Kraft Heinz takes to Twitter to stir Mayochup buzz after long slump

Mayochup might not be exactly what investors have been craving from Kraft Heinz Co., but the company is betting it will help whet their appetite for growth.

The packaged-food giant, unable for now to fulfil its goal of expansion via acquisitions, is polling consumers on Twitter on whether they’d buy a ketchupmayonnaise fusion. Kraft Heinz says that 500,000 votes in favour of Mayochup by April 15 will trigger the product’s entry to U.S. supermarket aisles.

The poll is part of “a comprehensive marketing campaign to drive mass awareness” of the product, the company has said. After a failed bid to buy Unilever last year, Kraft Heinz faces the challenge of creating buzz for its stable of established brands — which include Oscar Mayer hotdogs, Philadelphia cream cheese and Capri Sun drinks — as consumers increasingly embrace upstart products and some grocerystore staples fall out of favour.

The company slashed jobs and expenses after it was created from a 2015 merger orchestrated by 3G Capital and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Investors have widely speculated it would repeat this formula at acquired companies.

With a mega-deal failing to materialize, Kraft Heinz is under pressure to prove it can grow organically. While it posted small sales gains in the two most-recent quarters, those followed a lengthy decline.

“It’s too early to tell about the potential for this product, although the skeptic in me sees little opportunity in a very crowded condiment and dressings market,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Kenneth Shea said. The company will need to do a lot more product innovation to boost sales, he said.