Alexandra Weitman

Campbell’s – Soup Industry Analysis

BUAD 320 Marketing

May 3, 2017

1. Executive Summary……………………………………………...........................…………pg 4

2. Company and Brand Overview…………………………………………………………….pg 4

3. Current Situation Summary…………………………………………………………...….pg 4-5

4. Mission Statement…………………………………………………………….…………….pg 5

5. Micro and Macro Environment…………………………………………………………...pg 5-6

6. Industry Analysis

a. Competitive Analysis – Onion..………………………………………………..pg 7

b. Needs, Wants, Demands..……………………………………………………pg 7-8

c. Size of the Market / Market Share...…………………………………………pg 8-9

d. SWOT Analysis………………………………………………………….…pg 9-11

7. Strategic Analysis

a. Strategic Summary / Key Success Factors……………………………………pg 11

b. Boston Consulting Group Matrix………………………………………….…pg 12

c. Marketing Expansion Grid…………………….………………………….pg 13-14

8. Consumer Behavior analysis

a. Understandings from Market Research: Cultural, Social, Personal, and Psychological………………………………………………………..…….pg 14-15

b. Shopper analysis – Purchasing Process, frequency, weight, etc………….pg 15-17

c. Marketing Funnel: Awareness, Consideration, Purchase, Repurchase, Loyalty………………………………………………………….…………….pg 17

9. Market Strategy

a. Segmentation – Segmentation tree……………………………………..…pg 17-18

2

b. Target analysis and Single Target Market Phrase……………………….……pg 18

c. Differentiation – Value Proposition Matrix.………………………………pg 18-19

d. Functional & Emotional Attributes…………………………………….…pg 19-20

e. Reason to Believe………………………………………………………….…pg 20

f. Brand Essence……………………………………………………..………….pg 20

g. Positioning Statement…………………………………………………..…pg 20-21

10. Marketing Mix

a. Product………………………………………………………………………..pg 21

b. Price: Price Index, understand how pricing is done…………………..…..pg 21-22

c. Placement…………………………………………………………………..…pg 22

d. Promotion: how is the budget decided, where is advertisement invested and how does it relate to the Marketing Funnel. How is the growth strategy reflected in promotion? (7 sources of growth)……………………………….……….pg 22-23

11. Conclusions……………………………………………………………………….…..pg 23

12. Final Analysis with Recommendations………………………………………...…pg 23-25

13. Bibliography……………………………………………………………………….…pg 26

3

Executive Summary

Campbell’s Soup Company is a popular soup company that has undergone some major

changes in the past couple years. The food market in general is changing every day, and

Campbell’s had to meet these changes with some changes of their own. With the health trend on

the rise, consumers are more worried about what is on the ingredients list of each product they

use or consume. Campbell’s needed to understand the changing preferences and demands of the

market as well as understand its own brand’s tradition and history in order to make the right

changes. This industry analysis paper will explore the tradition of Campbell’s Soup Company, its

place in the market, its products, and the strategies, old and new, behind the marketing being

done by the brand that is Campbell’s.

Company Overview

Campbell’s Soup Company began in 1896 with Joseph Campbell, a fruit merchant in

New Jersey. Once Campbell teamed up with an ice box manufacturer, Abraham Anderson, they

created the company that is now Campbell’s Soup Company. Now, Campbell’s is the leading

brand in the market with the highest market share.

Current Situation Summary

Campbell’s has a choice to make. Many consumers are changing their diets to have

healthier choices daily. Because of this, Campbell’s needs to decide to move toward the health

trend or to remain stagnant. One of its main competitors, Progresso, is known for its all-natural

ingredients and waste reducing practices. In 2008, Progresso teamed up with Weight Watchers to

help its consumers lose weight by consuming their soups daily. The health trend has only grown

even more since then, and Campbell’s needs to board this train or stay where it is. Recently,

Campbell’s has boarded the healthy train by launching a new product line, called Well Yes! This

4

line has healthier, higher quality ingredients, which are shown directly on the label to promote

honesty and authenticity of the brand. Similarly, there is an even more recent launch of a line of

organic kids soups, which include soups that are vegetarian, gluten-free, and others. These

decisions are putting Campbell’s in the right direction. However, Campbell’s will still need to

maintain its original, traditional image in order to not lose any of its huge consumer following.

