• Ad Age, Monday, March 10, 2008 11:45 AM

Campbell Soup's line extension of its red-and-white-label soup that promises 25% less sodium notched $101 million in sales excluding vending machines, convenience stores and Wal-Mart last year and tops Information Resources Inc.'s list of the hottest new supermarket products of 2007.

The healthy face-lift has been a long time coming for the century-old brand. Campbell's first introduced low-sodium soup in the 1960s, but the products--with just 150 mg of sodium per serving--were targeted to consumers who had suffered "a cardiac event." Campbell also tried to fill the bill with Healthy Request soups in the mid-1980s, but people complained about the taste. Traditional canned soup can have sodium levels above 900 mg per half-can serving. To be called "healthy," soup must have 480 mg or less.

The lessons of Campbell's success are: 1. Don't let analysts dictate development; 2. Health benefits are often the price of entry today, but consumers still want stuff that tastes good. Focus on that, rather than prattling on about sodium regimens; 3. Do what you do and do it well, as Campbell does with soup; 4. Spend big atlaunch.

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