Kraft Dinner is on the move once again, and it’s to somewhere very familiar.
A spokesperson for Kraft confirmed the work for Kraft Dinner was moved to Taxi from Union in March, landing the account back at the agency it left less than two years ago.
In late 2013, the Kraft Dinner account was one of the early brands moved as part of a shuffling of the company’s agency partnerships, going from Taxi to Anomaly, which debuted a new campaign last spring. That campaign was positioned around Kraft Dinner being a fun brand with wacky creative and macaroni and cheese-themed products.
“There’s a fine line between fun and silly, and I think we’re getting better at striking the right balance,” said Tony Matta, CMO at Kraft Canada, when strategy named him one of its Marketers of the Year, adding that the work didn’t quite hit the cultural and emotional connection the company was looking to achieve with its brands. “We had to learn our way through that and I’m very proud of that, because this is a place where marketers can take risks.”
Months after that campaign launched, the account was moved to Union ahead of an agency consolidation that saw Kraft shrink its roster to Taxi, Union (CP+B in the U.S.), Leo Burnett and U.S.-based Mcgarrybowen on masterbrand work.
The agency consolidation was done to allow it to form deeper relationships with its agency partners and align brands with each of their strengths, something the company’s spokesperson also cited regarding the most recent KD move.
Taxi’s last work on Kraft Dinner was the Quebec-focused “Shamefully Good” campaign. The agency also works on the Mio, Maxwell House, Tassimo and Kraft Peanut Butter accounts, among others. Union appears to be retaining the work on the Philadelphia Cream Cheese and Kraft Singles business. Leo Burnett was awarded the natural cheese portfolio in October, which includes Cracker Barrel, Tex Mex shredded cheese and P’tit Quebec.
In March, Kraft announced it would be merging with Heinz.