• by Nina Lentini  @Nina_Lentini, December 14, 2006

Across the country, Barneys is selling soup at $12 a can, and the upscale clothing retailer can't keep it on the shelves. The soups are Campbell Soup's condensed tomato with four labels in clashing colors and signed by the late artist Andy Warhol, whose 1960s rendition became a cultural icon.

The product has become a seasonal hit not only by the can, but in Barneys' windows, which have been given over to all things Andy Warhol ... and Campbell Soup. Last weekend Barneys ran a full-page ad in The New York Times showcasing its "Happy Warhol-idays" theme ... and Campbell Soup.

"It is wonderful exposure for Campbell's," says John Faulkner, director of brand communication and public affairs for Campbell Soup. The $12 price tag "sets an all-time high for soup," he adds, merrily.

David Oates, director of Campbell's licensing group, said he got a phone call from Simon Doonan, creative director for Barneys, who told Oates he was interested in using Warhol's depiction of "our trademarks."

In November, Barney's erected in-store displays of soup in supermarket-style pyramids and began issuing gift cards depicting the labels. It filled its windows with floor-to-ceiling stacks of soup cans and wallpaper with a background full of soup cans. Depictions of Warhol's life from his Factory days complete the "Happy Warhol-idays" effect Doonan was going for, down to the soup can earrings on a depiction of former Warhol gal pal Edie Sedgwick.

"Who'd have thought an upper-end department store would be selling soup?" asked Oates, adding very professionally: "I'm glad to be bringing a new customer to Campbell Soup."

Barneys has already ordered another 20,000 cans, Campbell said. A source familiar with the unique promotion said Barneys could sell "as much as they could get." The window display and soup sales continue through New Year's Day.

In 2004, just before the 40th anniversary of Warhol's depiction of its product, Campbell Soup issued a limited-edition four-pack of soup with labels based on the combinations that Warhol created in his silk screens: green and red, pink and orange, aqua and indigo, and gold and yellow with a signature on the side. The product was limited to Pittsburgh, Warhol's hometown, and tied in with a Warhol museum admission promotion.