Title: What Were They Thinking? The Day Ketchup Crossed The Line From Perfect
Headings: What Were They Thinking? The Day Ketchup Crossed The Line From Perfect To Purple
What Were They Thinking? The Day Ketchup Crossed The Line From Perfect To Purple
Heinz ketchup is an iconic American brand, practically perfect in every way. Why mess with it?
Where They Went Wrong
The Takeaways

Content: In fact, more than 25 million bottles of colored ketchup were sold, helping Heinz capture an all-time high of 60% of the U.S. ketchup market, before softening sales resulted in the EZ Squirt brand being pulled from the shelves by January 2006. Where They Went Wrong
1. Target Audience – There’s no-doubt that this kid-friendly ketchup is fun and exciting. Heck, even the package shape is ergonomically designed for young kids’ hands. But the real purchase driver on this one was the movie tie-in. Kids wanted to be like Shrek, the big, strong, lovable green ogre they saw in the movie. Parents enjoyed the movie just as much as the kids, and they were more than willing to buy a novelty-colored ketchup (versus a sugary promotional candy) to keep the movie memory alive. At $1.79 for a 24-ounce bottle, it was a relatively small investment to keep the kids happy in the grocery store aisles and at the dinner table. But that’s not a good strategy for creating a sustainable brand. Kids have short attention spans and are easily distracted by the next new movie, toy, or superhero on the cereal box.