Challenges and goals:

Philadelphia had always dominated the cream cheese market. But in recent years, younger consumers were switching to storebrand cream cheese because Philadelphia didn’t feel relevant to their lives anymore, making it easily replaceable. As a result, sales volume declined by 7.3% and market share declined by 1.5%. 

We set out to reignite love for Philadelphia amongst younger Canadians, while increasing sales of Philadelphia and recovering sales volume and market share over store brand cream cheese. 

Insights and strategy:

To get younger Canadians to fall in love with Philly we had to find a role for the brand within aspects of culture that matter to them. Enter Nike’s Montreal Bagel Dunks — a brand new limited edition line of sneakers launched on Nike’s digital platform “SNKRS”. Millennials and Gen Z were obsessed with them and the announcement generated online frenzy within our target demographic.

But of course, no Montreal Bagel is really complete without Philadelphia cream cheese. So, we saw an opportunity to hijack this conversation in a way that only Philadelphia could.

Execution: 

When Nike announced their Montreal Bagel Dunks, we hijacked their digital sneaker drop with a digital drop of our own. Less than 48 hours after Nike launched their Montreal Bagel Dunks, we responded with a digital drop of our own: Philadelphia Schmear Socks.

We launched Schmear Socks in 3 styles: Original, Chive ‘n’ Onion, and Strawberry, and sold them exclusively through Instagram. To help build hype around them and get people talking, we commented on key social accounts that were promoting Nike’s drop, like Nike Toronto, Off the Hook Boutique (the exclusive retailer of the shoe in Montreal), and @chien.champion, the designer of the Dunk’s custom shoe box, @HypeBeastKicks and many more, driving intrigue and interest. And successfully hijacking the social conversation around Nike’s much-anticipated digital drop.

Results and impact:

Philadelphia Schmear Socks blew up the internet, with over 300M earned impressions in just 24 hours, with a total earned media value of $3.7M. The socks sold out in under 2 hours, and even began being resold for way, way more money on sneakerheads’ online marketplace of choice: GRAILED. But the best part? By hijacking Nike’s digital drop with a digital drop of our own, Schmear Socks were featured in 83% of all media stories about the Nike Montreal Bagel Dunks, leading to a 15.3% increase in sales of original Philadelphia and a 2.1% increase in market share.

By inserting ourselves into online sneaker culture in a natural way, we put Philadelphia bag on the minds of the younger generation.