AI vs Taste of Home: Heinz puts signature recipes to test against AI-generated ones

Founded in 1869, Heinz has been a home pantry staple for over 150 years.

Like many of its FMCG competitors, Kraft Heinz has ventured into the artificial intelligence space with the introduction of a new AI chef marketing campaign in China.

Founded in 1869, Heinz has been a home pantry staple for over 150 years, for 40 of which it's sold its Master Weijixian soy sauce in China, becoming a go-to for consumers in the market, reported Campaign Asia.

This has allowed the company to celebrate the taste and heritage of its signature soy sauce, which has been around since 1983, both online and offline. Douyin, the mainland Chinese version of TikTok, is one of the platforms that Kraft Heinz uses to host events ranging from pop-ups to live-streaming sessions to offline activations in Guangzhou.

The in-house marketing team of Master Weijixian recently announced a new campaign and produced an inventive interactive film on Douyin with the topic of "Artificial Intelligence vs. the Taste of Home" in honour of the brand's 40th anniversary. In the advertisement, a mother and an AI robot are seen competing to make a prawn meal with soy sauce, with the mother's son serving as the judge. Douyin users are also allowed to cast real-time votes for their favourite, and the public will see a varied video conclusion depending on their selections.'

More than 200 key opinion consumers (KOCs) were also persuaded by Master Weijixian to test the AI recipes from the challenge. They cooked the identical dish twice, once using the AI's recipe and once using their own. They later posted the winning recipe online to encourage other individuals to investigate their own experiences after asking their friends to participate in a blind test to determine which one was superior.

"We marked this milestone with a series of marketing initiatives. We introduced “AI vs Taste of Home Cooking Competition” as a topic, inviting food influencers to join us and put their own signature recipes to the test against AI-generated recipes. The Douyin activation gained 33.3 million views and 388,000 engagements," said Eric Yu, head of marketing for Chinese sauces Kraft Heinz in a conversation with Campaign Asia.

In addition to sharing content online, an AI robot was invited to participate in a livestream and final competition alongside three key opinion leaders (KOLs) and over twelve home chefs who won the preliminary games at the Master pop-up event in the Mall of the World (Huachenghui Mall), Guangzhou, in late October. Six home recipes were put to the test: stir-fried beef noodles, stir-fried meat and vegetables, steamed fish, fried prawns and scalded seasonal vegetables. Zhuang Enjian, the innovation chef of Kraft Heinz China, evaluated the recipes by tasting them and assigning a grade.