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I once knew a guy who, when asked his middle name, would say, “It’s a type of ketchup.” Without fail, the guesser would respond “Heinz!” And Ketchup Name would sigh, and say “No, Hunt.”
Heinz Ketchup basically did that experiment itself last week...but more officially.
- For the condiment brand’s latest campaign, agency Rethink asked focus groups across five different continents to “draw ketchup.”
- The vast majority of them not only drew the Heinz brand logo, but also included the “57” number and signature tomatoes, per Ad Age.
Heinz, a history
So...how do you get your brand to product-synonymous-icon status?
Be really old: Ketchup became a part of horseradish company Heinz in 1876.
Be consistent: If you look at the above left photo from 1901, you’ll realize that the brand’s logo has hardly changed since.
A lingering question: Could any 2021 brand pull this off? The suite of brands that recently made their logos look almost identical says no. “2021 was the year that brands chose utility over originality. Yeah sans serif typefaces look cleaner and more legible across different mediums, but at what cost?” tweeted Morning Brew’s Toby Howell.