Kraft Heinz isn’t letting the cream cheese crisis go to waste.

The maker of the top-selling Philadelphia cream cheese brand today is launching a campaign encouraging consumers to buy desserts other than cheesecake this holiday season: The company will then reimburse shoppers up to $20 for the cost.

The “Spread the Feeling” campaign comes in response to a nationwide schmear shortage: High consumer demand, a home baking and breakfast boom and a cyberattack that recently sidelined a major ingredient supplier have combined to make the creamy white blocks a rare find on supermarket shelves and in bagel shops. To make matters worse, the shortage comes during cream cheese’s high selling season, when consumers are busy making cheesecakes and other desserts for which cream cheese is a major ingredient.

Philadelphia is responding with a message of empathy for disappointed shoppers and a promise to make things right. It will reimburse shoppers up to $20 for buying alternatives to cream-cheese desserts.

“Having a hard time finding cream cheese on shelves means having a hard time putting cheesecakes on tables, and we get that,” a voiceover says in a 45-second TV ad from agency Gut's Miami office. “So let’s do this. Turn that famous cheesecake into those famous brownies. End your meal with a family fight over the last holiday cupcake. Share some cookies—anything that will make you feel anything in that cheesecake-shaped hole in your holiday heart.”

The spot goes on to introduce a website, spreadthefeeling.com, where consumers can exchange a receipt for an alternative dessert for a limited number of $20 digital gift cards offered on Dec. 17 and 18.

Kraft’s generous offer comes with a potential reward for the brand in the form of rich first-party consumer data. Shoppers’ names—and thanks to the receipts, what they buy—will become known to the brand and could be used in personalized promotions and further product development. This intelligence—like cream cheese itself—has become more valuable for brands now that identifying browser “cookies” are on their way out.

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Cream cheese consumption skyrocketed with the onset of the pandemic in 2020, when hunkered down consumers ate more meals at home and put their kitchens and baking skills to work. According to Kraft Heinz, consumption soared by 18% in 2020 and has remained at elevated levels with the return of demand in the foodservice channel. Demand from bagel shops for the Philadelphia brand has increased by 75% from November of 2020 to November of this year, said Basak Oguz, Philadelphia marketing director, in an email to Ad Age.

Oguz added that Kraft would be investing “millions” in the brand in an effort to increase production and availability. 

Among the issues facing cream cheese availability in the U.S. was a cyberattack affecting Schreiber Foods, a Wisconsin-based dairy processor (It wasn’t clear if Kraft Heinz and Schreiber do business together). The incident sidelined production and distribution in October, and its effects have reverberated throughout the food world. Intermittent supply issues could last for another several months, according to reports.