Kraft Mac & Cheese has kicked off a marketing campaign that pitches the pantry staple because the “Greatest Factor Ever,” per particulars shared with Advertising and marketing Dive. The trouble, which carries Kraft Mac & Cheese’s largest media funding up to now, comes because the packaged meals marketer faces challenges each from personal label and premium upstarts. In response, “Greatest Factor Ever” seems to be to market Kraft Mac & Cheese as an expertise and never only a product, in keeping with Cheryl Barbee, communications director for the model at The Kraft Heinz Firm.
“Kraft Mac & Cheese’s place as a beloved, acquainted, and trusted model doesn’t spare it from the challenges many heritage manufacturers are dealing with,” Barbee stated over e-mail. “The important thing to sustaining our place because the #1 model within the class is reinforcing our cultural relevance by emphasizing the beloved style, worth and comfort that solely Kraft Mac & Cheese can ship to remind customers why the blue field has reigned supreme for almost a century.”
New artistic positions Kraft Mac & Cheese as higher and extra reliable than many acquainted client events. A pair of 15-second advertisements voiced by comic John Mulaney pit the meals in opposition to subject targets and pals. Within the latter spot, Mulaney says “we [meaning Kraft] don’t get tougher to make in maturity.” An out-of-home advert in a movie show foyer maintains “Our endings are all the time satisfying” whereas one close to an airport claims “you don’t must arrive two hours early to take pleasure in this.”
“The comparisons are large, audacious claims that embed the model naturally in moments the place cultural moments, locations, and conversations intersect,” Barbee stated. “Media amplifies the strategy, inserting content material the place audiences are most engaged to land our message in probably the most related approach.”
“Greatest Factor Ever” consists of greater than 70 distinct belongings and makes use of a hypercontextual strategy to seize the eye of a various client base by displaying up in sudden and disruptive methods. The marketing campaign is operating throughout TV, linked TV, YouTube, social and OOH channels.
An evolving panorama
“Greatest Factor Ever” represents a shift from the positioning Kraft Mac & Cheese has staked out lately. As customers sought out consolation meals through the peak of the pandemic, Kraft in 2021 labored to destigmatize the notion of consolation with a “Assist Your self” marketing campaign. The marketer in 2022 additionally rebranded, shortening its identify from Kraft Macaroni & Cheese to Kraft Mac & Cheese and selling the thought of “optimistic consolation.” The brand new marketing campaign seems to be to satisfy customers who’re now not looking for extra than simply consolation from acquainted manufacturers, in addition to reposition the model to higher compete with new entrants within the class.
“Customers additionally worth small, on a regular basis moments of pleasure which might be shareable and culturally related. Consolation meals is now not nearly nostalgia, however about delight and celebration within the current,” Barbee stated. “The model’s technique displays this shift. We appeared again at our historical past to distill the values which have remained fixed — style, worth and comfort.”
That is the primary marketing campaign created for Kraft Mac & Cheese by Rethink, an unbiased artistic company that has labored extensively with dad or mum Kraft Heinz on culture-hacking campaigns round ketchup. “Greatest Factor Ever” has social media help from The Kitchen North America, Kraft Heinz’s in-house store, in addition to PR from Alison Brod Advertising and marketing + Communications and paid media from Carat.
“Kraft Mac & Cheese is ushering in a brand new model tone and persona that reminds customers of the long-lasting model we’re,” Barbee stated. “Rethink is thought for reimagining manufacturers, and we wanted a companion who might tackle the bold job at hand — reinforce Kraft Mac & Cheese’s iconic heritage in a approach that felt wholly sudden and new, however nonetheless felt genuine to our model followers.”
Kraft Mac & Cheese’s marketing campaign makes use of a hypercontextual strategy to point out up in sudden and disruptive methods.
Courtesy of Kraft Heinz
Kraft Mac & Cheese has spent 2025 targeted on innovation, introducing 5 new flavors and totally different product codecs, together with 11-ounce blue bins and single-serving cups. The model has seen a rise in each new patrons and households, positive factors it attributed to the innovation technique. “Greatest Factor Ever” seems to be to construct on that success, which has reached youthful customers on Instagram and TikTok.
“New flavors and codecs give Kraft Mac & Cheese the chance to faucet into social and cultural traits and assume exterior of the (blue) field to ship for our current model followers, whereas additionally grabbing the eye of recent audiences,” Barbee stated.
The marketing campaign comes as Kraft Heinz continues to battle with what CEO Carlos Abrams-Rivera described as “one of many worst client sentiments” in many years on a latest earnings name. The CPG big is on monitor to separate into two corporations within the second half of 2026, with Kraft Mac & Cheese becoming a member of an organization targeted on sauces, spreads, seasonings and shelf-stable meals alongside manufacturers like Heinz and Philadelphia.
