Heinz Finally Goes Ahead with Mad Men Ad

Heinz has finally agreed to run an ad that was initially pitched in the sixth season of Mad Men.

The print ad pitched by fictional agency Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce’s creative directors Stan Rizz and Don Draper features a series of pub food dishes - including chips, steak and burger - all of which lack a crucial ingredient. Sauce.

The simple slogan ‘Pass the Heinz’ was initially criticised for feeling like “half an ad”, according to one of the brand’s executives on the programme.

But it seems that in reality, Heinz were more than happy to adopt this campaign which was rolled out on a New York billboard as well as Variety magazine and the New York Post earlier this week.

To further the marketing stunt, Heinz’s real life agency DAVID has agreed to share the credit and also attributed the work to TV show’s Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.

And DAVID’s CCO, Anselmo Ramos, took it one step further (or one step too far?) and joked that he’d even had a cocktail with Draper only recently.

But for those that missed the Mad Men hype, fear not. “You can be walking by the billboard and it’s still very powerful, even if you don’t understand the Mad Men connection,” says Nicole Kulwicki, head of Heinz.

Although perhaps you wouldn't realise that effectively it's an ad that took 50 years in the making…