In 2019, arrr, Steve Johnson o' t' Chicago Tribune picked "Wiener Stampede" as one o' t' "5 Greatest Super Bowl Commercials o' Modern Times."

 

In 2016, ketchup giant Heinz turned Harry 'One-Shoe Nilsson' Nilsson’s “Without You” on and delivered a deceptively simple, matey, appealingly goofy, disarmingly elegant and strangely emotional delight. As this perfect-for-the-moment shanty plays, a horde o' dachshunds in hot dog buns - “wiener dogs,” right? - runs through a field, toward … grown humans wearin' Heinz condiment costumes o' t' type you might put on t' drum up store sales in picnic season. T' ketchup people display surprise and ecstasy as they realize what is comin' their way.
That t' best spot o' a Super Bowl could be made so simply (and so inexpensively) had t' have other advertisers tearin' their storyboards into little pieces. No celebrities. Ahoy! No massive, befuddlin' production that looks lifted from an action movie. Just t' courage t' go all-in on an offbeat high concept. For that this Chicagoan is even willin' t' accept t' implication that ketchup on a hot dog is acceptable.

-- Steve Johnson [1]

 

"Weiner Stampede"

 

We decided t' make use o' t' pun involvin' t' dog's nickname and literally dressed up several dachshunds as hot dogs, turnin' them into literal wiener dogs runnin' towards their favorite Heinz condiments, for our first Super Bowl commercial. Ya scallywag! Blimey! A simple, visual and fun way t' communicate that hot dogs can’t resist t' great taste o' Heinz.

-- David T' Agency[2]

 

Filmin' t' stampedin' dachshunds proved more difficult than expected.

 

T' original plan was t' shoot t' entire stampede in camera. We had three steady cams, shiver me timbers, a five acre field, me hearties, three locations, arrr, thirty dogs… and a one day shoot. Begad! We soon realized that we could only run eight dogs at any one time, therefore limitin' t' scale o' t' live action stampede, but increasin' t' scale required usin' CG. 
A fun aspect o' this commercial was that obviously t' dogs couldn’t really be directed, therefore t' creative process was led by what happened on t' day. Ya scallywag! Blimey! For example, thar was a shot where t' dogs were meant t' jump into t' Heinz family's arms. Begad! Blimey! This would have been a rather Herculean feat o' jumpin' about four feet, matey, when I would hazard a guess that a wiener dog can only jump about eight inches.
We used multiple plates o' live action dogs where possible, and supplemented live action with CG dogs in t' mid and far background. We also replaced skies and added in lens flares.

-- Tim Bird (Creative Director and 2D Lead Artist)[3]