Gritty, Hoagies and Jawn: Oatly Goes Philly-Centric to Launch Plant-Based Cream Cheese

A man dressed in a period-perfect Benjamin Franklin costume—identified as an “affordable impersonator”—tastes a new product and declares it “actually not that bad.”

And if you don’t believe one of the founding fathers of our country (or his somewhat reasonable facsimile), then how about the faint praise of a shirtless tattooed guy, an Olympic trainer, a priest and a lawyer?

These folks appear in a testimonial-style video for Oatly‘s newest product, a plant-based cream cheese that touts its Philadelphia bona fides via a parade of local luminaries past and present. 

The over 2-minute-long vignette also reinforces the brand’s off-kilter sense of humor with comments that are obviously unscripted and unrehearsed, from construction workers, lunch buddies, youth football players and deli owners. Those interviewed generally find the cream cheese to be… pretty OK? Effusive praise from people on the street is not Oatly’s marketing jam.

While the campaign is on-brand in its tone, the product launch is a slight departure in that it happens in one city only before a national rollout. To help introduce the sneak preview, orchestrated by the in-house Oatly Department of Mind Control, Philly native and Olympic medalist Tara Lipinski appeared at an event this week for the “ceremonial first spread.”

As Philly as scrapple?

The brand took pains in its news release to flex the cream cheese’s Philly roots, including tossing around Philly-isms like scrapple, youse, wooder, jawn, Delco and iggles.

Oatly’s cream cheese was crafted in the brand’s Philadelphia R&D lab by its team of food scientists, “most of whom live in downtown Philadelphia, with the exception of a product developer who lives in Cherry Hill, N.J. but tells people he’s from ‘5 miles outside the city.’”

And in case there was any confusion, the brand added that the product was “again, invented in Philadelphia by mostly Philadelphia-based food scientists” and “will be made exclusively available in Philadelphia before it’s released to the wider U.S. market later this year.”

The goal is to win over a crowd that ostensibly knows its stuff where cream cheese is concerned, and become part of the cultural fabric like “greased street poles, Gritty and the 2006 film Invincible,” per the brand, which also has line extensions like frozen treats and non-dairy bars.

“Chicago deep dish, Wisconsin cheese, Manhattan clam chowder—every region has their culinary masterpiece, and so we’re using this moment to celebrate and recognize the wonderful place where our plant-based cream cheese was invented: in the city of brotherly love,” Armando Turco, executive director of brand and creative for Oatly North America, told Adweek.

Two local chains, Spread Bagelry and Philly Bagels, are partners for the debut, serving up the new product through March 31 or while supplies last. Media exposure for the collaboration includes out-of-home placements and ads in Philadelphia Magazine and The Philadelphia Inquirer. There are also social posts on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.