McCain Fries and Heinz Ketchup Share Their Love for Each Other on Valentine’s Day

Like other famous couples, McCain Fries and Heinz Ketchup are letting a new romance play out on social media. It started on February 1st, when followers of both brands noticed that @McCainCanada and @Heinz_ca had unfollowed everyone on their Instagram accounts - except for one another.

And that was just the start.

Over the next few days, flirty tweets were exchanged. 

And these turned into more extreme acts of love. On February 9th, McCain sent Heinz a tray of floating french fries to eat in the bathtub after a long day. 

In exchange, Heinz shared a gold locket filled with ketchup - showing how McCain dunked its way into Heinz’s heart. 

With days until Valentine’s, we can expect to see things between the new couple unfold towards a grand finale.

“Fries and ketchup are at the height of their power together,” said Matt Kohler, managing director, Canada Retail, McCain. “They bring to mind history’s most compelling couples: they’re great on their own, and unstoppable together.”  

“Things seem to be moving really fast for this couple,” said Daniel Gotlib, associate director, brand building and innovation, Heinz. “Which is funny, because Heinz Ketchup is notoriously slow.”

The creative concept stemmed from a brief from McCain to creative AOR Rethink, asking for the development of a non-traditional campaign that would get people talking about the brand. “We had a strong desire to be in-market in February,” says Matt Kohler, managing director, Canadian Retail of McCain. “And we saw the opportunity to own a moment in culture that’s not typically associated with french fries – Valentine’s Day.”

“The McCain brand is built on togetherness, so Heinz ketchup was a natural partner for Valentine’s Day,” continued Kohler. “Throughout the process, we focused on the creative possibilities of what could happen when two iconic brands come together.”

Aaron Starkman, CCO and MP of Rethink describes the insight that led them to this campaign. “One in four french fries on the planet are McCain french fries, and Heinz Ketchup is the world’s best known ketchup.” Starkman, continues, “Once we started thinking about fries and ketchup as a couple that can’t shut up about their new romance, the creativity really took off.”