Tomato sauce? Tamatie sous? Ketchup? Ask a room full of South Africans what they call the red stuff they put on their chips, and you're likely to get multiple different answers – each delivered with equal fervour and conviction.
Rather than attempt to settle the debate, Heinz – in partnership with Tractor Outdoor – decided to give everybody a say… and a billboard to say it on. As part of its recent Call It What You Want campaign, Heinz invited South Africans to share their own names for the much-loved condiment. Selected submissions were then flighted on Tractor’s digital billboards across Gauteng and the Western Cape, turning a familiar local conversation into an interactive outdoor advertising experience.
Ruchelle Mouton, chief marketing officer at Glynt (parent company to Tractor Outdoor), explains: “South Africans have a wonderful way of making things their own, right down to what they call their tomato sauce. Heinz recognised that there was something really fun in this everyday argument and decided to run with it."
Watch the Call It What You Want campaign case study:
People could engage with the campaign by submitting their own names for ketchup via social media by commenting and participating in influencer-led conversations. Once the name submissions had been reviewed and approved, they were published on digital billboards for thousands of other South Africans to see. Those whose submissions were approved also received a personalised visual of their billboard creative that they could download and share with friends and family on social media.
“Instead of simply seeing an advert for Heinz, people had the chance to become part of the campaign themselves,” explains Mouton.
The response demonstrated just how many South Africans were keen to weigh in. During the campaign – which ran from 26 August to 14 September 2026 – almost 900 social comments were captured, with 275 personalised names making their way onto billboards. Across 22 digital screens, the campaign delivered over a quarter of a million plays and reached close to one million people in Gauteng and the Western Cape, generating more than 2.5 million viewed impressions.
While the campaign's premise was deliberately simple, bringing it to life required a combination of creative thinking, technology and media infrastructure. The execution drew on the capabilities of Glynt, which brings together Tractor Outdoor's media network and campaign delivery expertise, Mischief's creative innovation and activation capabilities, and Ignis' technology development expertise into one comprehensive media, innovation and tech ecosystem.
Mouton believes the campaign serves to illustrate what is possible when brands have access to capabilities that allow them to develop innovative and interactive campaigns supported by technology and media infrastructure, and deliver them at scale. “Technology gives us the ability to do some incredible things in outdoor advertising, but it still needs a strong idea behind it. What I love about this campaign is that the starting point was such a simple and relatable South African insight. The technology allowed us to extend that idea further, connecting a conversation happening online with something people could see out in the real world,” she says.
And while South Africans may never agree on what to call their favourite red condiment, Heinz has shown that sometimes the fun lies in engaging in the debate itself.
