strong call to action (via text or website) on the packet - now we all have something to do while we regain our appetite.  

Put Me In Coach

Loving this picture sent to me by fellow OPR-er Ian from Flagged for Follow Up. 

Rule #9458: When preparing a meal with a near-empty bottle of ketchup, make sure your back up is never far.   (Same goes for you Mustard...)

Heinz Ketchup Creativity Contest 2009

The other night I was in Five Guys (aka the best place for burgers in the whole world) and I noticed, much to my delight, that the Heinz ketchup packets had a variety of different designs on them.  Of course I dug through their condiment stand, pulled out all 12 different varieties and photographed them while curious onlookers observed me as if I was some sort of Rainman.

Naturally I was intrigued, and set off to find out what the deal was with these fun packets.  A few searches on The Google turned up several press releases on Heinz Ketchup Creativity 2009, a nationwide ketchup packet art contest for school kids.

Before I say anything else, I want to design a fucking ketchup packet!  Deep breaths.

This is the third year that Heinz has hosted the contest - which is billed as a way for kids to explore the world of art, and learn about food and nutrition.  The contest is broken out into different grades, and there are downloadable PDF lesson plans for teachers which include activities like growing tomato plants, Fun Facts, and crossword puzzles (for grades 1 - 3.)  New this year, popular Pop Artist Burton Morris will be helping Heinz with the judging.

The deadline for submissions is February 28 - so there is still time to get the party started in your classroom.  The winner gets $1,000, plus an additional $1,000 worth or art supplies, and $1,000 worth of ketchup.

On the WOM side, I will watch with interest to see how they promote the "America Votes" component, where the public chooses the final winners from among a group of chosen semi-finalists.  Seems like a great buzz generating component to an educational Heinz Top This! style challenge for kids.  Now, all I need to do is find a school child who will enter my submission as their own... how hard could that be??

Note to Heinz, for the love of God don't make me go all Gil Grissom looking for stuff like this.  As a brand fan, I need little to no provocation to blog/Twitter/buzz about pretty much whatever you send my way!  I'll even accept non-personalized press release emails (see, I really am serious!) 

Pickle Getting the Axe From the Heinz Logo - Say it Ain't So!

I've gotten several emails from all of you over the last week asking my opinion on the planned Heinz logo change. 

For those of you who don't have Heinz news on their RSS feed, the plan is to remove the pickle from the label and replace it with a tomato that is more reflective of the product.  The new logo, which has already rolled out in Europe, will only appear on the Heinz ketchup product and will be accompanied by the new tag line "Grown not made." 

Heinz's association with the pickle originated at the 1983 World's Fair when a pickle pin to draw customers to his booth. With tomato ketchup actually being the 10th product introduced by Heinz (horseradish, sour gherkins, mixed sour gherkins and chow chow pickles were the first) the pickle is also a clear nod to the company's early days.  In fact, HJ Heinz is actually the fourth official "name" of the company - the first was the Anchor Pickle & Vinegar Works.

I'm not one to stand in the way of progress, but I think I'm going to have to go with the Save the Heinz Pickle! Facebook group that was recently formed (and has over 2,000  members, including yours truly.)  Heinz logo is iconic and should not be messed  with.  It's one thing to iteratively evolve a logo over time to make sure it stays fresh - but taking the entire freaking pickle off is like putting the Morton's Salt Girl in a poncho, or giving Larry the Quaker a buzz cut. 

While the new logo will in no way deter me from purchasing Heinz ketchup, I can confidently state that I have no plans to remove the pickle from this blog's logo.

I Have Established Contact With The Mothership!

Two years, two months and 16 days after I started this blog I finally received the validation I have been seeking since I first became a Heinz brand fan at age 2.

Dave Ciesinski, VP of Ketchup at Heinz, has apparently been reading The Catch Up Lady and took the time to send me the following note:

"We've been reading your ketchup blog and we love it.  As a matter of fact, we love everything about ketchup.  Keep up the good work!!"

So, pull up a chair and let me explain to you why this is freaking awesome (beyond the obvious awesomeness.)

I spend most of my days working with huge companies to develop word of mouth strategies - many of which involve engaging vocal, hyperconnected brand fans. Writing this blog has helped me professionally because I *AM* a hyperconnected brand fan.  Any time I develop a strategy or brainstorm tactics I silently give it the "Heinz Test" - if Heinz contacted me with this opportunity would I, as a brand fan and blogger, be energized?  Having Heinz give me a virtual pat on the back feels like coming full circle, personally and professionally. 

