'Heinz Tattoo Ink' offers Heinz's fans a safe and unforgettable brand experience, as the ink was made in Heinz's own red and following the brand's care for quality in ingredients.

To connect with a generation that made tattoos mainstream, as 46% of Gen-Z and Millenials have at least one tattoo, Heinz developed and launched a new safe red ink made without any of the 4,000 recently banned components, to comply with the restrictions colored tattoo ink has been facing everywhere, while reaching for fans of the brand and advocating about the quality ingredients in its ketchup.

While survey shows 99% of Gen Z skip ads and 63% use ad blockers, Heinz has been trying to find ways to connect with young people to make this audience aware that Heinz cares about using the best ingredients to make ketchup.

During the entire year of 2022, news of tattoo ink components being banned around the world were made public on mainstream media, and after a survey that showed that 46% of young people have at least one tattoo, Heinz partnered with Electric Ink, one the world's top 3 tattoo ink manufacturers, to come up with an innovative product to reach this audience.

With the ink, Heinz not only made the brand's audience aware of their care for good ingredients, but also brought the brand's proprietary color to the skin of their fans, increasing the brand love and conversations around the colored ink ban.

After 14 months of development in partnership with Electric Ink, Heinz created a brand experience outside the food market and launched a new and safe red tattoo ink that was made in their proprietary red and without any of the over 4,000 recently banned ingredients for ink pigments, available for distribution in ketchup-like packets. An ink made with the same quality of Heinz’s ketchup.

To announce the Heinz Tattoo Ink and reach a wider audience, the brand also teamed up with five Brazilian tattoo artists who crafted 57 different illustrations that were turned into flash tattoo sheets and posters, made available in studios as well as online to everyone.

They were also used as stencils and tattooed by fans. With their branded tattoo, made with Heinz's own ink and Heinz's own drawing, these fans were photographed and shown on outdoor media so we could reach people out on streets.

Almost half of Gen-Z and Millenials (46%) have at least one tattoo, and with Heinz trying to connect with younger audiences, they have been their main target for the past few years. So, when brand research showed Heinz as one of the most tattooed brands (both Heinz and the classic ketchup bottle), this topic became a key touchpoint with younger generations.

While young people do not respond to advertising as the older generations, Heinz found ways to talk to them through fashion, design, and lifestyle content, which makes a 150-year-old company look fresher. However, more than just talking, Heinz believes in acting, and developed and created a safe red tattoo ink for their fans to show how much the brand cares about using the best ingredients.

First, we teamed up with Electric Ink, one of the world's largest tattoo ink manufacturers, to study the over 4,000 banned components and to create a red ink that used none of them. Then, we tested its quality as well as the red in it, so we could match Heinz's proprietary color. After that, we applied for clearance with regulatory bodies and started manufacturing Heinz’s Tattoo Ink for distribution to parlors in ketchup-like packets.

To announce this new product, we partnered with five tattoo artists who crafted 57 all-red illustrations that were used to create flash tattoo sheets distributed to studios and made available online. These illustrations were also inked by fans, who were then photographed to have their images used in outdoor media.

In addition to the initial production, Heinz Tattoo Ink is now being manufactured on a larger scale to be distributed worldwide.

"Nothing seems too ambitious for Heinz", as one of the journalists wrote. This mindset led the project to being covered in over 100 mainstream outlets like Hypebeast, Vogue and Paper Magazine, spreading throughout many other smaller ones and even becoming a story in radio shows. Reaching organically 225 million people in its first days.

Boosted by Electric Ink's relevance in the industry, more than 10,000 tattoo artists registered to order the red pigment to have it available for their clients. Also, a brand post-view research showed that 98.4% of the people who saw the campaign believe that Heinz cares for the ingredients used to make ketchup; and 97.9% of them believe that Heinz uses the best ingredients.

Due to its success and the interest shown all over the world, the ink is now being manufactured on a larger scale to be distributed to studios in other countries.

Being an over 150-year-old brand, Heinz has been making moves to talk to younger audiences with fresher messages. Also, being one of the most tattooed brands in the world, using tattoos became an opportunity to reach Gen-Z, as surveys show over 46% of them have at least one tattoo.