Authenticity sells — especially when you put real people at the heart of your brand.

Kraft BBQ sauce was stuck. Shelved between competitors who leaned hard into regional pride and smokehouse credibility, Kraft was being dismissed as the grocery store default.

To reclaim its place at the table, Kraft needed to do more than tweak recipes. It needed to rebuild trust with a generation of BBQ loyalists — the kind who see sauce as sacred.

I helped reposition the brand with a PR campaign anchored by real pitmasters — not actors or celebrity chefs — in the communities they were from.  With regional storytelling, recipe development, and content across digital, social, and retail, the brand told a richer, smokier story.

Media deliverables include:

• Press Release: Heinz Partners with Top Pitmasters to Launch Five New Great-Tasting BBQ Sauces

• Online News: Heinz launches “Pitmasters” regional barbecue sauces range

• Online News: Kraft Heinz Launches New Line of BBQ Sauces

• Pictures: Heinz Barbecue Sauces

Return on Investment

A 28% increase in market share within six months. A new place in the premium BBQ segment. And a national audience who now saw Kraft Heinz as more than just “sauce in a bottle” — but a tribute to authentic tradition.