Why Kraft Heinz’s in-house agency is hiring

Kraft Heinz’s internal agency The Kitchen is growing as it takes on more work, including for Kool-Aid, Jell-O and Crystal Light. As of April 24, there were 14 openings at The Kitchen, which operates out of Toronto and Chicago. Several of the openings are for duos of copywriters and senior and junior art directors. The Kitchen is also growing to keep up its social-first approach to brands, as it hires for social media insights analysts and content creators. The job descriptions do not specify which brand or brands the positions are for. “You’ll translate your ideas (and the team’s concepts) into visuals for TV, social and other mediums,” reads the job description for a senior art director. “You’ll partner with producers to make sure that a wide variety of content is captured and edited in a way that fits the iconic brands you represent.” The Kitchen’s remit for Kraft Heinz brands is to watch social media for cultural moments to be part of, such as the recent Heinz mustard partnership with DJ Mustard. “We have always-on social for our brands, and beyond that we are going to do more campaign product work in-house,” said Tom Evans, head of The Kitchen. Evans points to Kool-Aid, Capri Sun and Claussen as some of the brands that will get more attention from the internal agency. The Kitchen was behind Ore-Ida’s recent NIL deal with Richie Saunders, the great-grandson of Ore-Ida’s co-founder. The Kitchen also kicked off Claussen’s “just pickle juice” product, after Dua Lipa went viral for putting pickle brine in her Diet Coke. “Just the Brine” hit shelves five months later. The Kitchen was started in 2020, and since then has grown to around 170 employees. The in-house shop’s hiring push comes several months after Todd Kaplan joined Kraft Heinz as chief marketing officer. In the last few months, The Kitchen embedded itself further into Kraft Heinz’s business units, with brands getting a “pod” of Kitchen creatives. For flagship brands, The Kitchen’s remit will be limited to social media. More news: Marketing hiring grew in the first quarter—behind salary and job trends “Heinz, Lunchables, Philadelphia—those brands get the full suite of social products and social sparks,” said Evans. “But we will still rely on external agencies for creative work on our larger brands. But for smaller, opportunistic brands, we can be their AOR without taking work away from another agency.” Wieden+Kennedy works on Heinz while Johannes Leonardo has created several campaigns for Oscar Mayer, Kraft Mac and Cheese, Ore-Ida, Velveeta and Kraft Singles. Mischief has worked on Capri Sun, Kraft Mac and Cheese and Heinz Ketchup, and was behind a social media post for A1 steak sauce that leaned into U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon’s recent gaffe of referring to AI as A1. More from Ad Age: The critical information brands are failing to communicate in LinkedIn agency searches Also read: Inside the hidden CMO job market

Why Kraft Heinz’s in-house agency is hiring

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