Mission Statement

Under the “Our Beliefs” section on Campbell’s website, it reads, “We believe that food

should be good, delicious, and accessible – all three without compromise.” Campbell’s has

begun to be more and more transparent about its ingredients, which includes a section of the

website called “What’s in my Food?” Campbell’s also has sections on its website about

conserving to protect the planet, and providing healthier, natural ingredients that are very

accessible. On Campbell’s 2016 annual report, under the header “A Changing Market and

Changing World,” it reads, “we have given Campbell’s an extreme makeover in a rapidly and

fundamentally changing market…we have higher aspirations for the food we make, the role we

play in people’s lives and our growth trajectory. That is why it is necessary to relentlessly

improve our food, our business and our culture to forge a meaningful and lasting place in the

lives of new generations of consumers.” This statement shows that while Campbell’s has gone

through some new changes, it is still an incredible company that is resilient and adaptive to the

ever-changing market that wants to bring the most value and enjoyment to its customer base.

Micro and Macro Environment

The microenvironment includes nearby factors that influence the ability of a company to

be able to serve its customers. These factors include, for instance suppliers, customers, markets,

media, etc. Campbell’s usually sells business to consumer through grocery and wholesale store

5

like Walmart, Costco, Safeway, Schnucks, etc. Because of this, each store can set its own price

for the products it buys for resale based on the price advised to use by the company that sells the

products to them. Consumers have a huge impact on the sales of products since they are the

buyers. Similarly, media can make or break a product based on articles and reviews. However,

more recently, Campbell’s has been getting better reviews, especially for the Well Yes! line.

The macro environment includes forces like cultural, economic, political, ecological,

technological, etc. These forces are on a much bigger scale than consumers purchasing products

or a media article. An economic downturn can negatively impact a significant amount of

products being sold across the nation, possibly all products. A political change, like with the

recent Trump administration, can fluctuate the economy as well as with people’s behaviors and

purchasing patterns. If there was an ecological disaster, many ingredients for Campbell’s soups

would not be available, and many Campbell’s products would not be possible to create. New

technological advances happen every day, and it is difficult to include each one. However,

changes in the earth conservation movement have been successful and frequent. These changes

have most likely affected the growth of ingredients as well as strategies for efficient growth.

Luckily, none of these forces have become extreme enough to affect the Campbell’s brand or

products in a negative manner. It is important to understand the micro and macro environments

because they all have an effect on every brand, like Campbell’s, so keeping up with the changes

is essential to having a growth mindset as a company.

6

Industry Analysis:

Competitive Analysis – Onion

In order for Campbell’s to be successful, the company had to create a competitive

analysis, otherwise known as “the onion.” When looking at all types of products, I decided to

narrow in on a certain product from Campbell’s. First, by looking at the industry, I could

recognize that all food products were the beginning of the product decision. After that, I could

narrow in on all foods instead of all beverages. From there, I chose hot foods instead of frozen or

cold foods, and then soups instead of any other type of hot food, like pizza, pasta, burgers, etc.

After choosing soup, there was a wide range of different types of soup to choose from, like

condensed wet soup, bouillon cubes, dry soup, broth, etc. Campbell’s is known for its condensed

wet soups, which are the most popular type of packaged soup in 2016, according to Statista.

Needs Wants Demands

Unlike other products that are hard to differentiate and find new innovations for, soup can

be changed and manipulated in so many ways, which makes it a great product to sell from the

business standpoint of Campbell’s. However, getting down to the reasons why the customers

choose to buy it and consume it is more important because that is what causes successful sales.

7

The needs of consumers being met by Campbell’s relate to nourishment. People eat food so it

can be turned into energy by the body, and Campbell’s is reaching that need through their soup

products, especially with soups with meat or other protein. This is because protein is filling and

provides good, healthy nourishment and energy for the body.

The want of consumers being met by Campbell’s relates to the food’s ability to be

cooked and the convenience of cooking on the stovetop. Some soups take hours to make because

it takes time for flavors to blend well. Campbell’s has already made the soups and blended the

flavors so the customers only have to heat up the soup on their stovetop in order to enjoy it.

