"Nothing seems too ambitious for Heinz", said one of the journalists who covered the Heinz Tattoo Ink.

To connect with a generation that made tattoos mainstream, as 46% of Gen-Z and Millenials have at least one tattoo, Heinz took risks to venture outside of the food industry and studied, developed, and launched this new safe red ink made without any of the 4,000 recently banned components as a response to 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 had their 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.

To announce the Heinz Tattoo Ink and reach a wider audience, the brand 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 its own drawing – these fans were photographed and shown on outdoor media so we can reach people out on the streets.

Feb/2022 - Creative Idea Concept

Mar/2022 - Project presentation

Jul/ 2022 - Viability check

Sep/2022 - Production brief

Oct/2023 - Safety test

Jan/2023 - Color test

Feb/2023 - Applied for regulatory clearance

Feb/2023 - Small scale production

Mar/2023 - Large Scale Production

Mar/2023 - Activation

Aug/2023 - Distribution in scale

Recently, colored tattoo ink has been facing some restrictions worldwide, sparking conversations regarding the safety of the ingredients used to make them, and early last year, Europe banned over 4,000 of these components.

It's made following Heinz proprietary red and quality standards, focusing on the best ingredients available – meaning we had to come up with a new formulation that avoided all those banned ingredients. To do that Heinz used the following: red pigment, water, 1,2-propanediol, 1,2,3-propanetriol, and nonionic surfactant.

The ink has already been made in Brazil and is being distributed in scale to parlors in the country. Meanwhile, Heinz and Electric Ink are awaiting approval from health regulatory bodies in other parts of the globe to start its production 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.