Masterfoods: Democracy Sauce

‘Democracy Sausage’ is Aussie slang for a barbecued sausage typically served on a slice of bread with tomato sauce (ketchup, but better) at polling stations nationwide on election day. It was Australia’s ‘word of the year’ in 2016, and is a continued source of memes and pride among young Aussies.

As Australia’s favourite sauce, we knew MasterFoods Tomato Sauce would be used on more democracy sausages than any other. Yet, in recent years, we’ve been losing relevance with under-40s who see us as outdated. We needed to reclaim our iconic status in culture, and remind everyone that it’s not a Democracy Sausage without MasterFoods.

In the lead up to the 2025 federal election, we rebranded our tomato sauce to ‘Democracy Sauce’ – the only sauce fit for a Democracy Sausage. Our election-adjacent campaign flooded social media, outdoor media, corflute media, satirical media, and even media media. We sent out thousands of bottles to polling stations nationwide for election day, engaging millions and triggering the biggest Gen-Z influencers to post about us. We also partnered with Uber Eats to flog some snags (sell some sausages), while our mascot managed to photobomb the prime minister on national TV. In the end, we didn’t simply change a word on a bottle, we changed the way Australians perceived our 80-year old brand. And victory never tasted so sweet.