Kraft Heinz’s ‘Trigger the Taste’ campaign, created with Carat, Dentsu OOH and Wieden+Kennedy London, didn’t just win the Grand Prix at the 2026 Outdoor Media Awards; it also took Gold in Outstanding Poster and Brand Building. Here’s what made the campaign stand out.
Heinz is one of Britain’s most iconic food brands, and with that status comes high expectations. In a crowded, price‑sensitive market, Kraft Heinz set out to reaffirm Heinz as Britain’s most irresistible food brand by focusing on a simple truth: some foods don’t just go well with Heinz - they demand it.
That ambition came to life in a bold outdoor campaign we now know as ‘Trigger the Taste’. Rather than treating outdoor as a supporting channel, Heinz and its partners made it the backbone of their brand plan by committing sustained investment over the year to rebuild belief in Heinz's quality and taste, not just price.
“It’s an iconic British brand, and this work stands out in the work it’s done historically,” said our judges.
By late 2024, Heinz faced a rare challenge. As the cost‑of‑living crisis intensified, its products had become a lightning rod for conversations about rising prices. A brand embedded in British culture was suddenly being questioned for its value; the barrier was universal: “Why is Heinz worth more?”
Instead of leaning into price, the brief was to make people feel taste – to crave Heinz – and, in doing so, rebuild belief in its quality. Using posters alone, the team set out to create a big, unmissable launch moment, then sustain that presence to keep Heinz top of mind and reassert its premium positioning over time. At the core was taste memory: tapping into foods and occasions where Heinz isn’t just a nice‑to‑have, but a non‑negotiable.
Behind the simplicity sat a rigorous strategy. The team invested in understanding when and where people think about, and crave, Heinz, plus how outdoor could intercept those moments.
“There was a lot of research - which moments people think or crave Heinz, when this should appear - there's a lot of rigorous work, and I like every level of craft,” noted one judge.
By mapping these ‘crave moments’ and matching them to placements, the campaign turned everyday journeys into appetite‑triggering touchpoints.
Crucially, this wasn’t a one‑off burst. Heinz committed significant, sustained Out of Home (OOH) investment over 12 months, using the reach, stature and repetition of outdoor to shift deeply held perceptions about taste and quality across its major categories.
If the strategy was rigorous, the creative response was deliberately bold and simple. The result was a design system that stands on Heinz’s identity alone. Stripped‑back visuals put distinctive brand assets and food pairings centre stage, letting people’s own taste memories do the work.
Taken apart, each poster shows the same core ingredients:
What set ‘Trigger the Taste’ apart was not just what appeared on the posters, but the conviction behind how outdoor was used.
At a time of intense economic scrutiny, Heinz didn’t retreat from its premium position or disappear. Instead, it leaned into OOH as a core brand‑building channel, committing over £500k in the past 12 months and using outdoor’s scale and visibility to put taste and quality back at the centre of the story.
Detailed planning underpinned every choice: which products to spotlight, which moments to target, which environments would maximise appetite and recall. Classic and digital formats worked together to give the campaign both stature and flexibility, creating a big, public statement about Heinz's role in British food culture and reinforcing it repeatedly over time.
This was OOH as a brand‑building exercise, not just a place to put a great visual.
What impressed the jury was not only how the posters looked, but the discipline behind them. Extensive testing and due diligence ensured every detail served the central idea and outdoor context.
“It demonstrated bold market leader behaviour… this wasn’t marketing getting excited - the campaign oozes confidence,” said our judges.
The pay‑off was clear. ‘Trigger the Taste’ didn’t just grab attention; it delivered meaningful shifts in how people thought about Heinz, driving perceptions of taste superiority across multiple categories and helping protect long‑term brand equity at a moment of real cultural pressure.
Charlotte Mackenzie at Senior Media Manager at Kraft Heinz, said: “Winning this award means a huge amount to us. ‘Trigger the Taste’ was born from a simple idea, but there’s an enormous amount of thinking, planning and craft that sits behind every poster. To see that work recognised with the Grand Prix – as well as Gold in both Outstanding Poster and Brand Building – is an incredible accolade for everyone involved. We believed outdoor could rebuild belief in Heinz’s quality and taste, and this win is a real testament to the power of that conviction and the partnership behind it.”
‘Trigger the Taste’ is proof that a simple idea, rigorously planned and beautifully executed, can both build brands and win big. We love it because the campaign shows outdoor at its best: bold, beautifully crafted work that understands where people are, what they’re feeling and what will make them stop.
In an age of constant distraction, it proves that a poster can still trigger not just attention, but real emotion, memory and - in this case - taste.
See all the winners from the 2026 Outdoor Media Awards.
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