• Amid tariffs and boycotts of US products, some brands are "de-Americanizing" their marketing.
• Companies like Kraft Heinz in Canada are emphasizing local production.
• Others are taking efforts to use local creators and are stepping up ad spend internationally.

Can you make my brand look less American when we advertise to Brits?

That was the nature of a request recently fielded by Luke Jonas, cofounder of Nest, a UK-based ad agency that specializes in helping e-commerce brands launch in the US and American companies market internationally.

Jonas said Fresh Threads, a proudly American apparel brand that often features hot young things skating on boardwalks of San Diego in its marketing, is working with Nest to identify British creators it can photograph lounging in London parks and English gardens for its UK push.

This move by Fresh Threads is part of a broader trend sweeping the marketing world. Huge brands like Coca-Cola and McDonald's, and smaller companies alike, are leaning into local in their ads. Rather than playing up their American roots, many are making efforts to embrace local culture when they advertise abroad as geopolitical tensions between the US and its international counterparts simmer.

Jonas said Nest has also seen a big shift in the regions its clients are targeting. Over the past month, around two-thirds, or 67%, of Nest's customers who were targeting the US with their marketing have shifted to focus on other countries, with the agency assuming that skirting tariffs was a big motivator. The most common are countries in the European Union (60%), followed by the Middle East (20%).

"In 20 years working in e-commerce, I've never seen such a dramatic shift in brand behaviour as the reaction to the Trump tariffs," Jonas said.

As US tariffs threaten industries that make products ranging from toys to trucks, consumers in some countries have reacted negatively to American brands.

Perhaps the starkest example is Canada, where some consumers are refusing to buy American goods or visit the US. In Europe, some shoppers are using an app called "BrandSnap" to help them identity EU alternatives to US products.

With some international consumers going out of their way to boycott American products, companies are exploring everything from subtle rebranding to "full-fledged marketing pivots" in various countries, said Minkyung Kim, assistant professor of marketing at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business.

"Brands are localizing and 'de-Americanizing' their marketing where needed, without completely abandoning their identity," Kim said.

Kraft Heinz wants you to know its Canadian products are made in Canada

Kraft Heinz is a clear example of the localizing trend.

The brand could have been a prime candidate for a Canadian boycott after it closed a major Ontario factory in 2014, which left a lingering resentment toward the company in the country. After President Donald Trump made Canada one of his first targets for tariffs — and even floated the idea of annexing the country — Kraft Heinz Canada revved up its marketing response.

It ran TV ads during the Canadian broadcasts of the Super Bowl and March Madness, reminding viewers that its KD mac and cheese contains Canadian wheat and cheese, that Philadelphia cream cheese is 100% Canadian dairy, and that the peanuts in Kraft peanut butter are roasted in Canada.

In January, it ran full-page newspaper ads declaring that Heinz Ketchup is "made in Canada, by Canadians, using Canadian tomatoes," in response to the country's then-Prime-Minister Justin Trudeau telling reporters about a previous tariff dispute in Trump's first term, during which Heinz's ketchup was "replaced by French's ketchup because French's was still using Canadian tomatoes in its ketchup."

A Kraft Heinz spokesperson said additional Canadian TV ads are airing soon.

Meanwhile, on the American side of the border, some brands are proudly advertising their US roots.

Ford last month ran a campaign with the tagline "From America. For America." Elsewhere, the apparel brand American Giant recently sent an email to customers, reminding them its products have been "made here since 2011."

When the geopolitical going gets tough, big brands get local

On earnings calls in recent weeks, execs across corporate America representing brands from Harley-Davidson to Skechers to KFC were peppered with questions from analysts about whether they're facing pressure internationally from anti-American consumer sentiment.

McDonald's said it had conducted three different global surveys to gauge how consumers feel about America the country, America the brand, and McDonald's the brand. The results were bad news for Brand America: McDonald's said the surveys found an "eight to 10 points" increase in anti-American sentiment. This was most pronounced in Northern Europe and Canada. It also found there was an increase in people saying they were going to cut back on purchasing American brands.

