In 2021, a simple experiment asked people around the world to draw ketchup.
No brand names. No hints. Just a blank page.
What showed up? Sketch after sketch that looked like Heinz — the classic bottle shape, the white label, the red. A quiet proof that some brands don’t need a logo to be recognized.
Heinz then pushed the idea further with AI. In 2022, they asked image models to create “ketchup.”
The results again looked like… Heinz. Different styles, same signal. Category = ketchup; mental picture = Heinz.
Why we like it: a brand truth turned into a simple, visual proof — first by people, then by machines — and done with a wink.
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