In 2021, Kraft Heinz introduced plans to broaden The Kitchen, the in-house advertising and marketing company it launched in 2020 to create data-led social campaigns at “the pace of tradition.”
Quick ahead two years and the inner inventive store has expanded past North America into eight markets internationally, together with Europe, Australia, China, Brazil and extra.
It’s additionally developed past delivering social snippets. The Kitchen now providers a bit of the group’s 335 manufacturers with a mannequin that mixes knowledge, tech and analytics with content material creation capabilities.
Within the course of, it’s serving to to drive a tradition of creativity and innovation internally, making Kraft Heinz $1 billion advertising and marketing spend “work more durable.”
Based on worldwide chief progress and sustainability officer Cristina Kenz, The Kitchen is now a vital cog within the ketchup maker’s company setup, delivering fast inventive and customized campaigns that construct on huge inventive concepts from the likes of Wunderman Thompson Spain and Serviceplan Cologne.
“What I’ve found is if in case you have an inside tradition of creativity that’s tremendous sturdy, you possibly can afford to be fluid in the way in which you handle companies,” she advised Adweek, saying The Kitchen helps the enterprise take a look at and study quicker than ever earlier than, and flex its advertising and marketing muscle.
[The Kitchen] is making our advertising and marketing funding work a lot more durable as a result of we are able to do issues in a extra agile method.
—Cristina Kenz, worldwide chief progress and sustainability officer, Kraft Heinz
In 2020, the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) discovered over half of manufacturers (57%) had introduced inventive in-house. Nonetheless, the complexity of the constructing, and sustaining, inside groups has led many manufacturers to adapt a hybrid mannequin in recent times. Kraft Heinz joins Unilever and PepsiCo in doing so; combining knowledge hubs with inventive expertise within the course of.
“We’ve got constructed a spine of information and connectivity that we are able to lean into social conversations, take a look at advertisements earlier than they go to market and gauge consideration,” she mentioned.
Cooking up a storm
Over the past 12 months, The Kitchen has developed 20,000 property for platforms together with TikTok, Twitter and Instagram. These have delivered 6 billion impressions and a 140% uplift in ROI on 2021’s advertising and marketing spend.
One notable marketing campaign was a quick-fire tomato-based inventive execution from Heinz Brazil riffing on Rihanna’s Twitter announcement that she can be performing on the Tremendous Bowl halftime present. The pastiche was created in half-hour and earned 13 million free natural impressions on Twitter.
A digital OOH marketing campaign in the identical market, which celebrated the anniversary of Rio de Janeiro with a cultural play on regional accents, generated a 145% month-on-month gross sales improve throughout Heinz manufacturers.
One other, for Heinz Soup in Australia, noticed 70 static and animated inventive variants for social, out of residence (OOH) and show. Price financial savings from not utilizing exterior companies for the latter had been between $5000 and $10,000.
“It’s making our advertising and marketing funding work a lot more durable as a result of we are able to do issues in a extra agile method,” mentioned Kenz, saying the company had first-party knowledge at its fingertips which might assist it test-and-learn quicker versus briefing an company to create social or video content material. “That may really feel tremendous gradual [in comparison] and value some huge cash,” she added.
She is adamant the CPG will at all times want inventive companions for blue sky, strategic pondering and constructing on work like “Vegetarian Vampire” and its current tongue-in-cheek pasta sauce marketing campaign from Wunderman Thompson Spain. Then, the Kitchen will ship what’s “culturally related” for every market as an extension of this.
As an illustration, it gave workers the possibility to win a visit to Romania for submitting spooky TikTok content material for the Black Garlic Mayo Vampire marketing campaign. “It’s serving to us join our manufacturers with our folks, which is one thing I don’t assume we’ve at all times executed effectively,” mentioned Kenz
A tradition of inventive excellence
Although meals conglomerates are usually not famend for his or her creativity, The Kitchen is a part of Kenz’s play to alter that. In 2020, Kenz helped launch what she likened to an inside Cannes Lions or D&AD-type scheme: the ACE Awards, which rejoice the groups delivering “best-in-class advertising and marketing” in-house. This yr’s jurors embrace Anomaly government inventive director Dave Douglas and Bud’s chief advertising and marketing officer (CMO) Matt Che.
The Philadelphia and Lunchables proprietor is just not alone in going through provide chain challenges, together with the thorny proposition that elevating costs amid greater inflation and within the face of a cost-of-living disaster might crimp demand.
That is serving to us join our manufacturers with our folks too.
—Cristina Kenz, worldwide chief progress and sustainability officer, Kraft Heinz
Nonetheless, it’s leaning on model fairness to see it via, committing to raised high quality advertising and marketing to ensure its merchandise are being lifted off cabinets and into client’s buying carts. It’s a technique that’s already paying off, in Q3 the enterprise reported a shock rise in its world revenues with web gross sales growing to $6.51 billion in October 2022 versus $6.32 billion in 2021.
It’s hoping coupling innovation with its advertising and marketing efforts will open additional income streams in the long run. One such challenge, which additionally brings into play the “sustainability” a part of Kenz’s title, was a particular “Marz Version” ketchup developed out of The Kitchen within the U.S. in partnership with the Aldrin Area Institute.
Two years within the making, the celestial condiment was made with tomatoes grown by recreating comparable soil, temperature and water circumstances on Earth to these discovered on Mars.
The group of scientists behind the key sauce, which is the product of two years of analysis and growth, printed three analysis papers on the method. They mentioned the achievement “showcased the probabilities are for long-term meals manufacturing past Earth.”
“That’s only a small instance of the magic that may occur if you carry creativity, innovation and sustainability collectively. The inventive muscle is there, so it’s a lot simpler to marry all of it up,” she mentioned.
As she seems forward to 2023, Kenz mentioned her subsequent focus will probably be driving innovation at scale throughout worldwide markets.
“We have to be courageous and empower folks internally for that to occur,” she mentioned.