Ian Borden, the fast-food chain's chief financial officer, said McDonald's was able to weather the storm because "our brand has been able to adapt appropriately to the kind of cultures and communities that we do business in."

Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey emphasized its strategy of making global brands locally relevant.

"In the moments of geopolitical tension, one of the key strategies is to drive and reinforce the made in or made by," Quincey said on the company's recent earnings call. "The fact that it's a local business, the factory is down the road from you, your neighbors make the product."

Joey Camire, CEO of the strategy and design firm Sylvain, said that while brands should always have considered localizing their marketing, it was previously expensive. The rise of AI tools to help with things like language translation and the use of influencers has helped to bring those costs down.

"Strategically, it makes a lot of sense in this moment" for brands to localize where possible, he said.

• Starbucks is planning to use zero-based budgeting starting during its next fiscal year.
• The coffee chain is trying to cut expenses to pay for its turnaround efforts.
• Other companies have used zero-based budgeting, though some appear to have cut perks too deeply.

Starbucks is planning to use a cost-cutting method with a tough reputation as it continues its turnaround.

The method, called zero-based budgeting, asks managers to justify every dollar they spend each year instead of using the previous year's spending as a baseline, as many companies do.

Starbucks executives say ZBB will help them find savings as they spend more on their Back to Starbucks plan, including paying for more hours for the baristas who staff its stores.

"We're going to be looking at ways to grow the business and also take a really hard look through the zero-based budgeting approach to understand where else there might be some offsets," CEO Brian Niccol said during the company's earnings call on Tuesday.

"I love deploying a few tools like zero-based budgeting" to "help us get after some of those maybe-stranded costs," CFO Cathy Smith, who joined Starbucks in the last few weeks, also said on the call.

A Starbucks spokesperson did not respond to questions about how the company planned to use zero-based budgeting.

ZBB gained popularity in the 1970s, thanks in part to former president Jimmy Carter, who advocated — ultimately unsuccessfully — for its use by the federal government.

More recently, some major brands have adopted the strategy.

For instance, the private equity firm 3G Capital has deployed the method at the Stella Artois maker AB InBev and Kraft Heinz, the company that makes Oscar Mayer and Lunchables.

The strategy, which includes moves like making all senior execs fly coach class even over long distances, did lower costs and improve the companies' margins. But in some cases, the spending cuts were so severe that it made it tough for employees to do their jobs, Business Insider reported in 2021.

One employee, who had recently left Kraft Heinz, told BI at the time that she could only spend $5 annually on office supplies. She also had to bring in her own Keurig pods from home since the company, which makes Maxwell House coffee, provided no coffee in the office break room.

Other Kraft Heinz employees told BI that strict spending controls hampered the development of new products and ultimately made it less competitive.

Some companies have adopted the method at key turning points.

Managers at X, formerly known as Twitter, reportedly had to use zero-based budgeting after Elon Musk bought the company in 2022.

And in 2020, General Motors implemented ZBB to manage disruptions caused by the pandemic. The company temporarily cut spending by slashing advertising and furloughing some employees, then-CFO Dhivya Suryadevara said at an investor conference.

Do you work at Starbucks and have a story idea to share? Reach out to this reporter at [email protected]

• Apple TV+'s "The Studio" satirizes Hollywood's art-commerce tension.
• The Seth Rogen show parodies brand films and nods to real-life successes like "Barbie."
• Insiders say its portrayal of branded entertainment is positive for the industry despite the jokes.

Warning: Minor spoilers for "The Studio" episode one.

Apple TV+'s buzzy new satire, "The Studio," skewers Hollywood's recent embrace of brands with a prominent storyline about a "Kool-Aid" movie.

You might think the real-life people who make brand-backed films and TV shows would be miffed. You'd be wrong. They love it — though they might have some notes.

Four Hollywood insiders told Business Insider they felt the show was positive for the branded entertainment business because the series legitimized the concept by poking fun at it.

