Heinz make up for fictional counterpart’s oversights and make Don Draper’s campaign a reality.

In the critically acclaimed fictional series of Mad Men, lead ad creative Don Draper pitched an idea to Heinz for the brand’s most famous product, Heinz Ketchup. His idea was beautifully simple, to feature mouth-watering food but with one crucial element missing; the ketchup. His strategy was to make Heinz synonymous with the condiment by highlighting its absence accompanied by the to-the-point message “Pass the Heinz”.

Unfortunately for Don Draper, he was ahead of his times. His campaign was dismissed on the show, set in the 1960’s, being described as “half an ad” as the fictitious Heinz representatives could not wrap their head around an advert that did not show off the product itself.

You can watch Don’s original pitch below.

However, in a bizarre and creative case of reverse product placement, the real and modern day Heinz have now set out to rectify their fictional counterparts oversight having recognised Don’s marketing genius and have subsequently decided to run with it. Not only is this a stellar campaign in its own right there is no doubt that fans will appreciate the respectful nod to the show which concluded in May 2015.

The three images released come straight out of the TV show’s creative and feature a rather delicious looking portion of fries, steak and cheeseburger (albeit devoid of the aforementioned beloved sauce) sure to make your stomach rumble.  The adverts will now be running in print, social media and  feature across billboards across New York City. Mr Draper would certainly be proud.

-@gfpvincent91