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Mondelēz International increased 5.6%with the Wall Street estimates in the second quarter of 2025. But strong international growth hid the struggle of the company in North America and in particular due to consumer instability in personal finances, job expectations and inflation.
Stephen Saen
Provision of Mondelēz International
In recent years, Mondelēz’s bright places in macroeconomic anxiety were the Savory Snacks Portfolio, especially Ritz Crackers, which penetrated households last year, gained share in the cracker category and was one of the fastest growing brands in the Savory category. Steven Saenen is the boss of Mondelēz’s Savory.
“Ritz is a 90 -year -old brand and is a very symbolic 90 -year -old brand. It is almost half of the 47%of the US families with penetration of furniture.
To build this growth, Ritz, like other CPG brands, is focusing on connecting with consumers around the culture. The success of this brand can also be a blueprint of other mondelēz flavor snack brands that the company wants to change to the engine for growth.
SAEN was recently promoted to the category chairman of Ritz as a vice president of Ritz. Marketing diving talked with EXECUTIVE with Mondelēz’s plan for Ritz and the rest of the portfolio.
The following interviews were edited for clarity and simplicity.
Marketing Diving: How is the marketing strategy developing for Ritz?
Steven Saenn: What we want to do in the next chapter of growth is to change this from a reliable classic cracker to a modern flavorful snack. We don’t just want to be the best crackers. We want to be a major brand in a larger flavorful space. By doing so, we think we will actually activate the cracker category as a whole.
There are many things we need to do to modernize the brand. The first place is actually culturally led marketing. Bold innovation is a big priority for us, and we meet a place where consumers are looking for a great snack, and the Omni Channel Ubi Quarters.
What is the cultural -led marketing look like Ritz?
There are many things. We have a long partnership with NCAA. We are always activated around March Madness. We have a lot of partnerships with individual athletes, such as Juju Watkins and (NFL Player) and George Kittle.
We have a new partnership with Inter Miami (MLS TEAM), where the local fan base is 70% Hispanic. Our multicultural consumers are really important to us. This is where Bad Bunny is right. We started the “SALTY CLUB” at Super Bowl Commercial. What we are doing now is to bring life through on -site pop -up experience in his residence. This will be a great place for people to enjoy and amplify experience.
Bad Bunny’s “No Me Quiero IR de aqui” is just one or more concerts. Puerto Rico’s 30th show resident focused on the territory fans. How does this change Ritz’s equation?
Bad Bunny is not only one of the most successful Latin artists, but also a true cultural icon of this community and a self -proclaimed lover of the Ritz brand. It’s a really perfect collaboration. His investment in the community is really important to us, and that’s the angle we always with him. We like to bring fans to a resident that allows his fans to beat a pair of tickets at all costs.
Ritz is already the best multicultural cracker, which is really important to us. This is a really big growth cohort, especially Hispanic consumers. What we want to do is to find and find a way to make meaningful and true connections.
How do Mondelēz meet the developed tastes of consumers in snacks?
What we are looking at is a very different mechanics between sweet and delicious things, so Mondelēz’s reason why we decided to divide the two categories. I’m really excited about this opportunity. Because we think that we can have a focus on our dedication. Our flavorful portfolio includes small brands such as Ritz, as well as Triscuits, Wheat Thins and Good Thins.
What we really want to do is to provide services to consumers because the demands of consumers in this space are slightly different. What they are actually looking for is better options, as well as more values, convenience, and more taste. Our vision is to put Mondelēz on the map.
In terms of value, how do you make a pitch with a name brand?
In numbers, you do not see, for example, losing its share of personal labels. We are also very deliberately investing to maintain its relevance as a brand, and people are coming to the category. It is through media investment and innovation.
We also know that value means something else for others. For some people, it is about the dollar value per dollar we offer in a greater format. Some people are similar to convenience, freshness and price points, and are amplifying these solutions in the portfolio.
