Background
After one holiday season without cheesecake, cheesecake became everything.
For years, Philadelphia Cream Cheese has positioned itself as a synonym to cheesecake so when the pandemic translated into a product shortage in 2021, the brand lost its opportunity to continue to own cheesecake over one of the most representative sales moments: end-of-the-year holidays.
Over the end of the year, there’s a significant increase in average sales, with a three-fold rise compared to non-holiday periods. This surge in sales matches the increasing number of Google searches for cheesecake recipes making cheesecake one of the most popular desserts in the country over the end of the year.
To make up for lost time deriving from the shortage, we wanted to dial up the hype around the iconic cheesecake once shelves were restocked and ready for holiday sales. The love behind cheesecake wasn’t the only reason why we chose it to be the main character of our story but also because this is the recipe that uses the most quantity of cream cheese bricks to be made, translating into a natural sales peak (1 cheesecake = 3-4 cream cheese bricks).
The objective was clear, we needed to get back on our feet in terms of sales volume and reclaim our rightful place at people’s holiday dinner tables.
Objectives:
Sales
Drive sales of cream cheese during the holiday season.
KPI: 25% increase in sales from the year prior; 10% increase in average annual sales.
Brand Perception
Build a stronger positive association of Philly in consumer minds.
KPI: 2 pt increase in “Is a brand I crave” and 2 pt increase in “Is a brand that speaks to me”.
Strategy
Philadelphia Cream Cheese is a classic brand that has been present in people’s houses for 150 years. The brand has become a household staple and leads the cream cheese category with 70% market share and with that comes the challenge of remaining relevant in culture throughout the years. For this iconic brand, the opportunity relies on showing how versatile the product is and how it can still be a household staple regardless of the ever-changing food landscape.
This wasn’t the case for cheesecake. Cheesecake’s perception for young audiences in social media (1) gravitate around how the dessert is “classic”, “conventional”, “traditional” and other lofty synonyms for “dull” and “boring” with over 187k mentions of cheesecake in this context (5) . This point of view was reinforced through the market development tracker research conducted by Kraft Heinz where we noticed how although 2 out of 3 Millennials have considered making cheesecake, only 1 out of 3 have actually made it.
Cheesecake was facing a tough time, one where Millennial and Gen Z creators are constantly reinventing old desserts and sharing new, disruptive and cool-looking recipes. Naturally, this led to a high volume of recipe searches (2) such as “gravity-defying cake ideas”, “3D cheesecake ideas”, “bubble cakes” and “unusual cakes”, making cheesecake look even more dull for our core audience. We were in urgent need of reminding younger audiences of the potential cheesecake has.
And then we noticed something, cheesecake has the potential to be reinvented as a disruptive dessert too.
Think about it, once that white circle or rectangle comes out of the oven and into the fridge you can actually do whatever you want with it. In fact, even before you pour the creamy insides of a cheesecake into a plain ol’ graham crust you can make whatever you want with it. People can play with the format, the shape, the size, the color, the toppings…
It can be whatever people want it to be. Even on a more visceral and emotional level a white canvas serves as a creative hub to express aspirations, taste, aesthetics and personality.
The strategy was quickly set:
Cheesecake is a literal white canvas.
Ultimately, if cheesecake is a white canvas then it’s also an opportunity to bake you cool. Whatever that may be and whatever that may look, taste, smell like. Philly is here for it.
Campaign
During Easter 2022 the hottest trend online was “is it cake?”
A trend of cutting through realistic-looking objects and realizing the insides were cake that has 892.5 million views on TikTok with #isitcake (3). The trend became so big, even Netflix launched a show about it. So it felt like the right time to make a big splash and reinvent the trend by inserting a different kind of cake, cheesecake.
The perfect comeback after the shortage, a platform for us to launch this into the world and finally join the cultural/social conversation, while at the same time showing how cheesecake is anything but boring. Actually, it’s anything you want it to be.
Cheesecake is everything.
The perfect wrapper to literally explain how every realistic-looking object was in fact cheesecake and also an in-your-face reminder of how versatile this white canvas can be.
Incentivizing people to bake cheesecake is not the same as actually leading them to take action. This unveiled two clear jobs for us to tackle: media and implementation.
The media prioritization had at heart the objective to show people how cheesecake can be a white canvas for creativity to increase awareness and seed a change in perception. While on the other hand, we needed to give them the tools to lead to action and get people to bake it themselves (raw conversion/action). That’s why our classic OOH, prints, and film built awareness around the transformation of our white canvas and afterward, we gave people all they needed to “bake their own” (actual campaign CTA) through Amazon kits.
Our Hero Film had the objective of reinforcing a change in perception about cheesecake to show people the difference between what cheesecake is and what it can transform into. The film depicted a diverse holiday meal where the characters discover everything around them is made out of cheesecake after taking a bite; the turkey, the bread, the piano playing music, every gift on the table like a brand new camera or a candle. A surreal experience surrounded by cheesecake. The Print executions were created by “Is It Cake” Netflix’s Johnny Cakes & Innae Cakes.
To bring the experience closer to consumers, we launched the Philly Handbag Cheesecake Kit, on Amazon; a kit with step-by-step instructions to make the bag look alike cake, and cheesecake materials.
Wrapping up the campaign was a special website with various cheesecake recipes as inspo for those who want a less basic cheesecake.
A complete channel integration that helped us seed a change in perception while also proving the tool that led to action to change the willingness to bake into actually baking over the holidays.
Results
Cheesecake is everything and our results also prove it. Philadelphia cream cheese got back on its feet stronger after the shortage by managing to bring a campaign that helped cheesecake sit in the intersection between familiar elements and exciting, novel trends.
How a channel strategy became a business success.
Philadelphia Cream Cheese's 2022 campaign to reposition cheesecake as a versatile and creative dessert has resulted in impressive business outcomes that generated awareness and raised interest among younger audiences. With a 33% increase in sales compared to the previous year, the brand has managed to capture the attention of a younger market. The 2X sales growth compared to the category also indicates that the campaign has been successful in positioning Philadelphia Cream Cheese as a synonym to cheesecake and resonated with the message that it can be hyper-personalized.
The impressive 25% average annual sales growth between 2020-2021, outpacing category growth by 10%, shows that the campaign has had a sustained impact over time, with the brand continuing to engage consumers and maintain their interest. The three-year sales growth rate of +5.5% since 2020 demonstrates that the campaign has not been a one-off success, but rather a strategic move that has allowed Philadelphia Cream Cheese to continue to own cheesecake as their iconic dessert.
Fueling brand love with cheesecake.
Philadelphia wanted to reinvent cheesecake so that consumers would want to bake them more while positioning Philadelphia Cream Cheese as the product to do so with.
In the brand tracker amongst Experience Seekers, “Is a brand that speaks to me” increased by 12.7pts, while “Is a brand I crave” increased by 8.7pts, showing the increased preference amongst non-brand loyalists.
Cheesecake is Everything also drove purchase intent amongst Experience Seekers, increasing 2.3pts, while also becoming a more favorable brand in the minds with a 1.3pt increase.