Three Ways The Kraft Heinz Company Embraced Real-Time Research

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How brands pushed toward agile market research, enhanced consumer insights, and new virtual research solutions in 2020.

This year, there were a number of brands that found themselves fortunately well-positioned to thrive and respond to the rapidly evolving needs of consumers. 

The Kraft Heinz Company is one such brand. Higher grocery demand this year helped the CPG giant exceed sales expectations, but not without noteworthy company-wide agility.

Kraft Heinz added factory capacity and increased production of suddenly sought-after products by 20%. Many of those items were of the more familiar, legacy variety, providing comfort to consumers, who were reminded of their presence through shifted marketing strategies.

The company gave back in other charitable ways too, but with COVID-19 likely having an impact on the world throughout 2021, the successes Kraft Heinz pulled off this year adds pressure to perform in the future.

“Our focus has been, we know that we’ve grown, how do we isolate, identify and understand how to keep that relationship with consumers?” said Fran Guzman, Insights and Strategy Lead at The Kraft Heinz Company during a recent Quirk’s webinar, “How Kraft Heinz is Innovating Market Research.”

He spoke with Suzy’s Chief Customer Officer Katie Gross about a variety of new approaches to market research and consumer insights collection.

Here are three key ways Kraft plans to continue providing positive consumer experiences and grow brand allegiance going forward. 

Brands Can Interact With Consumers While In Their ‘Natural Environment’

Gross asked Guzman if there were silver linings in the world of research to come out of 2020. Guzman said that experimentation has been encouraged, a development he’s personally relished. 

One of the tools at the forefront of this pivot has been virtual qual research tools, such as Suzy Live. These platforms allow researchers to conduct virtual interviews with consumers, who could be anywhere, but usually are in their homes — their “natural environment,” as Gross categorized it.

The result for Kraft Heinz, Guzman said, has been enhanced interaction with consumers.

“There’s a comfort of being in your home and communicating about food and beverage consumption,” Guzman said. “People are just more willing to talk and they’re freer to do it [at home] versus when they’re in a room with [two-way] glass.”

Companies like Kraft Heinz are also now “able to pressure-test ideas among consumers that we know and target,” he added. They’ve also received “feedback along the way as we finalize a lot of, not only our strategies but our communication hierarchies and anything tied to that.”

One of the most important insights Kraft Heinz was able to procure thanks to this “less-restrictive” interview process, Guzman said, was the fact that snacking might become a thing of the past. 

Set eating times are evaporating, sped up by this year’s events, Guzma said. He added: “Gen Z and under is very much a grazing society… They eat when they eat and if it needs to be a meal replacement or a hold-me-over, they choose based on the food they’re consuming.”

Interviews Are An ‘Escape’ for Consumers

One potential drawback that comes with interviewing consumers in their homes, Gross posited, was that they could be more easily distracted. Guzman said in some cases that’s true, but he found many of the consumers to be more engaged.

“It’s almost an escape for them,” Guzman said of interviews. “The level of conversation that’s been viable has been stronger and richer than when we are in person. … Consumers are eager to talk about anything other than COVID, the economy, and other things that are happening with them.”

He said it will be interesting to see how much of that enthusiasm for talking about brands and products persist in consumers in a post-COVID world.

Challenges Remain, But So Does Promise

The move to virtual research does create some challenges. Understanding how consumers respond to packaging is more difficult, Guzman said, because it requires consumers to interact with it in specific ways. And though there are some tools that help brands conduct virtual product testing as well, Guzman said, in his opinion, they didn’t prove as effective as more primitive means. 

“At the end of the day it’s better to have everyone come to a central location for testing,” Guzman said. “But you’ve got to work with what you have in 2020.”

In spite of these difficulties and the general state of the world, Guzman said he looks forward to more innovation in the category he researches. He’s particularly excited about the future of Rx Food, which he described as “food-plus” that boasts additional nutritional benefits.

With the emergence of Rx Food consumer awareness, “We’re at a crux for a great opportunity for a global manufacturer at Kraft Heinz,” Guzman said. “Consumers are looking for established, trusted brands, but they’re also looking for more from their food.”

Insights accrued during a turbulent 2020, made possible in large part by real-time research.

For more information about how brands like Kraft Heinz are effectively engaging data and insights, watch the full webinar here.