Heinz Squirt has competitors green with envy Rosemary Ryan
HEINZ is predicting its newly launched, kid-targeted tomato ketchup brand will be its most successful new product launch in Australia after receiving unparalleled support from retailers and consumers.
According to Heinz, the new EZ Squirt brand—bright green- or red-coloured ketchup and a bottle designed to allow kids to draw with it—received “unprecedented” advance orders from supermarkets before its rollout last week, forcing the company to extend manufacturing to 24-hours a day to cope with demand.
Since developing and testing the product locally, Heinz has tripled its initial forecasts and now expects to sell its first fiscal year forecast in the first 30 days following the launch.
It was proving so popular that Heinz said it had been approached by several major quick-service restaurant chains to allow them to offer the product exclusively.
Heinz business manager food solutions Craig White said the response in Australia mirrored the brand’s performance in the US, where it sold more than 10 million bottles in the first seven months. In the US, a purple variety has also been added to the range.
White said there had already been high levels of awareness due to the US launch, which received wide coverage because of the product’s quirky nature.
He said when Heinz announced it was considering manufacturing the brand in Australia, it was “flooded” with requests for pre-launch samples, including those from parents who offered up to $10 a bottle so they could use it at their children’s birthday parties.
The launch is the latest in a series of shake-ups for the $65m tomato sauce and ketchup category. The traditionally low-interest segment received an injection of life with the arrival of Mars-owned Master Foods into the tomato sauce category in 1998 with its squeezy-bottle packaged brand.
Fountain has also had success with a squeezy bottle (see Professional Marketing, in B&T Weekly, November 23, 2001).
There has been a series of innovations, mainly in new packaging from dominant players Heinz, Unilever and Cerebos.
Heinz has supported the launch with a major public relations campaign. White says the future strategy will also include a heavy focus on product placement on television and at community events.
Heinz will also use its sponsored “Food in a Minute” spots that lead into the Nine Network’s 6pm news to promote the product from late December. Launched by the company in January, “Food in a Minute” features a chef giving quick meal ideas using Heinz products.
