Kraft Heinz Names Todd Kaplan CMO, North America
Todd Kaplan has been named chief marketing officer of North America at Kraft Heinz.
Kaplan, who was most recently CMO of the Pepsi brand, will help lead the marketing function across Kraft Heinz’s North American food and beverage portfolio, according to information the company shared with CGT.
He’ll focus on elevating the brands’ creativity and connections with culture, as well as modernizing business and growth capabilities.
As part of this, Kaplan will help guide all media and digital, as well as the company’s in-house content studio, “The Kitchen.” He’ll also help oversee the CPG’s strategic joint ventures with NotCo and Just Spices.
While at PepsiCo, Kaplan led all marketing for the Pepsi brand and PepsiCo’s sparkling water business in North America. Kraft Heinz’s statement highlighted his leadership in creating the new Pepsi logo, noting that he was also instrumental in “re-energizing” the Pepsi brand and helped lead product innovations like Nitro Pepsi and Pepsi x Peeps.
North American marketing was previously overseen by Diana Frost, Kraft Heinz chief growth officer, and Kaplan will partner closely with the exec, a company spokesperson told CGT.
"His role as CMO isn’t just focused on marketing and that’s purposeful. It’s a role focused on bringing together innovation and marketing to drive tangible growth for the company in North America," according to the company.
Kraft Heinz Transformation
Like many consumer goods companies, Kraft Heinz has been undergoing an end-to-end evolution to better meet the needs of consumers that are increasingly trading over to private label and redefining what “value” means. Carlos Abrams-Rivera, Kraft Heinz CEO, noted at the Consumer Goods Forum Global Summit in June that he was “creating a new dream for the company” that includes elevating and creating food that “makes you feel good.”
“It feels good for your soul, you feel good for the planet, feel good for the body, and feel good in terms of the value that you’re paying for.”
