Heinz and Burger King reward users driving as slow as ketchup in traffic jams

The campaign takes the term 'bottleneck' traffic quite literally.

Being stuck in traffic is always a summer pain point, but this year, it doesn't have to be, thanks to leading American food processing company Heinz. Through a partnership with navigation app Waze and fast food giant Burger King (BK), Heinz will be identifying those people stuck in traffic, driving at the same speed as its slow-pouring ketchup (0.045 km/hr). These people will then be rewarded with a free bottle of Heinz Ketchup and an Impossible Whopper from BK.

When traffic slows, select drivers get rewarded. Eighty per cent of Canadians say they will travel in 2021 (but most won't cross international borders). So, summer traffic is expected to be worse than usual this year, which is why Heinz is leveraging the traffic situation.

From June 3 to July 4, 2021, those stuck in traffic, and driving as slow as Heinz Ketchup (0.045 km/hr), will be served traffic-activated ads in the Waze app. Select slow-moving Canadians will be provided with a summer combo of Heinz Ketchup and an Impossible Whopper from BK.

"Surprisingly, many people don't know that Heinz pours out of our glass bottle at 0.045 kilometres per hour. And with more Canadians potentially on the road this summer, whether within their own cities or for weekend getaways, traffic is going to a pain point we all may need to get used to again. We want to help our fans see that going slow isn't always a bad thing and reward them for enduring the terrible traffic jams," said Daniel Gotlib, associate director, brand building & innovation, Kraft Heinz Canada.

Canadians can download Waze to check their speed from Thursday, June 3 to Sunday, July 4 for the chance to redeem this limited-time offer, and are encouraged to share their reward moment with @Heinz_CA.

The media buy for this campaign has been done by the agency Carat. It includes online video featuring user-generated content from Canadians stuck in traffic, as well as targeted social, and digital OOH that displays relevant messaging whenever traffic slows.

"Nothing says summer more than the classic combination of Heinz Ketchup, an Impossible Whopper from Burger King, and navigating road trip traffic with Waze," added Matt Wright, general manager, BK Canada.

In 2019, BK Mexico had leveraged traffic in a similar context. Collecting real time data of the parts of Mexico city that were stuck in traffic, BK offered to deliver food to people in their cars as they waited for the traffic to clear up.