Old Ketchup Packet Heads for Trash is an excellent look at the intricate innovation process of developing a new tomato ketchup sachet. This is the kind of thing most people don’t think twice about, and the kind of thing that people at H. J. Heinz spent three years obsessing over. It’s also a pretty good insight into the innovation process, involving in this instance your typical two-way mirrors and your rather less typical fake minivan interiors.

The cost issues highlighted in the article are interesting and key. I find the idea of customers hoarding sachets of tomato ketchup entertaining, surreal and depressing in about equal measure. But the point is that consumers have been trained to expect ketchup for free. That’s an important assumption that Heinz will have to tackle head on if it expects restaurant partners such as Chick-fil-A, Smashburger and Dairy Queen to pay three times more than they used to pay for the old pouches. Outlets will need to see a distinct uptick in the sale of fries to justify that additional expense, however swish and clever the new multipurpose design.

[Image c/o Heinz.]

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   should have thought

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