Don Draper's Rejected 'Pass The Heinz' Pitch Is Now A Real Ad Campaign

Mad Men has been off the air for approximately thirty years, but its influence over the advertising world is still profound. So much so that Heinz has decided to resurrect a rejected Don Draper pitch ("Pass The Heinz") for a new campaign.

In the original pitch, Draper showed three ads (one has a burger, another french fries, the last steak) with the simple slogan "Pass The Heinz" hovering on top. He left out the actual ketchup bottles, because as he argued, Heinz as a brand is so inextricably linked with its product that consumers can immediately conjure up the image on their own. "It's a testament to ketchup that there could be no confusion," he said. Now, all three of those ads will run on billboards in NYC; all three will also run in the NY Post, and the fries ad will run in Variety as well.

AdWeek writes that at least the right parties are getting credited for the campaign: "Partly a PR stunt, partly just solid on-brand communications, the campaign is sure to delight fans of the AMC show, which in July will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its premiere. And in a nice touch, the ads are officially being credited to Heinz’s current agency, David Miami, and to Don’s fictional 1960s firm, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce."

Here's the original unsuccessful pitch from the show, which happened in the third episode of the sixth season ("To Have And To Hold"):

“Even though Don Draper created the ‘Pass the Heinz’ campaign almost 50 years ago, the communications still really work in today’s world,” Nicole Kulwicki, head of the Heinz brand, said in a statement. “Mr. Draper really understood the one thing every Heinz fan knows, which is to never settle for the foods you love without the great taste of Heinz. What we loved about the campaign is that it doesn’t require paragraphs of copy to explain it. It features mouthwatering food images, and all that’s missing is the Heinz.”

We can only hope that this ushers in a wave of advertising campaigns based on Mad Men pitches, including adorkable Cool Whip banter, new cures for the common breakfast, and of course, ten minutes of Don Draper crying like a baby (who cares what the product is, put this on TV and it'll sell BILLIONS..........of smiles):