‍Over the last few years, Heinz has made its mark in the brand collaboration space. Just this year, it capitalized on the infamous Gigi Hadid vodka pasta recipe that was doing the round on socials by partnering with none other than Absolut.

Not content with influencing what people eat at home, it wants its customers to fully immerse themselves in its red world with a new range of ketchup-colored paint.

For a limited time, people can purchase made-to-order tins from its partnership with paint brand Lick. “In color psychology, red is incredibly stimulating and triggers a powerful physical response in the body,” says color psychologist, and Lick’s director of interior, Tash Bradley. “It symbolizes excitement, courage, strength, energy and warmth. When red is used in the right proportions, it really commands attention and makes an impact.”

Aptly named Red HTK 57 (a play on the 57 Varieties ad slogan), there will only be 570 tins available. Is this a stroke of marketing genius or just another fleeting PR stunt? Paul McEntee, founder of creative comms agency Here Be Dragons, would argue it's the latter.

“A new brand collab should fall into one of two categories - utility or entertainment. If it is not adding value, there is no point. Heinz x Lick is pure entertainment,” he says. “Do people want to cover their homes in the same color as their condiment? Probably not. Do they want to imagine they or other people can? 100%”

McEntee notes that a brand collaboration is up to 25 times more cost-effective than buying digital media around a product. It’s about creating a hype bubble around two products that form an unlikely pairing.

In turn, this drives relevance and ‘new ness’ amongst a generation of content-hungry digital natives who can’t wait for new product development.

He continues: “This isn’t about selling products; it’s about Lick gaining awareness versus their competitor set by using the more established and larger Heinz platform to reach more people. Vice-versa, Heinz gets cool points and relevance by partnering with a disrupter brand. Win-win.”

Earlier this year, McEntee delved into the best and world brand collaborations we've seen in recent years. Check it out here.