After 155-years Campbell’s Soup Company has announced plans to change the iconic firm’s name to The Campbell’s Company. The move aims to better reflect Campbell’s growing product line, which currently also includes sauces, snacks and beverages.
While canned soup remains a key part of the Campbell’s business, the company is changing to adapt to an evolving market by acquiring other businesses such as Rao’s sauces maker, Sovos Brands.
“We will always love soup, and we’ll never take our eye off of this critical business,” Chief Wxecutive, Mark Clouse said during the company’s investor day. “But today, we’re so much more than soup.”
Campbell’s started producing canned condensed soup in 1897 – believed to be the first in the US to do so – and has held the Campbell Soup Company name since 1922. Campbell’s soup was the inspiration for one of Andy Warhol’s most iconic pop art works.
Last year, Campbell’s snacks sales grew by 13%, while its soups grew by only 3%. Campbell’s leaders expect its Goldfish crackers to be a key driver of growth and to ultimately become its largest brand by 2027.
We should all raise a chapeau to any brand or company that survives, evolves and thrives for over 155 years. Campbell’s Soup has gone beyond simple longevity. Thanks in no small part to the work of Andy Warhol, the ‘can’ is a piece of cultural history, an iconic symbol of the power of branding. A rare example of a brand transcending their everyday world and achieving cultural meaning beyond its function. So, are Campbell’s messing with the crown jewels as they make a small adjustment to their corporate moniker?
No. Like lots of large FMCG companies, Campbells has evolved into a large portfolio of brands & sub-brands in a range of sub-categories under the broad headings of ‘meals, beverages and snacks’. Their growth performance shows they are doing a fine of job of managing this. Changing the corporate entity’s name and identity, matters – they want the identity to reflect their breadth and depth – but for most consumers or shoppers it will largely go unnoticed. It is primarily a B2B, investor decision. There is an architectural logic to it, given the above-mentioned iconic status of one of their brands and the diversity of their portfolio. Be in no doubt, they still LOVE soup.
It would be wrong to say people do not care about corporations – they do – but in the end, when a shopper considers buying a packet of Kettle Chips or Goldfish crackers or an iconic tin of Campbell’s Tomato Soup, their primary driver is the brand on the product in front of them. Does it meet their needs? What were their previous product experiences? Or is it making an offer they find interesting or distinctive? Refreshing the corporate identity seems like a simple, sensible, commercial decision… messing with their iconic tomato soup tin might illicit a different response…