SOUTHFIELD, Illinois: Kraft, the US food group, will boost expenditure on advertising and innovation as part of a wide-ranging programme to find its "sweet spot".

Irene Rosenfeld, Kraft's ceo, argued the "global snacks powerhouse" was adopting a diversified approach in driving future growth across the globe.

"We're hitting our sweet spot," she said. "By leveraging our scale, making strategic investments in marketing, sales and innovation, and establishing a world-class cost structure, we will take our performance to the next level."

Among the key trends the company is attempting to follow are "on-the-go consumption", "simple indulgences" and health and wellness.

Kraft's plans centre around 20 "power brands", including Kraft Singles, Oreo, Trident, Kool-Aid and Miracle Whip.

While the organisation's advertising and communications spending should rise from approximately 6.5% of sales in 2010 to between 8% and 9% in 2013, this latter total will surpass 10% for 12 of these 20 offerings.

Innovation could witness a similar surge, as R&D's proportion of revenue improves on the 8% level recorded in 2009 to 11% in 2011.

Elsewhere, Kraft intends to reduce trade spending by 200 basis points during this period, lessening the role of promotions.

"Brand value is more important than it's ever been," Rosenfeld added. "The consumer is value conscious, not just price conscious."

Another priority identified by Rosenfeld was the "point-of-purchase 'hot zone'", an area where Kraft has already made considerable progress.

The "Wall-to-Wall" initiative, which sees one sales rep assume responsibility for an individual store, now covers 16,600 outlets, and is increasingly utilising automated procedures.

Meanwhile, the continued integration with Cadbury should also allow the company to spread best practice learnings, achieve substantial cost savings and enhance Kraft's status in emerging markets.

The last aim is particularly crucial, and Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia and South Africa are some core target nations.

The average shopper buys 15.1kg of snacks a year in the US, declining to 9.3kg in Brazil, 8.4kg in Mexico, 2.8kg in China and 1.2kg in India.

Private label's estimated 12% share in the packaged food category worldwide also falls below the US figure of 18%.

"Delivering on these commitments will make Kraft Foods a sustainable top-tier performer in the global food industry," said Tim McLevish, Kraft's chief financial officer.

Exploiting this opportunity requires a "glocal" strategy mixing multinational ranges with new products for specific countries, and "heritage brands", like Vegemite in Australia.

Such a model applies more broadly, incorporating Freia and Marabou in the Nordic states, alongside Sottilette, Dairylea and El Caserio in Italy, the UK and Spain respectively.

Lacta, Club Social and Tang are among Kraft's leading options in Brazil, a position held by Oreo, Prince and Tuc prominent in China, and Cadbury and Halls in India.

By 2013, the proportion of Kraft's business generated from developing markets could reach 33%, compared with a quarter at present.

Data sourced from Financial Times/Kraft; additional content by Warc staff