Kraft Heinz names former Pepsi marketer Todd Kaplan as North America CMO

Kraft Heinz has appointed Todd Kaplan as CMO of its North America business, effective Aug. 5. Kaplan will spearhead marketing for a sprawling $22 billion packaged foods portfolio that includes the namesake Kraft and Heinz brands, along with dozens of other products like Oscar Mayer, Velveeta, Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Ore-Ida and Jell-O. He will also play a role in Kraft Heinz’s joint ventures with NotCo and Just Spices and oversee an in-house content studio called The Kitchen, per details shared with Marketing Dive. 

“I look forward to leading the team to unleash the potential of these incredible brands through elevated creativity, a deeper connection to culture, and best in class marketing, media, and digital capabilities that can fuel the company’s next wave of growth,” Kaplan wrote in a LinkedIn post announcing the news.  

Kaplan is tasked with driving a deeper connection to consumer culture for Kraft Heinz and realizing modern marketing capabilities that can enable the company’s “next wave of growth,” the company said in a statement. 

The executive jumps to Kraft Heinz from PepsiCo, where he spent nearly two decades and most recently served as CMO for the flagship Pepsi brand. Major initiatives undertaken by Kaplan prior to his departure in June included a massive rebrand of Pepsi in 2023. Kaplan’s marketing output for Pepsi earned industry accolades and put his name on a number of top CMO lists but the broader business has come under pressure amid intensified beverage competition. Pepsi lost its long-held spot as the No. 2 carbonated soft drink in the U.S. to Dr Pepper last month, according to Beverage Digest data. 

Kraft Heinz is undergoing its own transition as younger shoppers turn away from traditional packaged foods and grapple with inflation. The company in the past several years has rebranded an array of products, including Jell-O, Ore-Ida, Kraft Singles, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese and Mio, to take on a more modern edge. 

Oscar Mayer and Kraft previously experienced steep valuation write-downs. The Wall Street Journal in May reported Kraft Heinz was exploring a sale of Oscar Mayer, seeking between $3 billion to $5 billion for the purveyor of hot dogs and cold cuts.

Kraft Heinz has also contended with a publicity crisis earlier this year after a Consumer Reports analysis indicated its Lunchables boxed lunch kits contain “relatively high” amounts of lead, cadmium and sodium. Consumer Reports stated that the tested products did not exceed legal or regulatory limits. 

Kraft Heinz net sales slipped 1.2% year over year in Q1 while organic net sales were down 0.5%. The company reports its second-quarter earnings July 31.