The demand being met by Campbell’s relates to the authentic flavors and tradition of the

company that promise the customer a great meal each time they open a can of Campbell’s. The

company has a rich history since the 19th century of making soups that are always tasty and

always authentic to the name “Campbell’s.”

Size of the Market/Market Share

Campbell’s is the leading brand in the soup market, and has been for a long time. In

2016, Campbell’s condensed soups had almost 68 million consumers in the United States, not to

mention the other types of Campbell’s products, which had many more millions of consumers as

8

well. Second to Campbell’s is Progresso, which has significantly less consumers, but is still

around 59 million consumers.

Campbell’s, in terms of sales, earned $1.29 billion in 2016, which blows the other

contenders right out of the water, with the second place vendor (Private Label) only earning $253

million in 2016. Progresso does not appear on this graph, showing that it is not earning as much

money as Campbell’s altogether, which makes Campbell’s the leading brand.

SWOT Analysis

9

Campbell’s, as the market leader, does have a lot of strengths. However, there are some

weaknesses to address, some opportunities to look toward, and some threats to watch out for.

Some strengths of Campbell’s includes that it has a large market share and is the market leader.

Also, it has a strong financial position, with high sales and low debt. As seen in the previous

sections, Campbell’s had the highest amount of sales revenue in 2016, and will most likely

continue to grow. In terms of debt, according to the Campbell’s Soup Company 2016 Annual

Report, their debt has been decreasing since 2013, which gives Campbell’s less financial risk.

Also, its operational network is very good as well because it has a lot of brands that it owns,

which are successful too.

One weakness in particular is that Campbell’s is severely dependent on production and

sales within the United States. Most Latin American families make their own soups, as I have

found from personal experience, so canned soups may not be very popular in Central and South

American countries. Another weakness included a product recall for Campbell’s in November of

2015 when there was a batch of Spaghettios that had to be recalled, which slightly tarnished the

brand.

However, to answer the first weakness with an opportunity, Campbell’s could expand to

other regions of the world with Campbell’s, like Asia or Europe, where canned products are very

popular. Similarly, there is an organic trend that is similar to the health trend that Campbell’s

could, and evidently is already exploring. A new line of Campbell’s Organic Soups has been

launched and are targeted to children, and mothers and fathers, which includes vegetarian and

gluten-free, and no preservatives. This is a very recent launch, so there is no more data about this

in this industry analysis paper.

10

Some threats include the successful campaigns by Progresso along with the health trend.

This is because in 2008, Progresso teamed up with Weight Watchers to provide healthier soups

and meals that could help consumers lose weight because they were such healthy soups.

Campbell’s is not as healthy as Progresso, and this has caused some concern for Campbell’s by

consumers who are looking to move toward products with all natural, healthy ingredients.

However, Campbell’s is moving toward the health trend to combat this threat with the new

launch of a healthier product line, called Well Yes!, which will be explained in the Boston

Consulting Group Matrix section. This is the main threat while the other three are very minor.

Strategic Analysis:

Strategic Summary/Key Success Factors

Campbell’s strategy deals a lot with promoting its classic flavors and lines, like chicken

noodle, tomato, and the “cream of” line, like Cream of Mushroom, or Cream of Chicken. These

are the most popular condensed wet soups, so it would make sense for them to promote these

soups the most. However, Campbell’s did have a significant amount of promotion for

Campbell’s Chunky soups to target to athletic men who used to think that soup was not a good

enough meal due to lack of protein or powerful ingredients. These main lines of soup are

Campbell’s main soups, besides the children’s themed soups, like with the film Frozen or Star

Wars.

11

Boston Group Consulting Matrix

To begin, the cash cows for Campbell’s, as I mentioned earlier, are its traditional and

most popular lines, such as Tomato soup and “Cream Of” soups, like Cream of Mushroom.

These bring in the most sales, and are found at eye level in stores like Walmart and smaller

stores like Schnucks in the Midwest. The star product of Campbell’s is the Campbell’s Chunky

line. As mentioned before, this line was targeted at male consumers looking for a hardier meal

with more protein to feel more full. With Campbell’s Chunky “star” status, it seemed to be

successful. The question mark for Campbell’s would be the Well Yes! line that was just

launched. It is a healthier soup from Campbell’s that shows every ingredient in the soup on the

packaging, which makes their soup come across as more honest and transparent with their

products. While it has not been out long enough to see significant success, online reviews have

revealed that the taste is great and that it shows Campbell’s yet again in a positive light. The dog

for Campbell’s is the Spaghettios due to the product recall in November of 2015. Similarly,

parents are looking for healthier meals and snacks for their kids instead of Spaghettios, which

has a high sodium content.

