Kraft Heinz’s new chief growth officer on its plant-based ambitions, running an in-house agency and more

Kraft Heinz is making marketing and media leadership changes as the food giant looks to continue sales momentum that has been fueled by a renewed focus on breakthrough advertising, while also battling new headwinds, including inflation.

Taking over as chief growth officer of Kraft Heinz North America is Diana Frost, who has been promoted from her previous role as the company's head of disruption for North America and chief marketing officer of Canada. She replaces Sanjiv Gajiwala, who left Kraft Heinz on Aug. 25. The Chicago and Pittsburgh-based company has also installed a new VP for media—Nick Jezarian, who joins after eight years at Target, most recently as senior director of connections strategy and media effectiveness.

Kraft has recently enjoyed plaudits for a range of advertising that led to its best-ever performance at Cannes, including 11 Lions and placement on 28 shortlists. Breakthrough work has included “Draw Ketchup,” which asked people across five continents to draw the condiment—most drew Heinz, highlighting the iconic nature of the brand. 

“We're shattering the stereotype that CPGs are big and slow,” said Frost, who will oversee marketing and innovation in her new role. Her resume includes a stint as head of portfolio transformation at Mars Wrigley in the U.S.

Kraft Heinz recently reaffirmed its guidance calling for high single-digit 2022 organic net sales growth but raised its full-year inflation outlook to 20%, up from the high teens. Long term, Kraft Heinz expects big things from its new joint venture with food tech start-up TheNotCompany, which specializes in developing plant-based replacements for animal products. 

Frost’s new responsibilities include overseeing The Kitchen, Kraft Heinz’s in-house agency that has been involved in some of the company’s most prolific marketing.

Below, Frost shares her vision for the in-house agency and the company’s pursuit of plant-based alternatives, while giving her take on how Kraft Heinz will continue its pursuit of creative excellence in a tougher economic client. This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Kraft Heinz uses the chief growth officer model, rather than having a chief marketing officer. In this role, you oversee marketing and innovation. How will you do this?

As you think about marketing and innovation, they're intrinsically connected. And they go absolutely hand-in-hand. It's all about business outcomes, and driving tangible growth for the company. Our goal is to become the most innovative food company in the world. And to do that, it requires us to take a new and holistic approach to innovation. And that's inclusive of modern marketing. 

We're looking at innovation across the board. And it's beyond just product—it’s business model and experiences. And it's also across renovation, line extensions and disruption. And then that ties hand-in-hand with creativity, and being consumer obsessed. We talk about communication at the speed of culture, and creating engaging personalized experiences, and leveraging data to drive brand relevance in our iconic brands.

There has been a creative renaissance going on at Kraft Heinz under CEO Miguel Patricio, who started in 2019. But in the current economy, with inflation rising, is it harder to focus on creativity as you compete with cheaper private label products? 

If you actually look at history, those who tend to innovate in these tougher economic environments are the ones who come out with sustainable value creation in the end. And that's the way Kraft Heinz is looking at it. We're still seeing quite incredible demand across our portfolio. And it's really been driven by the proactive steps that we as an organization have taken and the investments that we've made in marketing and brand renovation. We've really, over the last number of years, begun to transform our marketing to lean heavier on creative and breaking through culture. And that doesn't always cost money. 

We're continuing to invest on both the creativity and innovation sides—because only then will the value for money on our iconic brands continue to flourish and help actually fuel our transformation.

Part of your new job is to oversee Kraft Heinz’s in-house agency, The Kitchen. Describe how this group operates. 

It truly focuses on social and digital content at the speed of culture. And that's what we are really relying on that group for. So if you think about the consistent and constant [newsflow]—roaming and tying it and connecting it to our brands. 

The Oscar Mayer baloney facemask, the “Hidden Spots” (for Heinz ketchup), “Draw Ketchup,” “La Dolce Velveeta” ... Those are only a few of the examples where The Kitchen has been heavily involved.

But what I'd love to say to you is that that's only just the beginning. And we're building that muscle every single day on creativity at the speed of culture.

Some brands use external PR shops or specialist social media agencies to do the kind of quick-response digital work The Kitchen does. Why do you guys think it's important to do this in-house?

When you're talking about the infusion of brands and culture ... to have that ability to connect in-house, every single minute of every single day, the power in that is phenomenal. And we've seen great early results on that.

Your previous title was head of disruption for North America and CMO of Canada. What was the most disruptive thing you did in Canada? 

The thing I'm most excited to talk about [is] the partnership with NotCo. That's been an amazing experience over the last six to nine months for me.

Have any new plant-based products come out of this yet?

Not yet, but very soon. I've been in a number of tastings and they are fantastic.

Kraft Heinz exists to serve large masses of mainstream consumers. We’ve seen some recent examples of big brands pulling back on meatless options, such as McDonald’s (which has pulled the McPlant). Are mainstream buyers really ready for plant-based foods? 

Absolutely. Our goal, as you said, is to bring more people into the category and truly achieve mainstream adoption, to make the food more approachable. And in order to do that, we need to improve taste, texture, variety, and availability at the right price. 

Our aim is to democratize plant-based food options. And based on where we're at in our development, we are on the verge of doing that. As you know, we just announced this venture nine months ago, and we've made impressive progress. And we will have products in market by late 2022.

Will these products be under existing Kraft Heinz brands or will they be new brands?

We're evaluating both.

Part of your new role is to oversee media. Where does Kraft find the most success on digital right now? What single platform?

TikTok has been a phenomenal platform for us.

You will remain in Toronto for your new role. We’ve seen a lot of creative marketing come out of Canada of late. Why is the country having a moment?

It's not as much of an environment where it's a lift and adopt from the U.S. anymore. I think one of the things that people have seen over the last number of years is that creativity is borderless, especially as you move to more digital and social.

We're very associated with Rethink (the independent agency) in the Canadian marketplace and the work that they've done for us in revolutionizing how we talk about Heinz.