Campbell Revamps Chunky Soup Line

To highlight the changes, a new label design calls out Chunky’s nutritional benefits and features color-coding to help guide customers to similar soup varieties. Additionally, a new television campaign, “This Is Why,” takes a more gut-level approach than earlier TV ads, showing real fathers working hard before returning home to their children and eating a bowl of Chunky soup to demonstrate how the brand fits into their lifestyle. The improved product will also star in print and radio ads.

BrandWeek

Food Firms Cook Up Ways to Combat Rare Sales Slump

Fast moving consumer goods? Now not moving so fast:

In the last quarter of 2008, consumer spending on food fell by an inflation-adjusted 3.7% from the previous quarter -- its steepest drop in 62 years, the Commerce Department said. So, food giants are racing to adapt to what they believe is a lasting shift in eating and shopping habits.

Kraft Foods Inc. recently launched an application for Apple's iPhone. Called the iFood Assistant, it allows people to search for recipes and manage their shopping lists. Nestle SA is pushing hard its popular Lean Cuisine frozen entrees, offering five for $10 in some stores. Campbell Soup Co. is creating more sophisticated recipes that mimic restaurant offerings, such as Braised Beef with Shallots made with the company's Swanson beef stock.

Wall Street Journal

Campbell Grows Tomatoes, Coke Plants Trees

Some new cause marketing seeds the world:

In the new HGYOS promotion, Campbell is, for the first time, making its specially cultivated tomato seeds available to the public. Consumers who buy any variety of Campbell's condensed soup and enter the code on the can at the HGYOS site can request a free packet of the seeds through June 21, or while supplies last.

With each request, Campbell will also donate its special tomato seeds to the National FFA and Urban Farming Inc., which plants food on unused land in urban environments worldwide. The two organizations will use the seeds to help create five community gardens in urban communities. The gardens will be planted and maintained by the two groups, and all vegetables harvested will be given to community members.

Media Post

Soup's On

Campbell's soup looks like they're gonna meet or beat their estimate.

"The world's largest soup maker said its U.S. soup sales rose 8 percent and that overall, consumer purchases at stores outpaced the company's sales to retailers.

Still, total sales fell more than the analysts' average estimate. Campbell has faced pressure in the soup segment as General Mills Inc's Progresso brand has gained market share."

via NY Times

Food Marketers Take Safer Course in Recession

As economy contracts, marketers increasingly rely on the safe and familiar:

Whereas previous years were marked by ambitious launches and re-branded lines, this meeting was mainly about line extensions or re-branding. Campbell emphasized it is reducing the sodium content across its soup portfolio, with 50% of its soups expected to have less salt than the original versions by fiscal 2010. General Mills is building on its success in the cereal category by offering new versions of its most popular brands, such as Banana Nut Cheerios. Kellogg Co. is launching savory cracker products tied to its Special K brand (a line extension), and a number of new Eggo waffles with flax and blueberries (also a line extension).

Ad Age

Food Marketer Of The Year: Campbell Soup

Campbell's highly focused marketing reflects its overall strategic strengths. The 140-year-old company was ahead of the curve in positioning itself within the health and wellness zeitgeist that continues to be F&Bs main growth-driver, and it has been building on that advantage with tight concentration on three core categories: soups and other simple meals, baked snacks and healthy beverages.

MediaPost

Soup War Continues, Progresso Strikes Back

"Campbell fired the first shot and Progresso has responded with missiles," said Julia Beardwood, a principal at brand consultancy Beardwood & Co., New York.

Brand Week

Campbell's Launches Latest V8 Extension: Soups

If successful, the soup line will be another example of Campbell's mastery of using V8's clearly defined brand mission--"To help more people get more vegetables, every day"--as the platform for a growing number of products bearing the familiar, trusted, 75-year-old V8 name.

Marketing Daily