2023 Winner
2023 Winners
Kraft Heinz (Philadelphia Cream Cheese)
"Schmear Socks"
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%.
The agency 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.
To get younger Canadians to fall in love with Philly they 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 their target demographic.
But of course, no Montreal Bagel is really complete without Philadelphia cream cheese. So, they saw an opportunity to hijack this conversation in a way that only Philadelphia could.
When Nike announced their Montreal Bagel Dunks, they hijacked their digital sneaker drop with a digital drop of their own. Less than 48 hours after Nike launched their Montreal Bagel Dunks, they responded with a digital drop of their own: Philadelphia Schmear Socks.
The agency 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, they 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.
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 their 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 themselves into online sneaker culture in a natural way, they put Philadelphia bag on the minds of the younger generation.
The agency tapped into internet culture around sneakers, a well defined cultural space that’s difficult to leverage authentically. Sneakerheads and hype culture have taken over the digital space with drops happening online first and sneakerheads creating UGC, sharing their newest and most exclusive purchases. They hijacked the social controversy around Bagel Dunks (Montreal vs NYC bagels) in an authentic way to get people talking about Philly Schmear Socks. They mimicked drop culture to drop the socks online first, they seeded interest by engaging with key influencers around the shoe (the exclusive retailer, the designer of the box, Nike and sneaker influencers), and they participated in conversations online about the shoe.
The agency wants to make the experience as simple as possible, which is why they made the socks purchasable directly from social media rather than directing users to a microsite. This made purchasing simple, and made it easier for users to share it amongst their peers, since the experience was contained to a social platform.
To support the launch of Philly Schmear Socks they had PR assist with media outreach, which garnered great pickup, but the true driving force was their social plan and community management.
Their launch post on Instagram was widely shared, creating lots of buzz, which they were able to capitalize on with strong one-to-one interactions, turning online sneakerheads into real-life Schmear Socks buyers.
The agency 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.
To get younger Canadians to fall in love with Philly they 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 their target demographic.
But of course, no Montreal Bagel is really complete without Philadelphia cream cheese. So, they saw an opportunity to hijack this conversation in a way that only Philadelphia could.
When Nike announced their Montreal Bagel Dunks, they hijacked their digital sneaker drop with a digital drop of their own. Less than 48 hours after Nike launched their Montreal Bagel Dunks, they responded with a digital drop of their own: Philadelphia Schmear Socks.
The agency 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, they 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.
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 their 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 themselves into online sneaker culture in a natural way, they put Philadelphia bag on the minds of the younger generation.
The agency tapped into internet culture around sneakers, a well defined cultural space that’s difficult to leverage authentically. Sneakerheads and hype culture have taken over the digital space with drops happening online first and sneakerheads creating UGC, sharing their newest and most exclusive purchases. They hijacked the social controversy around Bagel Dunks (Montreal vs NYC bagels) in an authentic way to get people talking about Philly Schmear Socks. They mimicked drop culture to drop the socks online first, they seeded interest by engaging with key influencers around the shoe (the exclusive retailer, the designer of the box, Nike and sneaker influencers), and they participated in conversations online about the shoe.
The agency wants to make the experience as simple as possible, which is why they made the socks purchasable directly from social media rather than directing users to a microsite. This made purchasing simple, and made it easier for users to share it amongst their peers, since the experience was contained to a social platform.
To support the launch of Philly Schmear Socks they had PR assist with media outreach, which garnered great pickup, but the true driving force was their social plan and community management.
Their launch post on Instagram was widely shared, creating lots of buzz, which they were able to capitalize on with strong one-to-one interactions, turning online sneakerheads into real-life Schmear Socks buyers.