The trendy fall flavour has variously featured in protein shakes, herbal tea, Baileys, KD, coffee creamers and now cream cheese: Philadelphia has unveiled an LTO Pumpkin Spice spread this summer and, according to the brand, it is selling faster than all other flavoured offerings in the Philadelphia portfolio.
Out of the gate, the brand led with a social media “fall takeover,” tapping into one of the most shareable cultural moments of the year.
The online campaign – supported by in-house agency, The Kitchen – ran across social platforms including Meta and TikTok, with the brand seeking to intercept cultural conversations around sweater weather, fall activities and, of course, pumpkin spice lattes.
Philadelphia Pumpkin Spice cream cheese promotion is also being supported by lifestyle-focused influencer partnerships to showcase cozy fall lifestyles and seasonal rituals, an assortment of shopper assets including Philadelphia header cards that sit atop the refrigerated section, shelf wobblers and signage in the cream cheese aisle, plus PC Optimum points-linked shelf blade promos at Loblaw discounter, No Frills.
“To attract consumers in the pre-shop journey, we’ve invested in retail media and tribute/flyer ads with our retail customers,” says Navjit Dhillon, brand manager at Kraft Heinz.
Dhillon tells strategy it was important to continue leaning into pumpkin spice latte tropes in communications, both above the line and at the point of purchase.
“To do this, we leveraged the hero line of ‘New Pumpkin Spice. Now for bagels’ for our in-store merchandising,” he says. “We also wanted to continue to nod to the bagel, as you’ve seen in previous campaigns, given it’s the leading consumption occasion for the brand.”
According to the release, the seasonal campaign, with “now for bagels,” messaging marks a bold move for the brand as it “continues to expand beyond breakfast and baking, and into culturally driven, craveable moments.”
The Philadelphia Pumpkin Spice LTO is available nationally at all major grocery retailers.
“This mimics the distribution we offered with our Pineapple LTO, which hit shelves earlier this year,” Dhillon says.
Salt XC managed the instore visual approach, comms and shopper toolkit. Media was supported by Carat (media) and Heads+Tales (PR and influencer marketing).