Jae Goodman, whose Superconnector Studios is working with the likes of LVMH and AB InBev to break into Hollywood, said he's already had a couple of directly correlated incoming calls from people in the wake of the show, asking: "Should we be thinking about this?"

The first episode of "The Studio" centers on Seth Rogen's character Matt Remick, a film purist, getting promoted to be the head of the fictional Continental Studios. The catch? He only gets the job after promising his boss, played by Bryan Cranston, that he'll make a movie based on the Kool-Aid brand. In the episode, Remick initially snubs filmmaker Nick Stoller's ("Forgetting Sarah Marshall," "Captain Underpants") commercial adaptation to work with Martin Scorsese, who wants to make his dream film about the Jonestown massacre. Hilarity ensues.

"Even if it's done in an over-the-top way, it's highlighting the state of storytelling in Hollywood right now," said Brad Roth, president of Known Originals, which worked with Toys "R" Us and Fox Studios for a competition reality series, "Family Faceoff," and is now working with The Knot on a slate of TV shows and films.

What the show gets right about branded entertainment

One immediately recognizable scene is the studio's hopes of repeating the success of "Barbie." 2023's Barbie blockbuster movie is the ultimate in brand films, earning critical praise, winning an Oscar, and topping the list of highest-grossing pictures.

"Hollywood is Hollywood, and if something works, they want to keep it going as long as they can," said Angela Matusik, who consults with brands on entertainment strategies.

Episode one's resolution — in which Remick ultimately throws Scorsese under the bus and goes with Stoller's more commercial pitch — also rang true to insiders.

While Kool-Aid executives aren't portrayed in the show, Remick's actions speak to the compromises required to bring these kinds of projects to fruition, which people who work at the intersection of brands and entertainment know all too well. And as much as Remick was wedded to the auteur version of the film, the Stoller one would probably be better, Known's Roth said.

"It is such a pop culture icon that feels more aligned with Nick's take," he said. "It may not get into the pantheon of great films, but it probably is the right take."

"The Studio" also shows that, ultimately, there's a great and awful way to execute any idea, said Marc Gilbar, president of Imagine Brands, IP & Partnership at Imagine Entertainment, who's led award-winning films for brands including Nike, Unilever, and Procter & Gamble.

"If you told someone there was a movie in development about Facebook, Nike, Barbie, Lego, they would be pretty skeptical, but then again, with David Fincher, Ben Affleck, Greta Gerwig, or Lord and Miller behind them, those all become great movies," he said.

What the show leaves out

So, what did "The Studio" get wrong?

For one, insiders said the nitty-gritty of getting all the stakeholders aligned to make a brand film is more nuanced than its portrayal in "The Studio."

The show also depicts brands as thirsty to get in bed with Hollywood. While it's true to some extent — Mattel has other films in the works based on toys like Uno — in reality, brands aren't just a blank check, as some studios and producers think.

"They think this is a big white horse that's going to ride in and save the film industry," Matusik said.

In uncertain economic times like today's, marketers tend to turn away from formats like films that will come out when the world may be a much different place, in favor of ad formats that promise a quick payoff.

The show got people talking about Kool-Aid

One big question people had: How much did Kool-Aid know, and when did they know it?

Sometimes movies and shows are made about brands without their involvement, as was the case with 2023's "Air" about the origin of Air Jordans. It was made independently of Nike.

In the case of "The Studio," which pointedly recalls Kool-Aid's association with an episode of mass death, it's hard to imagine the brand played an active role.

A spokesperson for parent Kraft Heinz said the brand got a heads-up when the show was filmed and about to air and that while it "was not given the opportunity" to be involved in developing the show, its inclusion speaks to its strong cultural relevance. The rep added that Kool-Aid "would love to find a way to collaborate with them in the future."

Despite the prominent Jonestown reference, brand entertainment insiders said they felt Kool-Aid's starring role in multiple episodes was a triumph.

