BrandWeek Print Edition 12/8/03
THE GAME
The Game: Campbell Soup Hot for Sports

IN ITS FIRST marketing campaign specifically targeting teens, Campbell Soup is tapping into the hip world of action sports to tout Soup at Hand. The effort will include ads, sampling, online and grass roots outreach.

Soup at Hand, a portable soup packaged in microwavable cups, debuted last year as Campbell's most successful product launch since its Chunky Soup line 30 years ago, according to Thomas Ross, marketing manager for the Camden, N.J.-based company. When research showed that teens in particular, intrigued by its packaging, liked the soup, Campbell's tapped The Familie, a Carlsbad, Calif.-based agency, to design an action sports program to appeal to the youth market.

The campaign, which starts this month, includes print ads, via The Familie and BBDO, New York, featuring snowboarder Tara Dakides running in such pubs as Teen Vogue and CosmoGirl and in endemic books. An online program targeted to males will feature skateboarder Bucky Lasek on a site co-branded with ESPN action brand EXPN and will offer the chance to win a trip to a Vans Triple Crown of Snowboarding event in Lake Tahoe.

Campbell's also will sponsor the three events that comprise the Vans Triple Crown.

In addition, a mobile tour team will visit skateparks and ski mountains in the Western U.S. through March to handle sampling and distribution of free tattoos, which were designed by alternative lifestyle brand Franky & Minx, New York. Campbell's also will co-sponsor several USA Snowboard Association amateur events with publisher TransWorld Media.

Industry sources value the teen marketing effort at $2 million, about 10-15% of Soup at Hand's overall budget. The program will extend into summer with activation around sports such as surfing.