Prep time: 3 weeks
Slow cook for: 2 years

Client Story: Kraft Heinz

The Challenge

Heinz is a household name. After 140 years of making non-perishable products, they know a thing or two about creating family favourites. But like everyone, Covid-19 presented them with a never-before-seen challenge.

In the early stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic, regular shopping habits were disrupted entirely. With the UK entering lockdown and usual distribution channels struggling to stock shelves, Heinz approached Good Growth to help them launch their first ever ecommerce platform in the UK.x

We have been working with Good Growth to support us in developing our new Heinz to Home offering. We came with a brief to help us create a proposition to support people struggling to get access to our brands in the context of the current Covid-19 situation.

A key element of the brief was speed. We needed to land our website in less than 3 weeks. Good Growth took up the challenge and importantly kept it to the strict time frame.

We worked with them like a start-up, aiming to launch an MVP as quickly as possible and improve our proposition every day from launch. Good Growth quickly managed to work collaboratively with other agencies and internal stakeholders involved in the project and quickly implemented changes decided after daily brainstorming.

The commitment from their team was truly amazing. I hope Good Growth will now help us evolve the proposition for the future. ”

Jean-Philippe Nier Head of ecommerce, UK & Ireland. Kraft Heinz

The Approach

Good Growth and Heinz worked with speed and agility in order to launch a new site within three weeks. Working closely with key stakeholders in daily update briefings, the Heinz to Home concept took shape rapidly and full site designs were agreed.

Good Growth were able to draw upon a number of key agency partners to collaborate with on the site, ensuring that work was done to an industry-leading standard. Using Shopify Plus as a platform ensured that the site could be built and scaled quickly, whilst customising the functionality to meet the specific needs of Heinz and their customers.

At the start, the objective were very simple:

How quickly can we launch a site, in response to lockdown measures in the UK?
How can we support particular customer groups such as Blue Light Card holders, plus the elderly and vulnerable?

After the launch a new set of objectives developed:

Can we develop H2H as a NPD platform, to test quirky product ideas on a small scale?
How do we ensure that Heinz superfans get the best customer experience?
Can we link a DTC channel to Heinz’ brand purpose and messaging?
How can Heinz use H2H as a first-party data channel, to improve their internal decision-making?

To do this we completed three sets of activities:

Launch a new DTC channel. In three weeks, we went from conceptualising ideas about the store to launching with over 80 million impressions in the first week.
Support campaign activations. Since Summer 2020, we have helped deliver product launches and PR activity on the site.
Develop and improve over time. Apply a test-and-learn programme to every aspect of the site to improve customer experience and site performance.

Good Growth applied our unique approach to digital testing and maturity to rapidly develop and innovate in a new field. We went beyond our comfort zone, and our listed services, to do something that had not been done before.

The Solution

Working with Kraft Heinz, Good Growth managed the end-to-end delivery of the Heinz to Home website. We continue to use our ecommerce experience to support the development of the Heinz-to-Home proposition, product line and site performance.

The product lineup has continued to change. The initial proposition included a bundle containing sixteen cans of the most popular Heinz Essential Varieties for £10. Whilst the classic products prove extremely popular, it was clear customers’ appetite for more varied Heinz items. Since the initial site launch, Infant, Vegan and Sauce bundles have been added as staple products.

In addition, Heinz to Home has become a valuable tool for NPD and PR. Heinz have successfully used the site to test product ideas before a wider launch, such as the BIG soup product line.

Heinz have also used products to generate national press coverage, such as their Christmas Dinner-flavour soup to highlight food shortages in the run-up to Christmas 2021. In 2022, they also celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Gravelly Hill Interchange, otherwise known as ‘Spaghetti Junction’. A special run of 500 cans sold out within days.

The Results

Heinz To Home launched on 4th April 2020. It received widespread media coverage, as Brits latched onto a familiar brand in unfamiliar times. Despite the tight turnaround placing pressure on the project, the site ran smoothly, and customers that needed access to staple foods were once again able to get them.

Good Growth worked with a range of partners on Heinz to Home. It was successfully delivered by a combination of teams across different sectors, who collaborated to operationalise the system.

The site generated over 80m impressions across launch weekend. Heinz and Good Growth quickly realised that even post-pandemic, the site could serve a number of important roles for Heinz. Since 2020, Good Growth has worked continuously with Kraft Heinz to improve and develop their DTC channel.