From Culture-First Content to Strategic Co-Creation Partner.
How The Industry Club partnered with Kraft Heinz to evolve The Kitchen from a culture-first content hub into a confident, strategic in-house creative partner.
A Recipe for Cultural Fluency & Creative Leadership

Known for its agility and cultural relevance, The Kitchen had established itself as Kraft Heinz’s go-to hub for fast social content.
The next step was bigger: evolving into a strategic, co-creative partner that could work hand-in-hand with marketing, shaping campaigns from the outset and helping build brands with creativity that lived beyond social channels.
The CHALLENGE
Kraft Heinz’s The Kitchen had become known for its speed — delivering culture-first, social content at the pace of conversation. But the ambition had grown: to be more than a content hub.
The vision was to become a true co-creative partner to marketing — helping build brands, shape campaigns, and deliver creativity that worked through the line, not just in social.
THE APPROACH
Working closely with both Kraft Heinz Talent and The Kitchen’s leadership, The Industry Club helped shape and scale a team fit for this next chapter.
Our focus was to:
- Bring in talent who could blend cultural fluency with brand and commercial impact.
- Ensure hires could co-create with marketing from the outset — shaping briefs and strategy, not just executions.
- Protect the agency’s fast, culture-first DNA while adding deeper strategic clarity and TTL creative rigour.
Key hires included a Strategy Lead, Senior Planner, Data Analyst, Creative Director and Hub Lead for Europe — individuals chosen as much for their ability to collaborate and co-create as for their skills.
The OUTCOME
In under six months, the UK hub has evolved into a more confident, commercially aware creative partner.
The Kitchen team now:
- Shapes briefs with marketing at the earliest stage.
- Delivers both quick-turn cultural activations and long-term brand campaigns.
- Proves in-house can mean faster, braver, and more brand-building.
OUR ROLE
The Industry Club didn’t just fill vacancies; we took the team on a journey. By mapping the market, we identified the exact blend of skills needed to balance culture-first agility with brand and commercial impact.
We focused on finding talent who could not only bring strategic and creative expertise, but also complement the existing team dynamic. This ensured the hires landed well, strengthened collaboration, and elevated The Kitchen’s work from tactical delivery to culture-first, through-the-line brand partnership.
The ResPONSE
"The team at the industry club really took the time to understand what we are trying to build here at the kitchen, and helped us find the perfect talent to take the kitchen team through to our next chapter"
Alex Wade: Head of Agency.
