Heinz is all too familiar with Chicago’s relationship with ketchup having teasingly introduced a “Chicago Dog Sauce” on National Hot Dog Day in 2017 only to dupe locals and reveal that it was actually just ketchup all along.
This time, there are no smokes and daggers in the company’s crafty new “Smack for Heinz” campaign, just a straight-up unapologetic sauce offensive against Chicago’s most renowned ketchup-hating establishments.
As part of the new campaign, ketchup outposts are being rolled out around the city, and it seems the Pittsburg-headquartered company is all too well informed about those Chicago hot dog joints that take a particularly dogmatic stance against their famous red condiment.
A video recently posted to Heinz.com shows one of their new “smackable” billboards situated right outside of Chicago’s renowned Superdawg Drive-In.
It begins with the words “Some restaurants refuse to serve ketchup. We have a solution.” before showing passersby hitting a ketchup bottle to make it dispense free packets of ketchup and ending with “Smack for Heinz” and a website “smackforheinz.com”.
With Superdawg Drive-In seemingly the first target, tomorrow Heinz is reportedly ramping up its offensive with ketchup-dispensing billboards installed across Chicago in iconic spots including the front of Weiners Circle and outside “a fast-food chain known for not serving Heinz at Navy Pier.”
At the time of writing smackforheinz.com bounces back to heinz.com/smack where the video can be viewed, but we’re assuming it will be properly launched tomorrow at the same time as the new billboards are unveiled.
When it does, ketchup lovers in Chicago and further afield will reportedly be able to use it to “report” places that don’t serve ketchup and nominate them for their own “smackable” billboard.
It is unclear how many dispensing billboards will appear tomorrow but according to Heinz, they will display QR codes that can be scanned in return for personal stashes of Heinz Ketchup and will stay for one week only until Tuesday, April 9.