Hopefully this is a dialouge I can continue to bring you all more ketchupy goodness.  In the meantime I'll just say America Heinz Fuck Yeah!

(BTW, this picture was taken at 5:30am at a diner in Midtown after a night or karaoke with Tim Brunelle, Doug Meacham, David Armano, Paul McEnany and Sean Howard.  Some people have comfort food, I have a comfort condiment.)

Isn't This Blog About Ketchup?

It's been awhile since I've blogged about ketchup - so I'm going to hit you with the 1 - 2 - 3 -4  punch.  (Is there such a thing?  I guess we're about to find out...)

1.  My sister snapped the pic at left at a drive-thru in California.   As she so eloquently put, "What kind of lame ass McDonald's pulls this shit?"  Times must be tougher than I thought.

2.  My friend Katie sent me this video from CNN's CGM news site iReport.  It features some shocking footage from the 20th Annual Hamburger Festival in Seymour, WI.  All I'm going to say is it involves ketchup.  And a Slip n Slide.  And it's not me in the video.

3.  Speaking of drive-thrus, shout out to my friend Ian from Flagged For Follow Up.  On my last post about ketchup issues at drive-thrus he commented about fights he's had with drive-thru people about the amount of ketchup they'll hand out.  I thought he was giving me crap, until I confronted him about the perceived slight and discovered that he was a fellow ketchup commrade.  Here we are at a Nat's game with beer cups fill of ketchup, only God and Teddy know what we did with them. 

4.  Thanks to reader Joe Ammond for emailing me this picture of some truly delightful couture.  The piece was spotted in a mall in St. Charles, MO.  Should you ever find yourself in St. Charles, the food court in the mall "serves the closest to a Detroit Coney dog I've found
outside of SE Michigan."  Amen brother!

Beijing Olympics 8/7/08 - Chinese Ketchup

This morning we had breakfast at easily one of the most elaborate breakfast buffets I have ever laid eyes on. With hashbrowns and omlettes on the menu, the Catch Up Lady needed a fix. To my delight, I got to eat Chinese Heinz ketchup for the first time in my life.

OK, so it tastes just like normal American Heinz ketchup, it's just in a bottle with Chinese characters on it.  Whatever.  Still cool.

We are off to the main Olympic Pavillion this morning, then downtown later today.  More bloggity goodness, pictures, etc to come.

(Side note: Tyepad blog addresses seem to be banned in China, so while I can blog on the back end, I can't actually see my post when it's done.  Nor can I edit once I've posted something.  As such, please excuse any crack-looking formatting isues, and the small question marks I'm told are after every sentence I type.  Hopefully we can find a work around in the next day or so!)

The Devil Went Down To Texas

KERA, the public radio and television station in Dallas, Texas, reports that the Dallas County Sheriff has been making some serious decisions in an attempt to cut more than 6 million dollars from her 2009 budget.

Among the items getting deep sixed - KETCHUP!   Ok, this only applies to people incarcerated in prison, but still - this seems like cruel and unusual punishment to me.  Another cut included the IT Coordinator (in his/her entirity.)  So let's recap: No ketchup.  No IT support.

Remind me not to get arrested in Dallas. 

Heinz #1 in Brand Equity! Angels Are Singing.

In the news I take 100% credit for category, I just read that Heinz ketchup ranked #1 in measure of brand equity by Equitrend, "a 28-year brand-equity study that measures more than 1,000 brands across 39 categories based on six base measures: familiarity, quality, purchase consideration, brand expectations, distinctiveness, and trust."

For the first time ever, the study included a measure of WOM activity and tied it to the brand equity of a product - placing real credibility in WOM marketing's impact, as well as the power of a brand fan or detractors  social graph. (I believe this to be the category in which the Catch Up Lady blog placed Heinz over the top.) 

Other top place finishers included M&Ms, Hershey Bars, Hershey Kisses, Duracell Batteries and Cheerios.  You can either take this as a total validation of HJ Heinz credo, "To do a common thing uncommonly well brings success," or as a total validation of American's being complete fat asses. 

Finally, Someone Who Gets ME

  Historically, fast food drive-thrus never give me enough ketchup.  I ask for "a bunch" and get like four.  So, now when I go through drive thrus I always ask for an "obscene" amount of ketchup, or "more ketchup than you think would be normal."  This tends to garner me about a handful of ketchup packets, which I can stretch out and survive on for one meal.

Yesterday, at a drive thru in Gaylord, Michigan I did just what I described above.  And this is what was waiting for us when we pulled around.  God bless this woman.