Kraft Heinz, the global food and beverage company known for its portfolio of iconic household brands, has selected global brand consultancy Brand Central for a licensing program to extend the company’s best-selling brands into new lifestyle, food and beverage consumer product categories.

Kraft Heinz offers over 200-plus brands—such as Planters, Kraft, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Jell-O, Heinz, Kool-Aid, Lunchables, Kraft Mac and Cheese, and Velveeta—sold in nearly 200 countries that span across categories and has over $18 billion in U.S. sales, according to the company.

Brand Central said it will seek to develop a robust portfolio of licensed products for Kraft Heinz across food, beverage, experiential and merchandise categories for North America.

Brand Central will explore product extensions for various brands such as new food and beverage categories, innovative merchandise partnerships, and collaborations with leading lifestyle brands.

“After a thorough search, we are thrilled to select Brand Central as our licensing agency,” said Christopher Urban, head of marketing at Kraft Heinz.

“We feel that Brand Central has the right innovative approach to take our brands in new directions and the expertise to get it done.”

Kraft Heinz and Brand Central said they have begun accepting proposals across multiple categories and will announce their first licensing partners shortly.

“It is the dream of any licensing agency to represent Kraft Heinz—a portfolio of the world’s favorite household brands with enormous brand affection. The opportunities are tremendous, potential is untapped, and the demand is high. We are thrilled to help them extend into strategic new food and beverage categories and on-trend merchandise that will expand brand footprint and enhance brand loyalty,” said Ross Misher, Brand Central’s CEO. (Homeworld Business)