Earned & Paid
Companies · CPG

Mondelez

AdvertiserMDLZ

Mondelez spent $1.66B on advertising and marketing in fiscal 2025, down 21.6% on the year before and +37% since 2019. That's 4.3% of revenue, less than in 2019: the business outgrew its marketing.

$1.66Bmarketing spend, FY2025
-21.6%vs the year before
4.3%of revenue (-0.4 pts vs 2019)

Marketing spend by year

2012: $1.81B2013: $1.72B132014: $1.55B2015: $1.54B152016: $1.40B2017: $1.25B172018: $1.17B2019: $1.21B192020: $1.38B2021: $1.56B212022: $1.67B2023: $2.06B232024: $2.11B2025: $1.66B254.3%

Bars: advertising and marketing expense, $B (10-K). Line: spend as a share of revenue.

What they told investors

“We are significantly stepping up investment in working media and our brands.”Megan Christine Alexander · 2026 Q1 · transcript
“We believe that we have to continue to invest in our brands.”Chris Carey · 2025 Q4 · transcript
“We said many times that we didn't touch the working media line, but we touched the nonworking media predominantly.”management · 2025 Q4 · transcript
“The virtuous model of this company is continuous investments in our brands, in our franchises, and execution at point of sales and activation at point of sales.”management · 2025 Q3 · transcript
“And we firmly believe that the virtual cycle that has delivered great results for us will have to be put back in place in 2026, particularly as there is cocoa coming down and there is a cost favorability due to that.”management · 2025 Q3 · transcript
“If you look at the amount of working media we had put into the system in the last few years, it is quite meaningful.”Luca Zaramella · 2025 Q3 · transcript

What the 10-K says about marketing

Say vs do

Mondelez'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

  • “We are significantly stepping up investment in working media and our brands.”

    Megan Christine Alexander on the 2026 Q1 earnings call, Apr 29, 2026 · transcript

    Can't tell from annual filings It's about several years, not one we can check.

  • “We believe that we have to continue to invest in our brands.”

    Chris Carey on the 2025 Q4 earnings call, Feb 3, 2026 · transcript

    Can't tell from annual filings It's about several years, not one we can check.

  • “The virtuous model of this company is continuous investments in our brands, in our franchises, and execution at point of sales and activation at point of sales.”

    Management on the 2025 Q3 earnings call, Oct 30, 2025 · transcript

    Can't tell from annual filings Filings don't split brand from performance or report spend by channel.

What they did

YearMarketing spendChangeShare of revenue
FY2025$1.66B-21.6%4.3%
FY2024$2.11B+2.7%5.8%
FY2023$2.06B+23.2%5.7%
FY2022$1.67B+6.8%5.3%
FY2021$1.56B+13.7%5.5%
FY2020$1.38B+13.9%5.2%

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 +37% (peer median +35%); its share of revenue moved -0.4 pts (median +0.8); last year -21.6% (median +1.6%).

In interviews, its leaders made 49 statements about marketing: 7 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 4× since 2019Experiential & events 3× since 2019Sponsorships & athletes 1× since 2021

In the news

Peers