Marketing Vanguard at Cannes: Why Joy Makes Better Marketing ft. Todd Kaplan of Kraft Heinz

Marketing Vanguard continues its Cannes Lions 2026 series as host Jenny Rooney sits down with Todd Kaplan, chief marketing officer of North America at Kraft Heinz. 

In this conversation, Todd makes a sharp case for something the industry has almost talked itself out of: Marketing is supposed to be fun. He shares why the best work often comes when teams are loose, curious and plugged into culture, not buried under PowerPoints and over-serious process. 

What you’ll learn:

• Why marketing has become too serious and what that does to creative work
• How joy, looseness and creative energy can unlock better ideas
• Why cultural fluency matters more as paid media becomes easier to ignore
• How Kraft Heinz is rebuilding brand fundamentals across a complex portfolio
• Why empathy matters for both consumers and teams during organizational change
• How portfolio marketing turns 70 brands into a stronger retail and consumer solution
• What Cannes-winning work reveals about silliness, strategy and cultural attention

This episode is part of a special vidcast series that was recorded live during Cannes Lions 2026 and presented in partnership with Edelman.

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About our guest: 

Todd Kaplan is chief marketing officer, North America at The Kraft Heinz Company, where he leads marketing across a $25 billion food and beverage portfolio spanning more than 70 brands and 50 categories. His remit includes creative, strategy, innovation, media, digital, insights, sports and entertainment partnerships, portfolio marketing and Kraft Heinz’s in-house creative content studio, The Kitchen. 

Before Kraft Heinz, Todd served as Chief Marketing Officer of Pepsi, where he helped bring the brand back into the cultural zeitgeist through platforms like the Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show, innovations such as Nitro Pepsi and Pepsi x Peeps, and the creation of a new Pepsi logo and visual identity system. 

His work has earned Cannes Lions recognition, and he has been named to Forbes’ World’s Most Influential CMOs list, Business Insider’s Top 25 Most Innovative CMOs in the World and ADWEEK’s Brand Genius and Marketing Vanguard honors.

Episode Highlights: 

[01:55] Why Marketing Has Gotten Too Serious — Todd pushes back on the heaviness that has crept into the marketing industry. His point is simple – people choose marketing because there is something innately enjoyable about the work. It is creative, strategic, cultural and visible. But when the industry becomes too serious, teams lose the looseness that allows ideas to flow. For Todd, getting back to joy is not a nice-to-have, but rather a part of how better work gets made.

[03:25] Why Cultural Fluency Creates Marketing That Happens — Todd describes himself as a student of culture, someone who pays attention to sports, music, fandoms and subcultures because those are the places where people already care deeply. In a fragmented media landscape, paid media can reach people, but that does not mean they are paying attention. The stronger move is creating “marketing that happens”: work that breaks through because people opt in, talk about it and text their friends because something actually happened.

[07:30] Empathy Is a Marketing and Leadership Skill — Todd argues that empathy is one of the most important skills for marketers going forward. It matters externally because marketers need to understand their target audiences. But it also matters internally because leaders need to understand what their teams are carrying, especially during periods of organizational churn. The balance is acknowledging fatigue while giving people a clear destination. Teams can handle hard work better when they know the “from-to.”

[08:48] What Kraft Heinz’s Cannes Wins Say About Creative Focus — Todd shares some of Kraft Heinz’s Cannes-recognized work, including Heinz “Looks Familiar,” which won a Grand Prix, “The Dipper,” and Jell-O’s “Gelometer.” Each idea is different, but they share a useful creative lesson: strong work often comes from a simple cultural or product truth pushed into an unexpected form. A French fry box that already looks like Heinz. A dipper built into the pack. A Jell-O mold that measures sound in jiggles. Silly, yes. But also deeply strategic.