- Heinz, now the NFL's inaugural global condiment partner, built its 2026 Draft campaign around the number "57," the famous label digit, crowning whoever lands the 57th pick as its first-ever "Mr. 57."
- Pro Football Hall of Famer Devin Hester, himself the 57th pick of the 2006 NFL Draft, fronts the campaign, personally presenting the new draftee with a custom red jacket, a brand partnership deal, and a lifetime supply of Heinz ketchup.
- Heinz flooded its Pittsburgh hometown with 150+ OOH billboards from the airport to Acrisure Stadium, supported by a pop-up fan experience and a nationwide Uber Eats discount tied to Heinz Verified restaurants.
- This is Hester's first known partnership with Heinz; the brand's previous high-profile celebrity collaborations include multiple campaigns with singer Ed Sheeran, whose "Edchup" bottle became a cultural moment.
Heinz turned draft night in Pittsburgh into a ketchup coronation. On April 21, 2026, the brand, now the NFL’s first-ever global condiment partner following Kraft Heinz’s five-year league deal, announced it would honor whoever is selected 57th in the 2026 NFL Draft as the inaugural “Mr. 57,” a nod to the iconic “57” printed on every Heinz bottle.
Leading the charge is Devin Hester, the greatest return specialist in NFL history and a 2024 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, who just happens to have been the 57th pick of the 2006 NFL Draft.
Hester personally presented the newly chosen “Mr. 57” with a custom red jacket, a brand partnership, and a lifetime supply of ketchup. It marks his first known partnership with Heinz, adding to a career endorsement résumé that previously included Nike and Under Armour.
The campaign, created by Wieden+Kennedy New York, plastered over 150 billboards across Pittsburgh, from the international airport to Acrisure Stadium, while a pop-up, the Taste of Pittsburgh at Draft Experience, offered sauce stations, photo ops, and exclusive merch. Uber Eats extended the reach nationally with $25 off orders from Heinz Verified restaurants.
The NFL Draft proved to be a hotbed of brand activity this year: Fernando Mendoza partnered with LinkedIn on an NFL Draft campaign activation and Jeremiyah Love teamed with Sharpie for a Draft Night creative collaboration.
Heinz has found a sharp, story-driven way to make the moment its own, one that connects a legendary player’s origin story directly to the brand’s most recognizable asset.
This follows a pattern of personality-led campaigns. The brand previously partnered with Ed Sheeran on the “Edchup” limited-edition bottle and a 2025 viral ad campaign.
Takeaways
Heinz didn’t just buy an NFL sponsorship, it invented a tradition out of thin air. By anchoring the “Mr. 57” concept to a real draft pick number and a real Hall of Famer, the brand made its activation feel organic rather than transactional.
Devin Hester is the perfect face here: his credibility as an NFL legend gives the campaign real emotional weight, and the numerical coincidence is genuinely compelling storytelling.
The Pittsburgh-wide OOH blitz, combined with the Uber Eats consumer play, shows Heinz thinking in both local depth and national scale simultaneously, a dual approach that could set a benchmark for how food brands activate sports partnerships going forward.
Will the “Mr. 57” tradition actually stick as an annual Draft moment, or is it a one-season novelty? Could this campaign inspire other brands to build activations around their own iconic numbers, and which brand would nail it next? Does Devin Hester’s Hall of Fame status and personal draft history make this feel more authentic than a typical celebrity brand deal?
