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NEW YORK — Keeping a brand relevant to consumers takes a lot of work. Todd Kaplan has 70 to manage. Todd Kaplan, who joined packaged foods giant Kraft Heinz as CMO last year, spoke to Advertising Week New York on Monday about the delicate balance marketers must keep in mind as pressures to capitalize on pop culture trends necessary for relevance collide with existing brand perceptions.
Despite the industry’s breakneck pace, marketers must focus on big-picture thinking, even for operations that lack significant paid media investments, according to Kaplan, who was interviewed by marketing executive David “Singy” Shing on the show. Kaplan cautioned against activating every word-of-mouth opportunity, arguing that small decisions add up over time.
“Brand building is a little like pointillism: Every time you activate your brand, you put a dot on someone’s brain,” said Kaplan, explaining that these individual dots come together over time to form a richer perception of the brand. Marketers who understand those perceptions well can act with confidence about whether and how to deploy their brands in different cultural contexts, while marketers who do not may simply create more noise.
“If you have a consistent point of view and a consistent brand architecture, you can tell a variety of stories,” says Kaplan, “but they all have to come back to the same brand idea.”
quick response time
For years, Kaplan has been evangelizing the power of earned media, organic social media, and marketing strategies that more CPGs are prioritizing as they look to modernize. During Advertising Week discussions, CMOs repeatedly highlighted the success achieved despite relatively low traditional media spending.
The talk covered the various efforts he has led in the roughly 14 months since he moved from Pepsi to Kraft Heinz. These include: a joint Heinz seasoning developed with hip-hop producer Mustard; A name, image and likeness agreement has been signed between Ore-Ida and Richie Saunders, just days after college basketball player Richie Saunders said his great-grandfather co-founded the brand and is credited with inventing Tater Tots. a box of Jet-Puffed marshmallows that Kraft Heinz debuted around Easter in response to record egg prices; And on the track, six of Oscar Meyer’s Wienermobiles raced against each other ahead of the Indy 500.
In each case, the Kaplan team was quick to respond to a trending topic, whether it was a meme inspired by a Kendrick Lamar song or a sporting event related to Memorial Day weekend. But the CMO and his collaborators were careful to ensure that these activations were driven by insights from the consumer (price pressure in the grocery aisle), brand history (Saunders’ family ties to Ore-Ida), or a combination of the two.
“A lot of this comes down to simple truths, whether it’s cultural truths or brand-related things,” Kaplan said.
According to Kaplan, marketers aren’t always adamant about including themselves in cold conversations. The executive pointed to Taylor Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl,” released last weekend, as a media phenomenon, noting that interest in the brand has come at the expense of thoughtfulness.
“(It’s) not about chasing the latest thing. You see all the brands coming out with Taylor Swift, the orange boxes on social media, and all these different things just becoming part of the moment,” Kaplan said, referring to the album’s color scheme. “But the brand may not have the right to talk about something in that moment or add to it in that moment. Otherwise, it may just be noise or it may confuse the consumer from what you are trying to say.”
Not every stunt has to be executed perfectly on the first try. Heinz and Mustard’s collaboration is an example of content starting with content before it becomes a physical product in retail stores and is available through QSR partner Buffalo Wild Wings. Oscar Meyer’s Wienie 500, which sparked a betting frenzy on DraftKings and ESPN coverage, appears to be something Kaplan could expand on with additional marketing elements next year.
“Sometimes you just have to try it with a proof of concept and then take it to the next level,” Kaplan said.
How Legacy Affects Marketing
One of Kaplan’s strengths at Kraft Heinz is familiarity. Some products in the company’s portfolio are more than 100 years old and bear enough recognizable iconography to define a category. Leaning on nostalgia has become an easy way for many CPG brands to trigger an emotional response in consumers, but it can have its downsides if brands want to shape the situation appropriately.
Long before Kaplan joined, Kraft Heinz was struggling to make its brands more attractive to millennials and Gen Z shoppers who prefer healthier, less processed foods. Although the various products under marketers’ expanding umbrella have undertaken refreshes and repositionings in recent years to regain growth, the business remains on uneven footing. Kraft Heinz, the product of a massive industry merger a decade ago, announced plans last month to split into two businesses. One focuses on sauces, spreads and shelf-stable foods, and the other focuses on grocery staples like Oscar Mayer and Lunchables.
Kaplan wasn’t asked about the breakup plan in his Q&A with Shingy, but he did acknowledge some of the burden of marketing an older brand, calling legacy a “tricky” word.
“You are a legacy brand because you created the legacy,” Kaplan said. “You’re known for doing something, but if what you’ve done with that brand is limited to a certain era or a certain way, you can fall into a trap very quickly at that particular moment.”
The conversation concluded with Shingy asking Kaplan about artificial intelligence, a topic he had initially promised to avoid. Kraft Heinz is experimenting with an internal tool called Tastemaker to support ideas and efficiency. Like its broader approach to marketing, Kaplan sees this technology as one piece of a larger puzzle.
“I don’t think people need to have an AI strategy. They need to have a strategy and understand how AI can inform or enhance it,” he said.
