Lisa Merriam

Kraft Crack Up — Breaking Up the CPG Brand

Just 18 months after getting it all together, consumer packaged goods giant Kraft announced today that it is breaking up the CPG brand. It turns out that Kraft executives have discovered the grocery business has different needs that the snacks business. In a conference call with the Kraft CEO, one participant called the break up “rearranging the furniture.” Kraft CEO characterized one company as a “truly ubiquitous snacking powerhouse” and the other as a “lean, mean center-of-the-store machine.”

CPG Brand Questions

One question remains: What will the new companies be called? Which one will keep the Kraft name? Lets hope the old General Foods name will not come back. Equally bad would be a hybrid such as Kraft-Cadbury. And, of course, calling both companies Kraft would repeat the mistakes made by Motorola and Marathon.

Let’s hope at least that the much maligned new Kraft logo is finally laid to rest.

kraft-foods-dead-brand

More on corporate break ups and spin-off brand name challenges:
Breaking the Motorola Brand
Marathon Spin Off Runs Into Brand Confusion
Fortune Brands: Sum Not Greater Than Whole
Sara Lee Spins Off with Right Approach to Brand Names