Heinz has been a ubiquitous part of family mealtimes for generations. To keep it relevant and appeal to the next generation of families, Kraft Heinz are launching a new range of pouches to market, with built-in immunity support, for babies up to 24 months old. It is the largest product launch for the brand in 2023 and combines innovation with convenience for modern parents who are constantly on the go.
The campaign will continue under the Heinz for Baby positioning; ‘Pure Joy’ which is about celebrating and nourishing the joy of natural parenting by bringing to life the chaotic moments of being a parent in a real, authentic way.
We spoke to the team at the agency behind the creative, BBD Perfect Storm, to learn more.
What was the brief?
Heinz UK needed our help launching their new product range, Heinz Immunity Support Pouches – their largest launch of the year. We needed to let parents know that these new pouches weren’t just tasty and convenient, but also packed with vitamin C to help keep little immune systems ticking.
The household brand were keen to drive further market penetration in the infant category through this campaign, all while broadening knowledge of the quality products Heinz Family has to offer.
While the brief started off as a social campaign, from the first presentation both our BBD Perfect Storm team and the client saw the potential in our ‘Mouth First’ insight – so we began to also look at how it could play out in a longer form VOD format.
How did the initial pitch/brainstorming phase go?
First, we needed to define the role the new Heinz Immunity Support Pouches played in our wider ‘Pure Joy’ brand strategy – an exciting task as only brand campaigns had been developed off of this to date. Our BBD Perfect Storm strategy team set to work, developing the insight ‘Babies are born curious, fearless in pursuit of learning and development’.
This lead us in the creative team down many avenues (including a plan to launch a tv remote flavoured pouch which we ended up doing as an April Fool’s). But it was clear from pretty early on that one approach really rang true – ‘Exploring the World Mouth First’.
What was the process behind ideating the concept?
We drew on our knowledge of babies. Thinking about the infants in our lives one thing really stood out to us – little ones really do throw themselves at life mouth first. For them, the mouth is more than a route to the tummy: it’s their fifth limb, their texture sampler, their taste-tester, the first place anything they can get their mitts on is going.
So this route became a celebration of this. An ode to babies’ oral portals to the world, and how these new Immunity Support Pouches will help give parents the confidence to let their little ones keep exploring the world mouth first.
What was the production process like?
We were so fortunate to have fantastic partners, Dirty Films and Youth Hymns, along for the ride. Casting was easily the best bit. So many adorable reels. But how do you decide between talent when they’re all so damn cute!?
Being fluid and agile was a must, because (due to babies not being great at taking direction) we weren’t shooting to a strict board. It’s always a big gamble going into a shoot not knowing what you’ll get. But that’s what happens when your talent is still weaning.
What was the biggest challenge during production? How did you overcome it?
Who knew you couldn’t script/direct/request specific performances from babies!?
Getting it all done in one day with tiny talent that sometimes didn’t want to cooperate was definitely a challenge. Luckily we had great clients on set that where up for experimenting and stepping away from the shot list, and a brilliant team assembled by Dirty Films and our director duo Youth Hymns that were incredibly agile and open for collaboration.
We found that’s the secret when shooting this stuff, agility and a willingness to experiment.
What kit/tools/software were used to create the project?
We actually got AI involved during the concept phase of this project. Given the unique nature of our script/what we wanted to depict in each scene, an standard image search wasn’t cutting it in finding reference imagery.
So, we used AI to develop visuals that helped the client picture the perfectly chaotic scenes hoped to capture. It was really successful. As an agency we have continued to use AI in the creative development of a number of campaigns now.
As for the shooting, we used a combination of filming techniques to get in and amongst the chaos of kids exploring the world mouth-first. This included fisheye lenses, macro probe lenses, 360° cameras and, let’s not forget, Spoon Cam™ (patent pending).
What is one funny or notable thing that happened during production?
Ask anyone, they will tell you - ‘never work with children or animals!’
We not only worked with one child, we had had six on set throughout the course of the one day shoot, really witnessing all the high, lows, laughters and wobblies that working with children has to offer.
But we had some real superstars on set, keep an eye out for our Heinz Family babies in the 2040 Oscars.
What’s the main message of this project and why does it matter?
Little one’s really do throw themselves at life mouth first. Sure, it can seem gross when they’re gumming the telly remote or you catch them taste testing the cats dinner – but the truth is they’re exploring. And isn’t that wonderful? Isn’t that the purest joy?
You can’t stop them – and you wouldn’t want to! But you can feed them tasty food that’s packed with vitamin C and helps keep their immune systems ticking …before they sample the delights of the living room floor.
How long did it take from inception to delivery?
A swift gurgle-filled 6 months – which just so happens to be how old you have to be to start enjoying these products!
What do you hope it achieves for the brand?
In developing our ‘Pure Joy’ platform we’ve worked hard to ensure that we’re more honestly depicting the realities of raising little ones. Working with our talented directors, Youth Hymns and the guys at Dirty Films we’ve strived to continue capturing this beautiful chaos in our first shoot for Heinz.
Our hope is that we can continue to further expand this narrative, positioning Heinz Family as a brand that really understands the experience of parents and supports them in ways that truly add value.
Credit list for the work?
Client:
Almudena Rein - Head of First Food
Georgina Fotopoulou - Category Marketing Manager
Manya Gupta - Junior Brand Manager, Infant
Advertising/Brand Agency: BBD Perfect Storm
Executive Creative Director: Sebastian Hill
Senior Copywriter: Robyn Bowman
Senior Art Director: Jacob Hill-Gowing
Executive Strategy Director: Tony Quinn
Business Director: Caroline Caulfield
Senior Account Manager: Libby Houghton
Media Company: Carat
Production Company: Dirty Films
Director: Youth Hymns