12

Marketing Expansion Grid

This Marketing Expansion Grid shows existing products, existing markets, new products,

and new markets, and each feature of Campbell’s as it pertains to each part of the grid. For

existing products in existing markets, Campbell’s already has a huge market share and is the

leading brand in the soup market. Similarly, its cash cows – Tomato soup and “Cream of” line –

are very popular as well as its star, Campbell’s Chunky.

In the New Products in Existing Markets would be to have healthier versions of

Campbell’s soups, so that the authentic flavors remain while excess sodium or MSG could be

taken out. Similarly, the launch of Well Yes! was very helpful to the Campbell’s brand because it

is showing the public that they are keeping up with the health trend, and even beginning the

organic trend.

In the Existing Products in New Markets section, Campbell’s could expand their

company to have a better global presence since one of their weaknesses is being too dependent

on business being conducted in the United States. Also, marketing to different countries and

cultures would be wise because no country is the same, and the cultures in each country are

13

completely different. Because of this, a lot of research, tests, and focus groups would have to be

done and created in order to successfully launch in another region.

In New Products in New Markets section, Campbell’s could produce healthier and new

organic products. This would help develop the health trend as well as provide Americans with

better soup for healthy lifestyles, which more people are moving toward every day. Similarly, the

majority of the people moving toward the health trend are younger adults, mostly millennials.

Marketing to the younger generation, such as young couples, as well as to families would expand

their consumer market while maintaining their target market of family.

Consumer Behavior Analysis:

Understandings from Market Research: Cultural, Social, Personal, Psychological

To understand the target market, Campbell’s had to understand who their target market

consisted of. Culturally, the target market would look for authentic, good tastes (that are

typically American). Similarly, like Campbell’s the company, the target market is moving

toward having healthier choices itself. The target market would also be at lower and middle-

income levels. Socially, the target market has family at the center of their life at the moment,

they appreciate home cooked meals, and they themselves are social people. The idea of a home

cooked meal as one feature of the target market is that Campbell’s is focusing a lot on their

cooking soups, and they provide their own recipes on their website to promote cooking at home

14

with their products. This allows for more family time and home cooked meals that remind the

family that Campbell’s is doing its best to provide families with the right tools to make memories

and family connections.

Personally, the target market has a family with kids, is typically very open-minded and

accepting of all types of people, and this company supports all walks of life. Many Campbell’s

advertisements have been about two fathers feeding their son and bonding, as well as two women

as a couple eating soup together and making fun memories, which shows that Campbell’s

supports all walks of life and all families. Ideally, Campbell’s target market would match them in

these beliefs. Finally, psychologically, the target market consists of confident people who

appreciate high quality and good tastes as well as being caring and authentic people. This is

because Campbell’s identifies as caring about the ingredients it puts into its food, and that it has

authentic flavors. Because of this, the target market would ideally appreciate these aspects of the

brand and would match these beliefs.

Shopper Analysis – Purchasing Process, frequency, weight, etc.

15

When perusing the soup aisle, consumers usually look for soups with brands they know

of and soups that will most likely taste good and feed their family well. Campbell’s uses the

color red on its labeling, which attracts the customer’s eye more so than another color, depending

on the surrounding colors on the shelf and in the point of sale (i.e. the store) itself. Campbell’s

shows what the soup will look like once cooked on its labeling as well, such as with the tomato

soup – there is a visual of a steaming bowl of tomato soup – which helps the consumer

understand exactly what they are buying. Especially now with the Well Yes! launch, consumers

can see the ingredients and the amount of each ingredient on the labeling of each can of soup.

This promotes Campbell’s as a company that values transparency and honesty, which

Campbell’s is, showing that the point is easy to get across to consumers.

