Kraft Heinz hires ex-Pepsi marketer Todd Kaplan as CMO for North America

Kraft Heinz has hired former Pepsi marketer Todd Kaplan as chief marketing officer for North America, as the food giant looks to fuel new growth for Kraft Mac & Cheese, Velveeta, Philadelphia Cream Cheese and other legacy brands while innovating to meet the demands of health-conscious consumers. Kaplan’s duties will include oversight of the food giant’s in-house agency, The Kitchen. Also under his purview are the company’s strategic ventures with plant-based food maker NotCo and Just Spices, a spice blend marketer in which Kraft Heinz holds a majority ownership stake. “Kraft Heinz has shown that they maintain an unwavering belief that creativity and innovation can truly transform and accelerate their business,” Kaplan said in an interview. “They have a big ambition to accelerate the momentum they’ve already begun to build and take the brands and business to the next level—and that aspiration is really exciting to me.” Kaplan left PepsiCo in June after a 17-year career. He most recently served as CMO of the Pepsi brand, where his accomplishments included overseeing a well-received redesign of the cola last year. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs Kaplan will oversee Kraft Heinz’s North American growth office, whose duties include strengthening marketing capabilities and innovation. Kaplan, who got his start at PepsiCo as an MBA intern, is among the better-known CMOs in the business, frequently speaking at industry events. Kaplan, who starts Aug. 5, will report to Pedro Navio, a Kraft Heinz executive VP and its president of North America. North American marketing functions had previously been overseen by Diana Frost when she was chief growth officer of Kraft Heinz North America. Frost was promoted to the global chief growth officer role in November. “Todd has been tasked to unleash the potential of Kraft Heinz’s brands through elevated creativity, a deeper connection to culture, and building modern marketing capabilities that can accelerate the business and fuel Kraft Heinz’s next wave of growth,” according to Kraft Heinz. Hear from Kraft Heinz’s in-house agency, The Kitchen, at Ad Age’s Business of Brands conference in Chicago in September. Visit adage.com/businessofbrands for the full speaker lineup and to buy tickets. Brand building Kraft Heinz, which has dual headquarters in Chicago and Pittsburgh, maintains a $22 billion food and beverage business in North America, spanning 50 brands across 40 categories. Kaplan, who lives in New York, said he will commute to Chicago. Like many food and beverage makers, Kraft Heinz has been dealing with sluggish sales as consumers dial back spending in the face of stubborn inflation. (PepsiCo last week reported disappointing second-quarter earnings, citing budget-conscious consumers.) Kraft Heinz previously reported that its first-quarter organic net sales fell 1.2% in North America, citing volume declines caused by higher pricing as well as cutbacks to the government-run Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that helps low-income people buy food. Its overall first-quarter organic net sales declined 0.5%, boosted by growth in emerging markets. Kraft Heinz maintained its full-year guidance in May, calling for overall organic sales to be flat to up 2%. The company will report second-quarter results on July 31. The Wall Street Journal in May reported that Kraft Heinz was looking to sell Oscar Mayer, as it works to “rejigger its portfolio as consumer interest in health and nutrition grows.” But the company’s immediate task is to convince consumers to buy its brands, rather than cheaper co-called private label brands, which have gained share amid inflation. “People look for comfort in brands they know and brands they love and I think that’s where the importance of brand building has never been more important than today,” Kaplan said. He said he “gravitates a lot towards” marketing “that is more real-time and culture forward.” He cited Heinz’s effort to rush out limited-edition “Ketchup and Seemingly Ranch” as an example of what he likes. It came after images of Taylor Swift enjoying chicken fingers with ketchup (and what a fan described as “seemingly ranch” on social media) at a Kansas City Chiefs game drew tons of buzz. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Heinz (@heinz) The Seemingly Ranch effort won eight Cannes Lions in seven categories at last month’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. One of Kraft Heinz’s newest marketing efforts ties Heinz ketchup and mustard to Marvel’s “Deadpool & Wolverine,” complete with a movie trailer-style ad highlighting the products (to the comedic dismay of Ryan Reynolds), out-of-home ads and the launch of limited-edition collectibles that make the condiment bottles resemble the title characters. (Rethink, Marvel Studios and Maximum Effort produced the campaign, with Carat on paid media, The Kitchen supporting social media and Zeno Group on PR.) See America's Hottest Brands 20 brands that are trending in 2024 Click here On Tuesday, Kraft Heinz announced its latest collab, a Fudge n’ Vanilla French Fry Pop made with GoodPop inspired by dipping Ore-Ida French fries into a milkshake. Sur-FRIES! 🍟 Introducing the new Fudge n’ Vanilla French Fry Pop by @OreIdaPotatoes and @GoodPop!Bringing the delicious combination of a crispy salty french fry and creamy vanilla ice cream to life! 🤯 Order now while supplies last: https://t.co/pTETHMI0b4! pic.twitter.com/cCjYx9yv92— GoodPop (@GoodPop) July 16, 2024 Agency relationships Kraft Heinz’s creative agencies include Johannes Leonardo, which has worked on several of its rebranding efforts in recent years including Velveeta, Ore-Ida, Oscar Mayer and Kraft Singles. Other agencies working for Kraft Heinz include Wieden+Kennedy (which has done work for Heinz ketchup and Kraft sauces), Goodby Silverstein & Partners (Lunchables) and Rethink, which was behind the “It Has to be Heinz” marketing effort that won the Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix at Cannes last month. Late last year, Kraft Heinz hired Dentsu’s Carat as its U.S. media agency, which replaced longtime incumbent Publicis Groupe’s Starcom. At PepsiCo, Kaplan worked with agencies including VaynerMedia, Translation, Motive, OMD and Mrs&Mr. Kraft Heinz reported worldwide ad spending of $1.071 billion in 2023, up 13% from $945 million in 2022. The company’s definition of advertising expenses includes advertising production costs, in-store advertising costs, agency fees, sponsorships and brand promotions and events, in addition to costs to buy advertising in TV, radio, print, digital and social channels. The U.S. and Canada accounted for about 76% of the company’s $26.6 billion worldwide net sales in 2023. Contributing: Bradley Johnson

Kraft Heinz hires ex-Pepsi marketer Todd Kaplan as CMO for North America

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