Kraft Heinz Canada has a new chief category and brand officer, naming company veteran Kelly Fleming to the post.
Fleming has held progressive roles with the company since joining in 2010, and was most recently head of Kraft Heinz Canada’s grocery business unit, contributing to the launch of Crave Frozen Meals and helping escalate its push into hazelnut spreads. At various point during her time with the company, she has also held marketing roles for its Classico, Philadelphia, KD and condiment brands, and was recently put in charge of the Taste Elevation business unit in Canada, one of six units the CPG has divided its portfolio into as part of its new operating model.
Bruno Keller, president of Kraft Heinz Canada, says Fleming “brings a proven record of delivering growth across our beloved brands and she empowers her teams to deliver outstanding results.”
Last year, Kraft Heinz restructured its marketing team, eliminating the CMO role following the departure of Dana Somerville and handing some of her marketing duties to chief brand and category officer Federico Arreola. Arreola has since moved on to become VP, marketing at Minnesota-based frozen food company Schwan’s.
In September, Kraft Heinz Canada named Diana Frost as its chief growth officer, who took on the remaining marketing duties that had fallen under Somerville’s remit. At the time, the chief brand and category officer’s duties included innovation, portfolio strategy, brand equity, marketing communications, pricing, assortment and in-store executions, while Frost’s chief growth officer role covered R&D, digital, consumer insights, strategy, sustainability and whitespace opportunities. Strategy reached out to Kraft Heinz Canada to clarify whether this division of marketing duties was still in place, but did not receive a response by press time.
In the company’s February earnings call, CEO Miguel Patricio said that this year, it’s seeing “great opportunities for us on efficiencies in marketing,” while acknowledging spend was up 11% in accordance with the company’s 30% spend hike over five years.