Stack one inverted Heinz bottle onto another, and you’re “marrying the ketchup.” Refill a Heinz bottle with a cheaper brand? “Ketchup fraud.” Smack the neck to get it flowing? That’s “the 57 trick.” These days, diners are about the only places left to spot a glass bottle of Heinz and show off these party tricks.
Until now, anyway. While supplies last, Walmart is selling a limited supply of Heinz’s glass bottles—the eight-sided, 14-ounce classic drawn by Andy Warhol and added to the Smithsonian’s collection.
The nostalgia play kicks off the brand’s “157 Years of Being Food’s Best Friend” anniversary campaign, marking 1869, when Henry John Heinz founded the company.
The bottle throwback is supported by a film from Wieden+Kennedy New York titled “Life of a Bottle.” The cinematic hero ad follows a bottle of Heinz ketchup that diner patrons pass around from breakfast through dinner until the ketchup finally runs out. Willie Nelson’s rendition of “All of Me” plays in the background.
While most consumers will encounter the campaign via billboards and social media, the glass bottle—which lost its place to the squeezable plastic version in the early ’90s—is a cultural touchstone that Heinz strategically returns to retail now and again.
“The glass bottle has become an icon,” Kraft Heinz chief marketing officer (CMO) Todd Kaplan told ADWEEK. “While our current bottles more functionally fit how people use ketchup today, they can’t recreate the distinct experience of glass—the weight in your hand, the familiar look on the table, and the ritual of tapping the iconic ‘57’ sweet spot to get the perfect pour.”
Kaplan is referring to the aforementioned “57 trick,” a move that appears 35 seconds into the spot, which calls for the bottle to be tilted downward and a few taps aimed at the “57 Varieties” label around the neck.
57 Varieties
The 57 Varieties slogan is as recognizable as the glass bottle itself. Henry J. Heinz reportedly came up with it in 1896 after seeing a footwear brand touting that it sold 21 varieties of shoes. But Heinz’s company was selling over 60 products by then, so why tout fewer?
“Legend has it that Heinz chose 57 because five was his lucky number [and] seven was his wife’s,” Heinz’s marketing VP Daniel Gotlib told ADWEEK. Whatever the case, 57 Varieties “has since become one of the most recognizable slogans in brand history.”
As far as ketchup fraud goes, the new spot does not depict that, but probably only because Heinz built an entire campaign around it two years ago.
