Introducing: Phillyboy
PHILLYBOYYYYYYY 🤠
It’s been almost a month since Phillyboy was introduced to the world. We sat down with a few of the masterminds ( Creative Director Grace Martin, Comms Strategy Director Jim Rech, and Strategy Director Anthony Perez) behind the creation of Philadelphia Cream Cheese’s first ever brand character.
JL: So, is Phillyboy real?
GM: You know, it’s one of those classic mythical character things where you’ve heard a lot about it over time and you’ve always like hoped that one day you catch you know him showing up at your door. It’s like you have to believe, and once you’ve seen it you you’re a believer. But he’s definitely real.
AP: We should put a meter in the office similar to elf to show the belief level.
JR: I think when you look at a lot of the other brand characters out in the world today they all kind of lack a reason to be real because they’re just brand characters.
AP: They don’t have any role in what they’re doing in the world to help.
JR: But the Phillyboy is on a real mission to make food better.
JL: What cultural or consumer insight unlocked the character?
GM: We started noticing this wild thing online where people were using Philly in ways we never expected. Like as the “secret ingredient” to keep mashed potatoes from getting dry and bland. It was a huge unlock for us. It made us realize that even though everyone knows the name, they’ve kind of forgotten that Philadelphia is actually real cheese.
AP: Most of the time, Philly just sits in the fridge waiting for a bagel. The brand didn’t really have a voice; it was just “that silver tub” in the dairy aisle. We needed a breakthrough, someone you couldn’t ignore to literally show up in people’s homes and nudge them to try it in their eggs or pasta. It’s about giving the brand a pulse and making sure you’re thinking of them for more than just breakfast.
JR: It’s such a simple solution for that rich flavor people want. We actually found these stats showing how much Millennials struggle with confidence in the kitchen. This was our way of saying, “Hey, it’s not that complicated.” We even had a moment at the Kraft Heinz office where they whipped up some Philly eggs right in front of us. We all took a bite and just looked at each other like, “Oh, okay. This is actually really good.”
JL: At what point did we realize this brand needed a character, not just a campaign?
GM: We didn’t set out to find a “mascot.” We just had a very specific set of brand challenges to solve. When we laid them all out, it led us to this subversive, funny image: a cowboy on a dairy cow. Cowboys are everywhere right now, but you’ve never seen one riding a cow of… well, Philly. It actually started as just one ad with a bunch of cowboys, but everyone got so obsessed with the “hookiness” of the visual that we realized we had to extract that character and make him the face of the whole thing.
JR: It just felt right from those first early rounds. Everyone has a tub of Philly in their fridge, but nobody really feels anything for the brand. The second we saw “The Phillyboy,” it was an “oh shit” moment. We realized this character was the breakthrough we needed to actually give the brand a personality people could care about.
JL: How did you define his personality before you defined his look?
GM: We spent months testing different archetypes for this character. We basically “Marvel-Universe’d” the whole thing; obsessing over his motivation, his backstory, and his “superpowers.” We even considered a Farmer version, but we scrapped it (you don’t mess with America’s farmers!). We landed on a subverted cowboy who rides a dairy cow and delivers flavor. On set, that backstory was our North Star; if we weren’t sure how he’d react, we’d ask, “If your mission is pure and you just want people to have better food, how would you do this?”
AP: The clients got on board once we focused on the details like the wardrobe, the Philly belt buckle, the mystery. We realized the power was in keeping him traditional in look so the focus stayed on the food. He’s evolved into this “man of mystery” whose role is still growing.
GM: Now, the mission is all about seeding him into the culture. We’re actually having the Phillyboy “hijack” influencer cooking videos. You’ll be watching a normal recipe and suddenly he’s there. We’re giving the internet the tools: the clips, the audio, the song, and just letting people run with it. We want to see what kind of life he takes on once the world gets ahold of him.
JL: How can consumers co-create with him?
JR: I think him being available for social is one thing. I think the dream is for this character to be out in the real world. We don’t want to only intercept your feed, we want people to gaze upon the greatness of the Phillyboy with their own eyes as much as they see him on social. That’s the dream.
AP: Beyond engagement we’re also hoping that he sticks with people. Just like the song and the way it gets stuck in your head. There’s a hope that there is an impact of making people smile because of how unique it is. We want people to remember it, talk about it, and reference it.
JL: What does engagement look like beyond likes? Memes, duets, reactions, Halloween costumes?
JR: We’re starting to find out how embraced is he on social and that’s going to help dictate how Phillyboy evolves in the future. We see the vision. We see what this character can be. And we feel like we’re doing all we can to set it up for that kind of reaction to happen. But you can only do so much. You have to hope that the world takes and runs with it. Halloween costumes, I do think we’re going to make that happen. So check your Halloween stores soon.