Kraft Heinz Taps PepsiCo Marketing Exec Kaplan to Lead Its North American Marketing Efforts

July 17, 2024

Todd Kaplan will bring extensive experience and success with the global beverage giant to more than 50 Kraft Heinz brands in North America.

Andy Hanacek

Todd Kaplan, chief marketing officer of North America, Kraft Heinz

Kraft Heinz has named Todd Kaplan, a former PepsiCo marketing exec, as its new chief marketing officer of North America, according to an announcement shared with Food Processing. Kaplan will help lead marketing across the company’s $22 billion North American food and beverage portfolio.

Kaplan joins Kraft Heinz after serving as PepsiCo’s chief marketing officer-Pepsi, where he led marketing for the Pepsi brand and the company’s sparkling water business in North America. He was instrumental in reinvigorating the brand as well as its Super Bowl Halftime Show platform, and a redesign and worldwide rollout of a new Pepsi logo and branding.

Kraft Heinz expects Kaplan’s influence to help the brands elevate creativity, connect to culture in a deeper way and build modern marketing capabilities to accelerate the business and fuel the next wave of growth, the release noted. He also is expected to help guide Kraft Heinz’s North American Growth Office inclusive of all media, digital and the company’s in-house content studio — and help oversee joint ventures with NotCo and Just Spices.

Brands that Kaplan will engage with include Heinz, Kraft Mac & Cheese, Oscar Mayer, Velveeta, Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Lunchables, Ore-Ida, Capri-Sun, Jell-O, Kool-Aid, Maxwell House, Grey Poupon, and Cool Whip — along with many others.

About the Author

Andy Hanacek | Senior Editor

Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.