CHICAGO, IL, June 4, 2023 – Founded in 2021, The Kitchen is the inside agency for The Kraft Heinz Company and has quickly become an indispensable part of the organization’s digital revolution, placing Silver in Campaign’s 2022 Global In-House Agency of the Year.
In less than two years, The Kitchen has undergone radical growth, from 5 to 15 globally recognized Kraft Heinz brands – eight of which are $1B+ brands, 10 to over 80 people, and pilot to a fully-fledged agency spanning two international offices. The agency’s massive success lies in its founding principles and strategies, and ability to take iconic brands into a new era of marketing, powered by culture, creativity, and collaboration.
To help manage this phenomenal growth, The Kitchen has brought on Tom Evans from Zulu Alpha Kilo as Head of The Kitchen, Kathleen Bokar from FCB as Head of Strategy, Julie Benevides from R/GA as Head of Operations & Production, and Simon Au from Grey Group as Executive Creative Director.
“What’s unique about The Kitchen is that we don’t make ads here – we create content that truly resonates with audiences in those hard-to-reach places where mass advertising falls short. We’re intentionally ‘bottom-heavy’, dominated by Gen-Zs, as diverse as the world around us, passionate about culture in all its forms,” explained Tom Evans, Head of The Kitchen. “It’s exciting to be part of a passionate team that constantly pushes boundaries to unlock creativity and delivers breakthrough ideas at the speed of culture.”
“Whereas most agencies wait to be briefed, we create our own playbooks, proactively identify our own opportunities, and create, approve, and deploy content at will. Our distinctive approach to the in-house agency model consistently delivers immediate results, allowing us to gain the trust of our brand partners and earn the autonomy needed for maximum agility,” explained Simon Au, Executive Creative Director.
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Through The Kitchen’s advanced social listening skills, rapid-response and multi- disciplinary pods, its team reacts to cultural moments in minutes, making its brands more relevant and engaging, consistently delivering engagement rates far higher than industry standards. For instance, on Instagram the average engagement rate for The Kitchen’s brands is nine times greater than the food industry average. On Twitter, the average engagement rate for The Kitchen’s brands is an impressive 30 times that of the food industry average.
As a trusted social and digital partner for 15 globally recognized Kraft Heinz brands, including Heinz Ketchup, Kraft Mac & Cheese, Philadelphia Cream Cheese and Oscar Mayer, The Kitchen produces an average of 32 pieces of content per brand, per month. So far this year, The Kitchen has been named a finalist 18 times in creative award shows such as The One Show, Shorty Awards and Chicago ADDY Awards.
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