What garners more goodwill for a brand: a 30-second TV spot at the most prime of times, or a reputation for giving workers a break?
This year, Kraft Heinz (KHC) is hoping that the latter pays off. The company is giving its salaried staff a free vacation day the Monday after the Super Bowl, Bloomberg reports.
The move is part of Kraft Heinz’s campaign to have the day declared a national holiday (it’s already pushing a petition on the topic). “We wanted to get behind an initiative that we know people feel strongly about,” company marketing executive Nicole Kulwicki told Bloomberg.
This isn’t the first time campaigners have called for a post-Super Bowl holiday, for reasons ranging from reducing drunk-driving accidents to improving worker morale and boosting productivity.
According to some estimates, 16.5 million employees reportedly miss work the Monday after the Big Game—not surprising given the 1.3 billion chicken wings and 325 million gallons of beer that get consumed every year.
For more on the Super Bowl, watch Coins2Day’s video:
Kraft Heinz apparently declined to comment on how much its generosity would cost, but whatever it shells out comes in lieu of an estimated $5 million per 30-second TV spot. (The company’s ad last year portrayed dogs dressed as hot dogs galloping towards humans dressed as condiments.)
An additional day’s vacation comes as an rare bright spot for Heinz Kraft employees, who’ve endured a difficult few years. In a bid to improve its margins following the 2015 merger of Heinz and Kraft, the double-barreled food giant reportedly shuttered factories and slashed thousands of jobs.
