2024 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

In January 2023, the world learned about Elvis Francois, the sailor who survived 24 days at sea on only a bottle of ketchup. When Heinz tried to find Elvis and reward his bravery, the efforts proved unsuccessful. So they turned to the power of social media to #FindTheKetchupBoatGuy. They led a social media search that spanned six continents, receiving thousands of leads, 2500+ press headlines, and over 3.7 Billion earned impressions.

When Heinz heard about Elvis Francois — the sailor who survived 24 days at sea on a bottle of ketchup — they knew they had to reward his bravery with a new boat. But after reaching out to his home nation of Dominica and his rescuers at the Colombian Navy, there was just one problem…they couldn’t find him.

After exhausting their leads to find and reward Elvis Francois, they put out an SOS on social media to help us #FindTheKetchupBoatGuy. They then worked with internet sleuths and Heinz fans worldwide to spread the message.

Targeting armchair internet detectives and their worldwide Heinz community, they leveraged a powerful call to action in the form of the hashtag #FindTheKetchupBoatGuy to rally the world to help Heinz find Elvis Francois.

They then amplified this CTA through a global outreach campaign that resulted in more than 2500 press headlines and over 3.7 Billion earned media impressions, the most ever for Heinz.

On February 14, 2023 Heinz posted an SOS to the Heinz US Instagram account. A message in a Heinz bottle for the world to help us #FindTheKetchupBoatGuy. Leads flooded in over the following two weeks and they released updates on the Heinz US Instagram page.

They exchanged leads in internet sleuth group chats, and released updates on the Heinz US Instagram page and posters went up around the Caribbean. Heinz fans even offered to fly to Dominica to find Elvis themselves. CNN, The Washington Post, The Independent, and every major news outlet covered their international manhunt.

On February 27, 2023, the global manhunt came to an end when they announced to the world that Elvis Francois had been found.

A happy ending to Elvis Francois’ incredible story, only made possible because the world worked together to help Heinz #FindTheKetchupBoatGuy.

Their message in a bottle resulted in thousands of messages, shares, likes, and headlines across six continents.

There were more than 3.7 Billion earned media impressions, the most ever for a Heinz campaign, and more than 2500+ international press headlines. There was coverage in CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, USA Today, The Toronto Star, NPR, The Drew Barrymore Show, Good Morning America, Today, and many more.

Their budget was the cost of one boat and an ROI of 3.7 Billion Earned Media Impressions. There was a 100% Sentiment Score with a total Budget of $30,000.

Credits

Agency: The Kitchen

Head of The Kitchen: Tom Evans
Executive Creative Director: Simon Au
Head of Production & Operations: Julie Benevides
Head of Strategy: Kathleen Bokar
Creative Director: Daniel Szczepanek
Art Director: Arman Sadrzadeh
Copywriter: Sean Kinton
Sr. Producer: Jan Parma
Integrated Producer: Nadine Farhat
Motion Designer: Branson Schell
Graphic Designer: Crystal Huang
Social Media Manager: Vanessa Mahon
Sr. Performance Analyst: Alex Broome
Group Account Director: Annie-Rose Mears
Account Supervisor: Marco Cianfagna
Account Executive: Prestan Tilley

Client: Kraft Heinz

VP Head of The Kitchen: Jess Vultaggio
Head/VP of North America Brand Communications: Nina Patel
Head of Brand Communications: Megan Lang
Director of External Communications & PR, North American Brands: Jenna Thornton
Manager, North America Brand PR & Media Relations: Alexandra Lieberman
Sr. Brand Manager: Jacqueline Chao
Brand Manager: Alyssa Cicero

PR: Zeno
Missy Maher, Head of Integrated Communications, Chicago
Jamie Dammrich, SVP Consumer
Courtney Pischke, SVP Media Strategy
Alysa Winkler, VP Consumer
Bethany Stokoski, Account Supervisor Consumer
Nicolette Stern, Account Executive Consumer

Media: Publicis 57
Emily Jacobson, VP Director
Amina Ahmed, Associate Director Brittany Foster, Media Supervisor Devin Bober, Media Supervisor Kayley Carey, Senior Associate

Editor: Mariana Urrutia