Iconic mayo brand Hellmann’s has managed to irk both McDonald’s and Heinz over the past couple of years with a pair of brilliantly provocative campaigns that encapsulate everything that disruptive marketing should be.
Speaking at this year’s MAD//Fest London, Hellmann’s global senior marketing manager Joao Brum and Edelman’s global ECD Jamie Cordwell revealed the genesis of both the Mayo McHack and Name Switch campaigns.
It all started when, shockingly, marketing gurus at the famed condiment brand found to their horror that mayo was not available as an individual sauce at UK McDonald’s in any format.
This meant that mayo lovers had no conventional way of eating their fries with their favourite sauce – until creatives came up with the ingenious Mayo McHack of course.
The ingenious campaign encouraged Hellmann’s fans to go to their local McDonald’s and customise their Mayo McChicken order – by removing all items except the mayo.
Resulting in a burger box filled with a dollop of mayo, fans loved the concept and posted and shared the content to their heart’s content – amplifying the campaign far and wide.
It’s safe to say that McDonald’s didn’t see the funny side however, sending a cease-and-desist letter asking the Unilever-owned brand to put an end to the campaign.
The stunt ending up being a roaring success – supercharging brand consideration and awareness for the mayo market leader and scoring Unilever a Silver Lions in PR and Brand Experience & Activation last year.
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Mayo McHack seems relatively mild when compared to Hellmann’s ‘Name Switch’ campaign in which the brand asked German mayo lovers named ‘Heinz’ to change their names to ‘Hellmann’s’.
Again, the stunt kicked-off with a simple enough question: What if someone called Heinz actually loved mayo? The campaign again proved impressively successful, with five Germans eventually opting to change their surnames to ‘Hellmann’s’.
A longtime stronghold for the Heinz Ketchup brand, Germany’s interest and consideration for mayo exploded as a result of the campaign, which ever spread worldwide as people from Scotland and the US opted to also change their names from Heinz to Hellmann’s.
The results speak for themselves: with purchase consideration for mayo in Germany increased by 200%, Hellmann’s brand love up by 53%, and 59% of people surveyed saying that they would now buy mayo over ketchup having viewed the campaign.
Such is the power of truly disruptive marketing. With Hellmann’s implementation of the practice paying clear dividends and illustrating why when used correctly – it can be a veritable cannon within a brand’s marketing arsenal.
