Heinz’s in-house agency The Kitchen is tapping people who know that fame can be fleeting to drive home the urgency of tracking down some limited time sauces.

Called “Sauce Drops,” and led by Toronto-based Kitchen ECD Simon Au, the campaign acts as a vehicle for the sauce-maker to drive excitement – and trial – for a line of limited-distribution sauces. It is the agency’s first 360-degree campaign for the brand. With a range of flavours, including black garlic ranch, yuzu wasabi and creamy chimichurri, the brand is hoping to have broad taste appeal as it releases one of the six flavors per month for the rest of the year.

These releases will be served only at specific American partner restaurants, and promoted digitally by some familiar faces in the form of one-hit wonder musician Rebecca Black, former American Idol contestant William Hung and Kyle Craven – who is perhaps better known by his meme persona, “Bad Luck Brian.” The idea is simple, according to Au: What better way to promote fleeting sauce offers than by using people who have experienced “the fickle nature of fame”?

“We constantly look to hijack fans’ behaviour, and one of the key insights behind the ‘Sauce Drops’ campaign is the fact that people are seeking out new and unique flavours at their favourite restaurants. In fact, each of our limited-time sauce flavours pair especially well with the crispy, savoury taste of fried chicken, so teaming up with famous American chicken joints made for the perfect way to deliver a unique and elevated flavour dipping experience to fans, unlike anything Heinz has ever created,” explains Diane Mays Doty, associate brand manager for Heinz’ foodservice division.

The campaign incorporates in-store assets at each of the partner restaurants, as well as earned media and social creator partnerships in each market. During the first week of each sauce’s release, consumers – specifically the Gen Z target – will see heavy promotion across TikTok and Instagram that encourages them to try out the new flavours “before they are gone forever,” says Doty. Once the sauce sells out, paid social will continue to drive anticipation for the next flavour.

The brand does not currently have plans to release any of the flavours in retail, however, “you never know where these might pop up in the future,” says Doty.

“The limited-time component helps us to test a variety of emerging, mouthwatering flavours and sauces in an expedited window to really understand what our fans are craving and want more of,” she adds.

Starcom’s dedicated media group for Heinz in the U.S., Publicis 57, handled the buy. Zeno handled PR.