Kraft Heinz is naming Dentsu’s Carat as its U.S. media agency following a pitch process handled by MediaSense.
The incumbent is Publicis Groupe’s Starcom, which has a longtime relationship with the food giant and retained the U.S. account the last time it was up for review, in 2020.
“We can confirm that Kraft Heinz plans to consolidate its media buying agency support and we are working now to finalize details of a partnership with Carat (a Dentsu company),” Kraft Heinz wrote in a statement. “The plan is to add U.S. media management to the work Carat was already doing for its International Zone, Canada, and its Global Center of Excellence.”
Carat referred comment to the client. Starcom declined to comment.
It’s unclear if Publicis is retaining any of the business moving forward. Publicis had set up a dedicated team to service the Kraft Heinz account in 2020 called Publicis 57. According to a memo at the time, more than 200 people across Publicis participated in the pitch. The agency began losing a foothold on the account that year after Kraft assigned its international and Canada media business to Carat.