The graph above shows the frequency of consumption for canned or packaged soup in the

past seven days in 2016. The two highest amounts of usage per week is 4-5 cans, which is 57.5

million consumers, and 8+ cans per week, which is 40.5 million consumers. This data is not

specifically for Campbell’s, but since Campbell’s is the leading brand in the market, it is safe to

assume that these data give a very good representation of consumption of Campbell’s soups per

week. If each can of condensed wet soup consumed was the same size (11oz) from Walmart in

Alton, Illinois, and cost the same ($0.79), then the top two consumer amounts – 4-5 cans and 8+

cans – would have spent $77.4 million alone on a singularly weighted product. The frequency of

usage of soup, especially Campbell’s condensed wet soup, has shown to be very high.

The weight of Campbell’s condensed wet soup that is found most in stores, in Alton,

Illinois at the very least, was 11oz. This weight of soup can is a very common size can of soup. It

is easy to fit in ones hand and easy to fit on shelves at home. In general, bigger sizes would have

to be kept in the pantry because they would either be too tall to fit inside a kitchen cupboard or

16

take up too much space it. This size is perfect, and Campbell’s found this to be true. It is the

perfect serving size per person, which allows families to buy more for their family instead of

sharing portions, like having a bigger can might allow for.

Marketing Funnel – Awareness, Consideration, Purchase, Repurchase, Loyalty

With Campbell’s launch of its new product line, Well Yes!, the advertisements would

need to entice the consumer and interest them further to research it. Well Yes! would be in the

awareness stage of the marketing funnel. This is because the product was very recently launched,

and in order for the product to have success, potential consumers need to see the advertisements

and try the product. This way, word of mouth can spread and since it has received great reviews

online so far, Well Yes! will most likely be successful, especially since it lines up perfectly with

the rising health trend.

Marketing Strategy:

Segmentation Tree

This segmentation tree shows the thinking process of deciding who the target market

should look like. Campbell’s starts out with whether consumers are single or have a family.

Since Campbell’s is successful in its “home-cooked meals” ideals, it would choose families.

17

Next, Campbell’s needs to decide whether its target market has a lower, middle, or higher

income. Since the price of Campbell’s is very low, especially at Walmart in Alton, Illinois,

Campbell’s would choose the lower and middle class. Then, Campbell’s would move on to type

of soup being sold to the consumer, or what type of soup would consumers most likely buy due

to their present situation. To go along with the “home-cooked meals,” Campbell’s would choose

the cooking soups. Finally, Campbell’s must choose between whether to focus on healthy soups

or to focus on another aspect. Campbell’s knows that it is not done perfecting its recipe to be

completely healthy, so it would choose the “not health-focused” option.

Target Analysis and Single Target Phrase

By using the segmentation tree, it is easy for Campbell’s to develop a target market

phrase to simplify the search for the ideal consumer. By creating the segmentation tree,

Campbell’s can narrow down its search. This search unearthed the single target phrase: “Lower

to middle class families who want a convenient, easy-to-cook meal option with a great, authentic

taste with a home-cooked feel.” This phrase goes over every part of the segmentation tree while

also bringing in other aspects previously discovered in this analysis.

Differentiation – Value Proposition Matrix

18

The types of Campbell’s soup listed here are the soups found in the Boston Consulting

Matrix. Spaghettios is removed from the Value Proposition Matrix because it had a recall and

would not be as productive to this analysis. Well Yes! is listed as “more for more” with price and

taste. On jet.com, Well Yes! was being sold for $1.98, or $0.12/oz since it was being sold for

16.3oz. Well Yes! has received great reviews on its taste, so it would be considered “more for

more.” Campbell’s Chunky is listed as “the same for more.” This is because its price online was

$1.57, making the price less than Well Yes!, but similar to other brands. Finally, the cash cows

of Campbells – Tomato soup and “cream of” – are listed as “less for more” because they have a

lesser price but still a great taste. They are the most popular soups, making them the cash cows of

the brand, so consumers value the taste. The price of cream of mushroom is $1.29 on target.com,

and the Tomato soup is similar. However, online prices are inflated due to shipping, but in stores,

the prices would drop proportionately.

