Mondelez is hoping to make it even easier for consumers to cook with Philadelphia with the launch of a range of fresh cooking sauces containing the cream cheese.

Philadelphia Simply Stir, which hits Tesco and Asda at the end of April, contains a liquid version of Philadelphia together with other ingredients. It comes in a recloseable pouch and will initially be available in mushroom and garlic & herb variants (rsp: £1.99/200g).

Mondelez is targeting ABC1 females and hopes to build £6.5m in retail sales by April next year, penetrating 2.5 million households. Philadelphia is currently worth £114m at retail [Nielsen MAT 26 January 2013].

Simply Stir formed a key part in its plans to build Philadelphia from a quarterly into a monthly household purchase, said Louisa Bertano, marketing manager for cheese and grocery at Mondelez International.

The company had focused heavily on pushing Philadelphia as a recipe ingredient in recent years, but Simply Stir met a need for even greater convenience, she added. “It’s ideal to stir into meat, fish and vegetables or mix into pasta or rice.”

Mondelez said it would continue to push the versatility of standard Philadelphia and insisted that Simply Stir would bring incremental growth to Philadelphia rather than cannibalise the brand as it would appeal to less confident cooks.

Each Simply Stir pouch contains three to four servings and can be kept for up to five days after opening. Mondelez intends to launch a third variant later this year.

The launch will be backed by a £3.6m advertising push including TV, press and digital activity as well as sampling. Recipes will also be available on Philadelphia.co.uk.

A similar product - Philadelphia Cooking Creme - is sold in the US in a tub format.

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