Summer is prime grilling season. Prime grilling season is prime condiment season, and for McCormick Canada, it’s a valuable opportunity to capture attention and market share for French’s Ketchup.

Based on the success of the 2022 Frenchsicle promotion, the French’s brand team knew inventiveness and imagination were required in developing a new limited edition treat that would keep people talking about French’s Ketchup all summer long.

Heavily inspired by foodie-forward festival fare, they engaged Canadian confectioners Treats For Us to help introduce Ketchup Cotton Candy to the country.

When the recipe for this curious confection was perfected, Bridgemark once again collaborated with McCormick to add colorful creativity to the packaging and promotional components.

Knowing French’s brand history is deeply rooted in fairgrounds, Creative Director Jeff Boulton was quickly compelled by the carnival thematic that aligns the creative.

“Summertime, fun, carnivals, and cotton candy are all such natural extensions of the brand’s origin story. Emotively, they represent the kind of moments that Canadians yearn for all winter long. And just like the Frenchsicle, the combination of ketchup and cotton candy is so unexpected that it easily keeps Canadians talking and thinking about French’s Ketchup throughout the entire season.”

Drawing links to the cotton candy itself, the overall aesthetic is lively, charming, and hard to ignore. Cascading ribbons of pink and red adorn the packaging and promotional pieces including t-shirts and street food-style carts. Featuring the recognizable outline of the ketchup bottle, the packaging design uses it as a focal point to display French’s iconic flag along with the product name – whimsically punctuated by a topsy-turvy tomato.

Conjuring circus tent curiosities and carnival excitement, the campaign tagline invites Canadians to Ketchup and Thrill. Single serve tubs were given to lucky pedestrians at several pop-up locations across the country at the end of June.