Functional and Emotional Attributes

The functional benefit of eating Campbell’s soup deals with tangible results and finds the

reason behind eating it. By this definition, the functional benefit of eating Campbell’s is:

“Authentic, tasty soup that is convenient to make and goes well with almost anything.” This

functional benefit describes Campbell’s very well, and the reason behind eating it is to

experience a great taste, make it quickly and easily, and because it can pair with other food items

well such as grilled cheese, crackers, salads, sanwhiches, etc.

The emotional benefit of eating Campbell’s soup deals much more in how the consumer

feels after using the product. By this, the emotional benefit of Campbell’s is: “Brings people

together, inspires confidence, and promotes family connection over a home cooked meal.” This

emotional benefit drives home the point of spending time with family while eating and sharing a

19

Campbell’s soup or other meal together. While the soup being eaten is the function, the emotion

behind it is that cooking Campbell’s soup at home evokes good memories of previous home

cooked meals as well as better connections and more conversations. In the spirit of Campbell’s,

home cooked meals deserve to be eaten at the dinner table and shared by families to create

lasting connections and bonds.

Reason to Believe

The reason to believe in Campbell’s is that it has tradition behind the brand. Joseph

Campbell, fruit merchant of the 19th century, worked hard to develop Campbell’s Soup Company

and the recipes that are still around today as well as many new, creative additions. Similarly,

there are no artificial flavors present in the soups and the cans that house the soup are BPA-free.

This promotes health as a heightened value of the Campbell’s brand, even as it is still in

transition to the healthiest recipes.

Brand Essence

The main ideas that resonate from the benefits, the reason to believe, and the value

proposition come together to create one succinct phrase that describes the brand Campbell’s.

This phrase is the brand essence, which is: Authentic, Tasty, Feels like Home.

Positioning Statement

Taking everything into consideration, a positioning statement is created in order to

pinpoint exactly who the target consumer and target market is. This positioning statement is: To

lower-middle and middle class families, Campbell’s is the brand of condensed wet soup that

is a authentic, great tasting option with quality ingredients. This is because Campbell’s offers

tasty products that can be cooked with no artificial preservatives that bring people together, is

20

convenient for families, and is “made for real, real life.” The brand character is authentic,

tasty, and feels like home.

Marketing Mix:

Product

To explain the marketing mix, all four parts must be examined. Product, being the first

and foremost part of the marketing mix, will be examined first. The products sold by Campbell’s

that are being focused on here are condensed wet soups. These soups are known for having an

authentic, great taste and they can be cooked. Because of the tradition of the brand since the 19th

century, consumers have been able to trust the brand for as long as they have been alive.

Price: Price Index, understand how pricing is done

This price index shows Campbell’s, Schnucks Brand (private label), and Progresso

related to each other due to the price of an 11oz can of soup. Campbell’s is the lowest price, at

$0.79 at Walmart. Schnucks Brand is $0.87. These prices are incredibly close to one another, but

Campbell’s is able to maintain the lower price. Progresso costs around $1.36, so it is at a more

premium price, which reflects its healthfulness and quality of all-natural ingredients. Usually the

store brands, or private labels, have the lowest price because they have an incredible amount of

products to produce, so they would not all be able to be the best brand. Because of this, their

21

price stays low, and they can set the price themselves. However, Campbell’s is a few pennies

under the store brand price, which helps them to maintain their popularity because their

consumers know that the product is authentic and tastes great while still being very affordable.

Placement

These soups are placed in grocery and wholesale stores, like Costco or Walmart, among

others, in the United States. Inside the stores, they can be found in the soup and sauce aisles, and

for the majority of the time, Campbell’s has a horizontal shelf organization because it has so

many faces. The cash cows of Campbells, especially the cooking soups were found at eye level.

This is one way to let consumers know that this is the soup Campbell’s wants them to look at the

most.

Promotion

Campbell’s has many ways to promote its products. In relation to placement, Campbell’s

puts its cooking soups at eye level in order to promote these soups. Most people are at a similar

height, between 5 feet and 6 ½ feet tall, so consumers can easily see these soups that are at eye

level. This promotion strategy is very basic because there is no extra marketing or advertising to

be done, but it is very effective. Consumers do not have to bend over to reach the product, so

looking at a product at eye level uses the least amount of effort, which makes the consumer feel

in charge.

Another type of promotion are the advertisements. Campbell’s has released several new

commercials with the tagline, “Made for Real, Real Life.” These ads show a family with two

fathers, a couple that is two women, and other real life situations that many people can relate to.

