Kraft Heinz secures the secret sauce for an iconic, modern brand with Contentful

Introduction

Flatware clatters on porcelain plates and conversation hums, muffled by static from a radio tucked behind the bar. Beyond swinging stainless-steel doors, comes the faint sizzle of a burger and the scrape of a spatula. Plated up and passed to its table, an ordinary burger sits opposite its toppings. A toasted bun left open awaits the final touches. With a slather of Heinz ketchup and a spread of Kraft mayo, the dish is transformed. Mouthwatering and irresistible, a hand reaches out, angling for the perfect bite. 

From wood-paneled diners to backyard barbeques and family fridges, Kraft Heinz products have been ingrained in our lives for the last 150 years. Its longstanding success is not immune to the challenges of our modern world, however. The most pressing: how does a brand so storied remain relevant as advancing technology and new emerging digital channels add competitors to the playing field, raise the bar for consumer experience, and ultimately create distraction?

As Justin Thomas, Head of Digital Experience at Kraft Heinz, knows all too well, leaning into nostalgia isn’t enough. When he joined Kraft Heinz in 2019, historic black-and-white ads of its flagship product were the focal point of its static marketing site and consumers weren’t biting. They were busy sinking their teeth into more innovative, engaging, and entertaining experiences — with content that put them, the consumer, at the center of it all. 

And, the company’s new growth marketing initiatives were set on making consumer obsession the main dish of Kraft Heinz digital experiences — with product information peppering throughout — it was going to take significant work to get there. Before the company could revamp its digital presence across 200+ brands, it would have to gain buy-in from the rest of the company — and then build out a tech stack capable of supporting such ambitions and driving future innovation at scale. 

Starting off with the secret sauce — partner support  

Kraft Heinz had its work cut out. After determining that composable architecture could be a good fit for the brand, it reached out to Apply Digital for added support as it began to reimagine what Kraft Heinz’s new digital experience would look like and what tools would be needed to set the transition in motion.

“[We] didn’t just need a vendor, [we] needed a partner,” Thomas said. And Apply Digital's mission to “create smart, well-designed solutions that impact people’s lives for the better,” was in alignment with the “new” Kraft Heinz.

Confirming that composable architecture would bring agility, flexibility, and consistency to Kraft Heinz’s content experiences, the agency recommended Contentful. The composable content platform was known for supporting content reuse and making omnichannel delivery not just possible, but straightforward. It also had all the features and functionalities needed to support a digital redesign and would allow non-technical team members to take back ownership of creation and publication workstreams.

Whipping up a design system with à la carte options

Knowing that the new platform and idea of “structured” content would require teams to shift how they looked at content, Kraft Heinz decided to start by building out a design system, content model, standard content types, and migrating select brands to the new platform before seeking stakeholder approval and scaling the adoption further. Heinz Ketchup and Kraft Mac & Cheese were the first up for redesign. As some of the company’s largest and most popular brands, this was an act of confidence in composability — and a very visible example of how this new way of working would look.

“As we began building the content model, we paid special attention to elements that would refresh the digital identity of Kraft Heinz’s signature sites. We then provided options for its 50+ sub-brands which balanced individuality and connection with the parent brand,” Andrew Kirby, Managing Director of Apply Digital North America, explained.

Once redesigned, the two sites front-loaded content that called on the consumer to interact with it — quizzes, recipe ideas (including “tasty mac hacks”), and social media feeds of fans making and using the products are just a few examples. This shift toward building personal connections over strictly promoting product information was a move in the right direction, with a widespread increase in consumer engagement as proof. For some brands, that engagement has increased by over 30%.

Squeezing the most out of composability with collaboration

Eventually, the company demoed its refreshed site to its larger audience of Kraft Heinz marketers, developers, and engineers — those who would work with and benefit from the new platform most. They demonstrated how easy it was to input, edit, preview, and publish content and how pieces of content could be created, reused, and recombined to cook up new content recipes served to various digital channels.

“It really comes down to showing teams that, with the right tool, technology moves from being a hurdle to an enabler that helps them tell a fuller, more compelling story,” Thomas explained. “With Contentful, we’ve been able to hand people the tools needed to update content on the fly. Anyone can come in and say, I want to change ‘x’ today — and they can. It’s empowering,” Thomas said. 

The new platform is enabling Kraft Heinz to be more creative and curious, consistently testing new content to determine what resonates most with consumers before scaling it across the larger company. 

Kraft Heinz’s Ai.Oli, an AI-powered recipe generator, is just one taste of the new, highly engaging experiences teams have been able to dream up and build out with Contentful.

Another win was one of Kraft Heinz’s recent sports event campaigns, which graced everything from digital signage to mobile apps. The experience took just weeks to build. And, while it was the content that sparked debate across the U.S., the omnichannel delivery was responsible for getting more eyes on it to really get the internet talking. This instance of renewed consumer connection was a well-earned testament to the change being championed at the company.

Combining the right ingredients for better, customized experiences

The only thing making Thomas happier than watching that campaign go live is discovering new ways to extend the platform for even richer content experiences. Kraft Heinz’s tech stack currently incorporates several Contentful Marketplace apps, including Cloudinary, Google Cloud Platform, Contentful Personalization, Talon.One, and Algolia.

Here’s a quick look at how some of these tools are adding new flavor notes to the Contentful-user experience and final consumer experience: Algolia enables Kraft Heinz team members to search for and edit product prices in near real time to offer consumers tantalizing deals while Contentful Personalization enables content creators to tailor text, images, videos, and product recommendations to specific audience segments and consumers. Ultimately, these tools are helping Kraft Heinz address consumer cravings as they strike.

“It’s exciting to be able to address consumers and communities individually. With the right content, design, and technology as supportive as Contentful, we can evoke what Heinz means to them specifically — and that makes for a really powerful bond,” Thomas said.

The brand has also introduced workflows that facilitate communication and cross-functional collaboration to shrink content production timelines further. With these in place, Kraft Heinz can remain ahead of production schedules and competitors. Since the rollout, campaign teams have been able to launch new campaigns in weeks, not months. 

On the menu: A sampler of new projects

Kraft Heinz’s new, modernized platform is hitting not just qualitative but quantitative metrics.  Satisfaction is up 28% and, for one brand, conversion rates have increased by 78%.

While it seems Kraft Heinz is well on it’s way to award-winning digital modernization, there’s still plenty of room to extend its adoption of Contentful. One project currently underway: adding Oscar Mayer to the growing list of brand-specific sites supported by the platform.

“We’ve just scratched the surface; there’s so much more to do,” Thomas said. “We’ll keep understanding, changing, and elevating in pursuit of developing real connections with the people coming together over a love of our products.”