Hagelchup: Can Heinz sprinkles tempt Amsterdammers to ditch mayo at french fry shop?
Food manufacturer Heinz launched a clever marketing campaign on Thursday to try and get Dutch people to choose ketchup over mayonnaise when ordering french fries. This weekend, the company will let people in Amsterdam try its Hagelchup, a cross between its popular tomato ketchup and hagelslag, the sprinkles Dutch people traditionally pour out onto slices of bread.
The ketchup brand noted that Dutch people rarely order french fries with ketchup. This despite the fact that roughly 1.3 billion portion of fries are sold every year, according to the Frituurcentrum. At the same time, Dutch households and offices consume around 14 million kilograms of hagelslag every year, but never ketchup-flavored sprinkles. Chocolate, anise, and mixed fruit hagelslag wind up on 600 million sandwiches every year, according to a 2010 report by Kassa.
To get consumers thinking about french fries with ketchup, portions with Hagelchup will be sold at Heertje Friet on Herengracht in Amsterdam. The shop opens at 11 a.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It might be the only chance to actually try Hagelchup. There are currently no plans to put the product in stores, a Heinz representative told NL Times. It is really meant as a branding campaign and “to put a smile on people’s faces,” she said.
"Why is a ‘patatje met’ always just mayonnaise and what would it be like if we could sprinkle Heinz Tomato Ketchup on top in the form of traditional Dutch chocolate sprinkles? Then we bring together the best of two Dutch traditions," said Belén Llamazares Carballo, the marketing director at KraftHeinz. While many go for mayonnaise, other typical options include curry sauce, satay sauce, or some sort of combination.
The campaign uses the Heinz slogan “It has to be Heinz” but changes it up for the commercial, saying, “Even if you sprinkle it, it has to be Heinz.” The Hagelchup is shown in the usual Heinz bottle for ketchup and made in the De Ruijter factory, which is famous for making hagelslag. Both businesses are owned by the parent company KraftHeinz.
“At Heinz, it’s always our main goal to convey irrational love and put a smile on as many faces as possible. Add an innovative surprise element with a touch of humor, and you have the answer to the questions we asked ourselves: Hagelchup. We hope to surprise many fans during this exclusive activation, and we look forward to seeing all the happy faces after the first bite,” Carballo said in a statement.
