Kraft saddles snack foods with cheesy name: Mondelez

Kraft’s decision to split its grocery and snack businesses may boost its stock price—but naming its newly independent snack business Mondelez (MOHN-DAH-LEEZ)? That decision has some on Madison Avenue scratching their heads. Did CEO Irene Rosenfeld put Homer Simpson in charge of marketing? (CR: FOX)

The famous Oreo cookie is going to get a new family name after its parents split up next year — Mondelez.

Monde-WHAT?

It’s pronounced “Mohn-dah-LEEZ,” according to Kraft, which introduced the new corporate moniker yesterday morning — and then spent the better part of the day teaching media types how to say it.

It’s a corporate name, and Kraft’s Oreos, Fig Newtons and Nabisco cookies will retain their familiar brand names , but many on Madison Avenue were left scratching their heads over the fabricated corporate-speak.

“The public gets sick of compressed words if they aren’t intuitive,” Nina Beckhardt, founder and president of The Naming Group, told Bloomberg.

“When the pronunciation isn’t accessible, it looks bad. It’s not intuitive.”

The new name, Mondelez — a combo of “monde,” derived from the Latin word for world, and “delez,” an internationally understood word for delicious — was necessary because the $55 billion food giant is splitting in two to give its shareholders a rich perk of owning shares in two separate, profitable outfits.

One will house Kraft’s grocery business and retain the Kraft Foods Group name.

The second will include the famous snack brands and get the new ID.

The spinoff’s aim is to grow in emerging markets like India and China. Mondelez is believed to be better suited for a global audience.

It was created by two employees in a contest.

“This could confuse some,” veteran branding expert Dean Crutchfield told The Post.

But Crutchfield said it may be worth all the trouble.

“Considering Kraft is using it only to go after global markets, it’s a rather nice sounding global name. It’s easy to pronounce in several languages.”

Crutchfield said the industry “is much more accepting of new and strange names than before.”

Beckhardt tends to agree, saying corporate names have less of an impact.

Sharon Shedroff, founder of Strategic Vision, a San Diego-based consulting firm, said European countries will have an easier time understanding the name than other places.

A Kraft spokesperson admitted the pronunciation of Mondelez doesn’t immediately roll off the tongue.

“It will take a while to get used to,” the spokesman said. “People will learn how to pronounce it, and it will be good.”

Kraft is spending $2 billion for the far-reaching and complicated breakup of hundreds of products in 170 nations with 126,000 employees.

Kraft is also borrowing $4 billion ahead of the spinoff, with the debt shifted to Mondelez after the breakup is completed, filings said.

Meanwhile, Kraft is also saving a bundle by having its new company name created in-house.

Typically, a new brand name could cost upwards of $50 million for a company the size of Kraft, said Crutchfield.

Kraft isn’t the first company to invent a new corporate name. Philip Morris changed its name to Altria Group, and Andersen Consulting flipped to Accenture.

Both of those changes came in handy when the previous names became enmeshed with controversy.

Kraft shares yesterday slipped slightly, falling 0.1 percent to $38.31.