Kraft Heinz: a Traditional Brand Adapting to New Trends

This piece was written by Andres Larrieu, a participant on Business Today’s Chicago Breakout Trip, Crossroads of Humans and Machines. Andres is a member of Princeton’s class of 2022 and is planning on studying at the Woodrow Wilson School.

After their merger in 2015, Kraft Heinz had control of many profitable, highly established brands, most famously being Heinz Ketchup. However, even established companies need to adapt to the newly increasing field of data science.

On the second day of the Business Today’s Breakout Trip Crossroads of Humans and Machines to Chicago, the Princeton group visited Kraft Heinz’s headquarters in the Aon Center. The office’s reception showcased many of the company’s popular brand mascots, including a massive statue of the Kool Aid man on display. 

However, as soon as the presentation for the students began, it became clear that Kraft Heinz was only traditional in appearance. Though the company maintains an upper hand through ownership of several billion dollar brands, data analytics has become the decision making tool to change marketing tactics, acquire new brands, sell smaller unsuccessful brands, and make any major decisions for the company. 

Leaders in data science from Kraft Heinz demonstrated the need for basic data literacy in any sector, public or private. It’s evident that data science is changing the world, and even household brands like Kraft Heinz have made great strides to not fall behind.