Because of this, a lot of money is being put toward marketing to different types of families.

These ads have been placed as part of the “purchase” segment in the Marketing Funnel. Since

22

Campbell’s has been around for centuries, most people are familiar with the name. Similarly,

soup is a very common meal, and since Campbell’s is the most highly used brand, it is likely that

most people have tried Campbell’s before. Because of this, the awareness and consideration

segments of the Marketing Funnel have been passed, so the purchase segment would be the one

to choose. These advertisements are reaffirming in the hearts of families that Campbell’s

supports them and wants to provide them with the best product for them to enjoy together.

Conclusion

Campbell’s Soup Company has changed a lot since its inception in 1869, and so has the

entire world. The reason that Campbell’s has stayed in the number one position in soup brands is

because it is resilient and adaptive to the changing world. Campbell’s does exactly what it says it

does on its 2016 Annual Report, which helps Campbell’s to show its transparency, honesty, and

authenticity as a brand and in its products. The launch of Well Yes! is underway and will

undoubtedly be very successful, due to Campbell’s present success as well as the popularity of

the health trend in the United States. Campbell’s Soup Company has shown to be in its right

place as the leading brand in the soup market through its ability to change when a need presented

itself. Its brand positioning and target market fit perfectly with the brand itself, seeing that they

all go back to the roots of the company and value tradition and authenticity as well as goodness,

deliciousness, and accessibility of their products.

Final Analysis with Recommendations

Campbell’s ability to change was its wow factor. Traditionally in the United States,

flavors were flavors. It did not matter as much what made it taste that way as long as it tasted

like the name on the package. However, the health trend had revolutionized the way Americans

look at the food they eat, and the demand for the highest quality and all-natural ingredients is

23

higher than ever. With their newest launches of Well Yes! and the organic kids soup line,

Campbell’s is keeping up with the changing times and exceeding expectations. Adaptability is a

very important quality for a company to express because everything in the markets is temporary,

so growth and improvement is necessary in order for a brand to not only stay afloat, but to be

successful.

My recommendations for Campbell’s would be to keep moving toward the health and

organic trends. A lot of technology and effort is being put into the health trend because in 2015,

88% of consumers said they were willing to pay more for food that is of higher quality,

according to Forbes magazine. This could allow for the price of the healthier soups to go up,

showing the premium quality of the soups.

Another recommendation would be to explore other world regions, like Europe and Asia.

As mentioned earlier, Central and South America may not the best places to penetrate the market

because a part of the culture is making food together and preparing meals, like soups, from

scratch. However, European and Asian countries consume a lot of canned products. This may be

a great opportunity to venture into new countries and continents. A lot of research would have to

be done to successfully venture into new markets, but it can be done.

A final recommendation would be for Campbell’s to market to younger families, or even

couples without kids. I recommend this because, despite humor in the media showing young

adults struggling to make food, individuals and couples are beginning to have a desire to know

how to cook for themselves and get their life together before starting a family. With this idea in

mind, more families would be ready to serve their future children the right foods to help them

grow before they are even born. Teaching self-improving skills and investing in ones self is

becoming a huge deal among the young adults in the United States. This would be a perfect

24

target market to explore. Campbell’s already offers recipes online for home made meals using

their products. However, if the marketing was shifted to young couples or young adult

individuals without families, this could result in young adults being more prepared for living

alone for the first time after college, or budgeting for home cooked meals. While the markets and

the world are constantly changing, Campbell’s is always looking for new target markets to

explore and ideas to discover using innovation. Campbell’s is number one because of its

adaptability and growth mindset, and it will continue to grow as the world does.

25

Bibliography

Campbell’s Soups Page, https://www.campbells.com/our-brands/.

Campbell’s Value Page, https://www.campbells.com/our-values/.

Gagliardi, Nancy. “Consumers Want Healthy Foods – And Will Pay More For Them,” Forbes

Magazine, (February 18, 2015),

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nancygagliardi/2015/02/18/consumers-want-healthy-

foods-and-will-pay-more-for-them/#2ebcd49975c5.

Statista, “Soup Industry Dossier,” https://www.statista.com/study/23114/soup-industry-statista-

dossier/.

26