Campbell’s: Meals Beyond Soup

How might we reinvent our products and our company for a new era?

Breakthrough Strategy | Proposition Development | Futureproof Innovation | Senior Leaders

Campbell’s become the leader in the new and growing $100M U.S. category

The Challenge

Campbell’s, under the direction of a new leadership team, faced the challenge of reinventing their products and company to cater to the changing consumer tastes for food, health, and well-being. The goal was to identify met and under-met needs and segment contemporary American families to transform their portfolio for a new era.

Our Approach

Working closely with the Vice President of Insights, Strategy & Innovation at Campbell’s, Sense Worldwide established the foundations for a transformation strategy. We focused on futureproofing the food service division by prioritizing categories, channel segments, and solution selling.

By collaborating with members of The Sense Network we explored the various trade-offs between convenience and involvement, health and taste, quality and value, as well as perceptions of freshness for packaged goods across channels. To gain deep insights into consumer attitudes and behaviors, they collaborated with non-traditional households, including multi-generational, single-parent, and multicultural households.
 

 

The Result

Campbell’s went on to create several new product lines, including Campbell’s Skillet Sauces, which provided consumers with delicious, fast, and contemporary dinner solutions. An extension to the Campbell’s Go! platform, with a line of simple meal solutions designed to appeal to younger consumers. As well as, Campbell’s Slow Kettle brand broadened its range of soups, stews, chilis, and chowders, attracting Millennials and affluent consumers since its launch.

These innovations allowed Campbell’s to become a leader in the new and growing $100M U.S. dinner sauce category and inspired a slew of copycat products from competitors. The success of Slow Kettle soups continues with new products still being added to the range today.