It begs a fair question. Why DO hot dogs and hot dog buns come in packages with different quantities? It seems the time has come to get to the bottom of this dilemma, and Heinz Ketchup is leading the charge with their petition released just in time for National Hot Dog Month during July.
If you want to weigh in on this inconsistency that has plagued grillers even before Steve Martin first publicly lamented it in the 1991 movie, Father of the Bride, you can go to HeinzHotDogPact.com to sign the change.org petition. Known as The Hot Dog Pact, and calling on the makers of these complementary products to work together in unified packaging, the push is another example of the recent strategy by the ketchup giant to utilize quirky humor in their advertising methodology. A campaign video also highlights typical consumer complaints over this disparity across social media.
The Hot Dog Pact campaign coincides, not coincidentally, with summer barbecue season when sales of hot dogs and buns always increase alongside their indispensable corollary – ketchup – despite the pesky incongruence of typical hot dog packs containing 10 dogs compared to the typical 8-count packages of buns. A return to backyard and social grilling as COVID numbers decline has also bolstered gatherings and subsequent sales.
It’s not all fun and games, though, and Heinz reaps another benefit from the catchy campaign as well. By directing consumers through their own microsite to the petition, Heinz can potentially collect first party data through consumer names and email addresses – a move to counter the doomed third party cookies formerly relied upon as a mainstay to acquire consumer data. Many similar experiments have taken place over the last year among CPG brands in preparation for the anticipated changes in the data gathering landscape.
Will the ongoing discrepancy between hot dogs and hot dog bun quantities at last be resolved by The Hot Dog Pact of 2021? Read more about this article here: https://www.marketingdive.com/news/heinz-calls-on-hot-dog-and-bun-companies-to-sell-equal-packs/602798/