• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, August 23, 2015

Whispers and reports of a Kraft Foods Group media review have been increasing in the part few days. Recently, the combined Kraft Heinz said it has plans in place to lay off 2,500 people. The $514 million account is currently handled by Starcom which in the past year or so has lost some business including Anheuser Busch InBev.

So why are things so bleak for Kraft? One word; organic. Yes, the organic trend is killing large food brands which are still pumping out a plethora of unhealthy food like Cheez Whiz, Jell-O, Oscar Mayer, Velveeta, Kool-Aid and the list goes on.

Granted, not every consumer has hopped on the organic bandwagon but increasingly people have come to the conclusion that the food they are eating today is not the same food they or their parents were eating 50 years ago. An endless list of hard-to-pronounce, mystery ingredients are now the norm on most packaging. Add to that the gluten-free trend and you have a recipe for disaster for old school food brands.

And newsflash to those making this decision: choosing a new media agency will have no affect on the success of Kraft Foods no matter how much more awesome some new media agency is at beating the heads of potential consumers. Consumers want healthier foods. Screaming at them more efficiently about the benefits of Cheez Whiz simply is not going to make a difference for the brand. On the other hand, making food people actually want to eat, will, indeed, make a difference.

All of which is to say, the ever-prevalent knee jerk reaction of switching agencies and media companies is rarely what turns a brand around. In most cases, it's because the brand just makes something better. Something that people actually want to buy. That's the only thing that's going to turn it around for Kraft Foods .