"To be in this funny show, that's such a great win for the brand," Roth said. "I haven't talked about Kool-Aid since I was 12 years old. Everyone who's watching that show is talking about Kool-Aid."

• At the World Federation of Advertisers conference, it was clear marketers are under pressure.
• Tariffs, DEI rollbacks, the potential for ad budget cuts — it's a lot.
• But CMOs are a creative bunch. They told me they're hopeful marketing can steer brands through.

"Snafu: Situation normal, all f—d up."

Stephan Loerke, CEO of the World Federation of Advertisers, dropped this f-bomb — part of an acronym coined by the US military during the Second World War — onstage at the ING Arena at the trade body's recent flagship event in Brussels. He said it was an apt way to describe how marketers feel three months into 2025.

Yet marketers will often say they're at their most creative when they're under pressure. (Just don't mention cutting their budgets.)

The duality was on full display at the glitzy conflab, replete with snazzy onstage graphics and a house band playing electropop in between sessions. Speakers from brands like Mastercard, L'Oréal, and Kraft Heinz painted an optimistic vision to the 2,000-strong audience about how marketers could position their companies for growth, despite the tectonic shifts happening around them.

Between the prospects of tariffs, inflation, the rising cost of living, global conflicts, political polarization, and the disruptive impact of AI, there's a lot for a CMO to keep on top of.

Almost all (99%) of the roughly 600 marketers polled in a recent survey from the WFA and the consultancy firm Oxford said economic and geopolitical uncertainty — and the need to quickly adjust priorities and budgets — would be important or more important in the next five years. Roughly two-thirds (68%) said they'd anticipate these pressures would grow.

One knock-on effect of that is ad budgets are likely to take a hit. Marketing is often the first department to feel the impact of cost cuts. In separate reports last month, analysts from Madison and Wall, as well as Magna Global, trimmed their US ad market forecasts for 2025.

Backstage, Loerke told me that many marketers felt the uncertainty was at an inflection point, which was driving conversations about how to prove marketing's value as CMOs prepare for a tough year.

"Usually, when that conversation starts, it means that actually there's a recession coming," said Loerke, a former marketer at L'Oréal in the 1990s.

I interviewed six top global CMOs and spoke with other marketing execs attending the Brussels event to get a sense of what's top of mind for marketers as they navigate the turbulence.

Marketers are scenario planning while trying to keep on track with their long-term strategies

Many marketers are spending a significant portion of their time locked in scenario-planning meetings with their CEOs, chief finance officers, and other members of the C-suite.

"Back in the day, when I started in the business, it was an A plan and a B plan," said Diana Frost, global chief growth officer at Kraft Heinz. "Well, that's a C plan and a D plan now."

With the costs of raw materials going up, marketers in sectors like consumer goods and food are having to make rapid-fire decisions about prices, packaging, and product formulations. Consumers' willingness to pay more at the checkout is often partly determined by years of brand-building designed to make them choose one product over another.

Patrik Hansson, EVP of marketing and innovation at the dairy company Arla Foods, said that while companies may encounter a year with disappointing growth, it's important for CMOs to stick to their plans — a five-year horizon rather than a six-month horizon, say — to ensure their marketing has a long-term impact.

"If you have a way forward, then a bit of noise, a bit of turbulence doesn't distract you from the long term, and that's what we're trying to focus on because otherwise, you get lost in this," Hansson told me.

It all adds up for marketing measurement

Over coffees, canapés, and cocktails, job security was a hot topic at the event.

A February survey published Tuesday from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business found that 63% of the 281 US marketing leaders polled felt increased pressure from their chief finance officers, up from 52% in 2023.

"One of the big problems is that the advertisers themselves are shedding people in an attempt to cut costs, so CMOs are risk-averse and look for signs of success that are supposedly measurable," Nick Manning, founder of the media consultancy Encyclomedia, who was in attendance, told me after the event.

"Saying 'trust me, it'll work' doesn't play in a world where short-term is the only term," Manning added.

