How Philadelphia Cream Cheese is finding its place on Reddit
For the duration of this year, Philadelphia Cream Cheese has experimented with everything from experiential pop-up restaurants to music festival appearances. Most recently, that experimentation has led the 150-year-old Kraft-owned brand to Reddit, where it is looking to tap into the platform’s honest, in-depth food reviews. It’s a move that Keenan White, senior brand manager at the Kraft Heinz Company, said is meant to build up brand relevance and equity.
It’s a first-time investment for the legacy brand, which has dedicated 20% of its social media marketing budget toward things like category takeovers as well as organically participating in Reddit conversations, White added. That’s not to say all of Philly’s ad dollars go toward experimental channels. The brand has a steady cadence of advertising in digital banners, television and social media channels like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, he said.
“We really want to meet people where they are and have that native experience with them,” White said. “Of all social platforms, Reddit is really the one where we need to do that right, to show up because of its uniqueness.”
It’s unclear how much Philadelphia Cream Cheese spent experimenting with Reddit, as White declined to outline those details. According to Kantar, the brand spent nearly $13 million on advertising from January through June of this year. That figure is significantly lower than the $35.9 million spent in 2021. Pathmatics reports the Kraft-owned brand spent $1.6 million on digital advertising this year, significantly less than the nearly $3 million spent the year prior. (Kantar figures do not include social spend as Pathmatics figures do.)
With nearly two decades in business, Reddit isn’t a new social media platform or advertiser tool. However, the platform has worked to add new ad inventory tiers to focus on targeting and brand safety, causing marketers to reconsider its role in their mix.
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