The Homa Files

Excerpted from “Kicking The Can: Campbell’s CEO Bets On Soup-In-A-Bag For 20-Somethings”…

Denise Morrison, Campbell’s new CEO, is determined to shake things up.

She was hired to stabilize the soup and simple meals businesses, expand internationally, grow faster in healthy beverages and baked snacks.

Dubbed “the savior of soup”, she’s driven Campbell’s innovators to launch more than 50 new products in her 1st year.

For example, Campbell’s launched Go Soups, a six-flavor line in plastic pouches meant to convey freshness while capturing millennials’ adventurous tastes.

Ken’s Take:

Soup-in-a-bag is easy to poke fun at, but there’s a big idea in that sack. Innovators often focus too sharply on the core core product – in this case, soup.

In marketing, there’s a concept called the “augmented product”. 

In essence, an augmented product is the core product plus all of the services and componentry that makes it a “whole product”.

That includes packaging.

For example, a cold can of Coke out of a vending machine is a different product than, say, a 2-liter plastic bottle from Safeway.

From the vending machine, you’re buying Coke … plus a convenient package … plus ready availability … and the right drinking temperature.

See, maybe soup-in-a-bag isn’t a goofy idea …

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Edit by JDC

This entry was posted on January 15, 2013 at 6:31 am and is filed under CPG - Consumer Packaged Goods, Innovation, Innovation - Creativity, Mktg - Packaging, Mktg - Product & Innovation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.