Diageo is often seen across the industry as a poster child for demonstrating marketing effectiveness.

In 2023, it began working with a tech company called CreativeX. CreativeX uses artificial intelligence to generate a "creative quality score" that predicts whether digital marketing assets will be effective.

The drinks giant is also using an AI listening tool, developed with its partners Share Creative and Kantar, to predict consumer trends. One insight: 2025 is the year of "zebra striping," in which consumers cut down on their alcohol consumption by alternating between alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.

Diageo's marketers also use an internal tool called Catalyst to get immediate access to data to help them make planning decisions.

"I want our marketers to have a business mindset and delve into the insights we can now access to plan spend, design campaigns, create content, and collaborate with partners based on what scenario best delivers the brand-building outcome that drives growth," said Cristina Diezhandino, Diageo's chief marketing officer.

At Kraft Heinz, Frost wants to instill a sense of swagger and pride within the marketing department — and she's got the receipts to back it up. The Heinz brand, in particular, has marked compound annual revenue growth of 6% over the past two years, adding around $600 million in top-line growth to the broader Kraft Heinz business, Frost said. She credits the creation of its internal digital ad agency, "The Kitchen," and also the repeatable frameworks it's put in place for Heinz marketers around the world to help grow the brand further.

"When you have these proof points of growth, then you can build the pride, then you can build the momentum of how it's actually possible as you roll it out to the rest of the portfolio, " Frost said.

Jitters over brand safety and DEI rollbacks loomed large

"Brand safety" was the elephant in the room at the event.

Unspoken but present were lawsuits filed by Elon Musk's X and the video platform Rumble, plus a Jim Jordan-led House Judiciary Committee investigation. These took aim at the WFA's now-shuttered voluntary initiative, the Global Alliance of Responsible Media, and more than a dozen of its advertiser members. The lawsuits and the probe, which are ongoing, allege GARM's members illegally colluded to boycott platforms like X and Rumble. While GARM closed, which the WFA said was due to its limited resources, the WFA has said it adhered to competition rules and would prove so in court. The WFA told me in Brussels it didn't want to discuss the matter.

(Side note: For all its glamour, the WFA's event had been originally due to take place at the far-flung locale of Mumbai, India, but after the legal troubles arose, it was shifted to Brussels, where the WFA is headquartered. The WFA partnered with the local advertising trade body, the UBA, to run the main show.)

While GARM was off limits, marketers did open up about another topic that's become newly contentious, particularly in corporate America: the anti-woke movement and the vocal backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

Gael de Talhouet, VP of brand building at the Swedish hygiene company Essity, said marketers should be mindful that "a brand is not a political stage."

"It's something where you tell people about the good you bring to the world," he added.

Rupen Desai, CMO and venture partner of the Una Terra Early Growth Fund, said the recent DEI rollbacks had revealed two types of companies: those where DEI was hard-coded into the company's economic model and those that were investing in these sorts of programs just because everyone else was.

For the second type of company, Desai said the recent movements are a "huge sigh of relief."

"When you're grappling with growth, or the lack of it, and this investment isn't really yet showing results, it's probably easier to take a step back," Desai said.

But he added: "The companies who continue on this journey will be bigger winners than the ones who took a step forward, took a step back."

As the sun set over the Palais de la Bourse, the former Brussels stock exchange, where the event's gala dinner was held, the mood was buoyant, despite the complexities the people in the vast dining room were having to navigate this year. (And sure, perhaps the frequently topped-up wine, exquisitely cooked duck, and performance from the French comedy TikTok creators Supermassive helped a tiny bit.)

CMOs are complex creatures, after all, as David Wheldon, the new WFA president and chief brand officer of the lottery group Allwyn, summed up.

"A marketer has to have this strange combination of optimism and belief in what you're doing personally, and belief in what you're doing for your company and your customers — and you have to be aware of the context you're in," Wheldon said. "If you flip-flop because the context is changing rapidly, then you cause yourself a problem."