Heinz's Red Staple Goes Green

P I T T S B U R G H, July 10 -- In an uncertain world, there always seemed to be a few things you could count on: the sky being blue, grass growing green and ketchup pouring out red.

But the world seems a little less certain today after a joltfrom Heinz: The company so thick into ketchup its own logo is redis introducing the unthinkable — green ketchup.

“Green is going to be a shocker for a lot of adults. But kidsdon’t have those hangups,” said Casey Keller, the point man on aworldwide push to reintroduce ketchup as a hip part of everydaymeals for H.J. Heinz Co.

Color of Spinach

The new green ketchup tastes just like the old red stuff, evenif it is the color of spinach. Company executives are hoping itsunexpected color and plastic bottle, which squirts a stream so thinkids can draw with it, will pack in the fans.

“The core idea is to give kids more control and fun over theirfood,” Keller said.

Kids do, after all, eat more than half of all ketchup in theUnited States, he said.

Targeting Teens

The 131-year-old food company last year embarked on a newketchup campaign after its share of the U.S. ketchup market droppedto about 43 percent in the late 1990s. Rather than going afteradults who buy the ketchup, Heinz targeted teens, pitching itduring breaks in shows like Dawson’s Creek and Party of Fiveand on MTV.

Heinz market share rose to 51 percent, and a month ago thecompany announced a 5 percent increase in profits for the fourthquarter, due in part to increased ketchup sales.

The new color in its thin-stream bottle is just the latest push.

“We wanted to create something where that bottle is pulled outof the fridge more often,” Keller said.

Several Colors Considered

Heinz’s research with young focus groups found kids would liketo see ketchup in some color other than red, so researchers cookedup several varieties.

They tried blue but settled on deep green because “it has alittle more kitchen logic,” Keller said.