Earned & PaidKraft Heinz
Kraft Heinz spent $1.07B on advertising and marketing in fiscal 2025, up 4.1% on the year before and +10% since 2019. That's 4.3% of revenue, more than in 2019: leaning in.
Marketing spend by year
Bars: advertising and marketing expense, $B (10-K). Line: spend as a share of revenue.
What they told investors
“The fact that we can add $100 million to it really helps us think about 2027 being the year that we've got it really right with a very strong marketing spend in order to drive our volume-led sustainable share type growth.”Steven Cahillane · 2026 Q2 · transcript
“Last year, if you remember, the first place where we started to step up investments in headcount, innovation, marketing was Taste Elevation.”management · 2026 Q2 · transcript
“we do expect marketing for the year to be at least 5.5% of revenue.”management · 2026 Q1 · transcript
“the right brand marketing against what are really a collection of iconic and wonderful brands that I've already said do respond to investment.”Steve Cahillane · 2025 Q4 · transcript
“first, making sure that we grow the return of every dollar that we invest in marketing.”Carlos Abrams-Rivera · 2024 Q4 · transcript
“we continue ship more marketing dollars toward consumer facing marketing as we go into 2025.”Carlos Abrams-Rivera · 2024 Q4 · transcript
What the 10-K says about marketing
- investing in brand “We seek to maintain, extend, and expand our brand image through marketing investments, including advertising and consumer promotions, and product innovation. Negative perceptions of food and beverage marketing could adversely affect our brand image or lead to stricter…” 10-K, Feb 12, 2026
Say vs do
Kraft Heinz's management has talked about its marketing budget, but in ways annual filings can't check: one quarter, one brand or channel, or the mix.
What they said
“The fact that we can add $100 million to it really helps us think about 2027 being the year that we've got it really right with a very strong marketing spend in order to drive our volume-led sustainable share type growth.”
Steven Cahillane on the 2026 Q2 earnings call, Aug 12, 2026 · transcript
Can't tell from annual filings It's about several years, not one we can check.
“we continue ship more marketing dollars toward consumer facing marketing as we go into 2025.”
Carlos Abrams-Rivera, Chief Executive Officer on the 2024 Q4 earnings call, Feb 12, 2025 · transcript
Can't tell from annual filings It's about part of the business; filings report one company-wide number.
“first, making sure that we grow the return of every dollar that we invest in marketing.”
Carlos Abrams-Rivera, Chief Executive Officer on the 2024 Q4 earnings call, Feb 12, 2025 · transcript
Can't tell from annual filings Filings don't split brand from performance or report spend by channel.
What they did
| Year | Marketing spend | Change | Share of revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $1.07B | +4.1% | 4.3% |
| FY2024 | $1.03B | -3.7% | 4.0% |
| FY2023 | $1.07B | +13.3% | 4.0% |
| FY2022 | $945M | -9.0% | 3.6% |
| FY2021 | $1.04B | -2.9% | 4.0% |
| FY2020 | $1.07B | +9.6% | 4.1% |
Against its peers. Compared with the 11 other CPG advertisers we track (Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Colgate-Palmolive, Kimberly-Clark and 6 more): since 2019 its marketing spend went +10% (peer median +36%); its share of revenue moved +0.4 pts (median +0.8); last year +4.1% (median -0.6%).
In interviews, its leaders made 24 statements about marketing: 2 argued for investing in brand and 0 for cutting.
How we check: a statement gets a verdict only when it's clearly about the size of the whole company's marketing budget over a full fiscal year; we compare it with the advertising and marketing expense in that year's 10-K. Statements about one quarter, one brand or channel, or the mix between brand and performance can't be checked against annual filings.
What they say about media
The marketing channels it talks about using for itself on earnings calls and in its 10-Ks and 10-Qs, since 2019; counts are statements, not spending.
- Creative campaigns “We actually launched a new campaign for both parents and kids as we go into the first half of 2025, and at the same time, we are investing to renovate our entire line as we go into the first half of next year.” Carlos Abrams-Rivera on the earnings call · Oct 30, 2024 · source
- Sponsorships & athletes “In ketchup, specifically, we are getting great traction around the world behind our Heinz 150th anniversary, including our first-ever global Heinz campaign featuring pop music star, Ed Sheeran.” Miguel Patricio on the earnings call · Nov 1, 2019 · source