Why Passion Points Are the Secret Weapon for Authentic Consumer Engagement
In an era where AI looms large and consumer attention is scarce, a panel of brand leaders at Cannes Lions 2025 made one thing clear: authentic brand activation lives at the intersection of brand truth, consumer truth, and cultural relevance.
Speaking at Brand Innovators Beach, Jess Vultaggio, VP of Creative Capabilities & Innovation at Kraft Heinz, summed it up: “It’s not about one insight, it’s truly understanding your consumer, what they care about, what your brand can do in that moment, and why it matters now.”
Joined by Jack Cantwell, Global Client Lead and Head of Digital, Data & Technology at Carat, and Pete Wallace, General Manager EMEA at GumGum, the panel explored the evolving terrain of passion-point marketing and how brands must evolve from "badging" to activating.
Activations with Depth, Not Just Noise
Kraft Heinz's memorable activation at the Indy 500, featuring six Wienermobiles racing the track on Memorial Day, earned 6.8 billion impressions. The secret? Cultural timing, iconic branding, and a deep understanding of consumer passions. “That was the kickoff of hot dog season,” Vultaggio noted. “We knew exactly how to intersect brand identity with a consumer moment.”
Cantwell emphasized that too many brands stop at sponsorship logos. “There’s a vast gap between badging and doing something that matters,” he said. “You have to know when your audience wants to engage and when they don’t.”
Data That Decodes Human Passion
Both Cantwell and Vultaggio agreed that marketers must move beyond one-dimensional consumer profiles. “People are dynamic,” Cantwell said. “Context matters. You have to understand not just what they like, but why, when, and how they engage.”
Kraft Heinz leverages their internal agency, The Kitchen, for advanced social listening and insight generation. They are also investing in AI to build "chatable personas" that help marketers communicate in each brand’s voice, making activation more agile and informed.
Measuring the Right Signals
Attention is now the battleground, the panel agreed. “If people aren’t paying attention, there’s a cap on your impact,” Cantwell said. Moving toward attention-based measurement requires courage. “Legacy brands must evolve their KPIs to reflect new models of engagement and outcome,” he added.
Vultaggio backed this up with hard data: Kraft Heinz saw an 18% sales lift in Utah from a NIL deal with college basketball player Richie Saunders, whose great-grandfather invented the tater tot. That activation, which cost a fraction of official NCAA sponsorships, drove both cultural buzz and real sales.
Be Brave, Be True
Both panelists ended with a call to marketers: experiment.
“You’ll never learn unless you try,” said Vultaggio. “Know your brand, know your consumer, know the moment. Then be brave. Start small and see if it grows.”
Cantwell echoed that sentiment: “Understand people as their full selves, not just static IDs. That’s how you unlock real business growth.”
