Heinz shifts DM spend to TV ads

Food giant Heinz is reversing its decision to spend half last year’s 24m marketing budget below the line, by switching more money into TV advertising.

Two years ago, Heinz shocked the marketing industry by becoming one of the first fmcg companies to channel substantial spend into a heavyweight direct marketing campaign.

The push was designed to support an “umbrella” TV campaign after the company decided to ditch all product-based advertising.

Heinz says it is redistributing its marketing budget in favour of more TV advertising because its database is now built.

A Heinz spokesman says: “There will be an enhanced spend behind the above-the-line ‘United Nations’ campaign. One of the biggest expenses has been building the database, which now holds data on 4.6 million households.

“We don’t need to sustain the levels of investment in the database. We can reconfigure the marketing budget.”

He stresses that Heinz’s dual marketing strategy has not changed and that the company’s direct marketing activity, through WWAV Rapp Collins, is a highly successful part of the mix. The percentage shift in spend has not yet been finalised, he adds.

Bates Dorland is understood to be preparing a series of new TV executions for the autumn as part of the United Nations campaign.

The short ads which top and tail ad breaks feature core Heinz products such as ketchup, salad cream, spaghetti and soup. They aim to communicate the emotional benefits linked with childhood memories of the brand.