Kraft Heinz uses generative AI for personalized marketing. Forrester says most companies still justify AI through productivity, missing the customer-value bet that sets leaders apart.
Alpha Score of 51 reflects moderate overall profile with moderate momentum, strong value, poor quality. Based on 3 of 4 signals – score is capped at 90 until remaining data ingests.
Kraft Heinz is using generative AI to personalize marketing and product recommendations, a shift from the cost-focused AI deployments common across consumer goods. The packaged-food giant applies the technology to predict what shoppers want and tailor messages accordingly, according to a Forrester report published earlier this year.
The approach stands out because most organizations still justify AI through a productivity lens, the report found. That narrow framing can make AI adoption expensive without a clear connection to business outcomes. Companies that treat AI as a customer-value tool rather than an efficiency lever generate the most momentum, Forrester said, citing DBS Bank's AI-powered financial recommendations as another example.
Kraft Heinz has been under pressure to revive growth after years of declining sales volume in its core U.S. retail business. The company's AI push targets the demand side of the equation. That is a different bet than the supply-chain automation most packaged-food companies have prioritized.
Trust remains the binding constraint. 77% of AI decision-makers now report using agentic AI in production, Forrester found. Customer skepticism about AI-generated outputs persists. Kraft Heinz's strategy ties AI deployment directly to brand trust, the report said, rather than deploying the technology first and addressing trust later.
The Forrester report, "Accelerate Your AI Voyage," identified four traits that separate value-creating AI adopters from activity-focused ones: customer orientation, outcome measurement, trust integration, and a willingness to look beyond near-term efficiency gains. Kraft Heinz scored in the middle of the pack on AlphaScala's proprietary Alpha Score, which rates the company at 58 out of 100 – a Moderate rating that suggests the AI strategy has not yet translated into a measurable competitive edge in the market.
Forrester will host AI Forums in Singapore and Sydney in August and Technology Forums in the fall to explore how organizations close the gap between AI aspiration and AI advantage.
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