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CAMPBELL'S LADLES OUT READY-TO-SERVE SOUPS

NEW YORK -- For the second time since late August, Campbell's Soup Co., Camden, N.J., made a major announcement at an arts venue, introducing its remodeled classic tomato soup Oct. 6 at a gallery in SoHo here. Aug. 26, the news was a change in label design, announced at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.The new soups are Ready to Serve versions of the 102-year-old condensed canned tomato soup,

NEW YORK -- For the second time since late August, Campbell's Soup Co., Camden, N.J., made a major announcement at an arts venue, introducing its remodeled classic tomato soup Oct. 6 at a gallery in SoHo here. Aug. 26, the news was a change in label design, announced at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.

The new soups are Ready to Serve versions of the 102-year-old condensed canned tomato soup, which debuted in 1897 as the first convenience food. The new products, available nationwide in supermarkets, are regular Tomato and Creamy Tomato. Both come in 32-ounce reclosable plastic containers that have screw tops and a molded hand grip to make pouring easy. They sell for a suggested retail price of $2.49.

"I would say it will do well, as long as they stay behind it," said Emil Oles, category manager for soups at Genuardi's Family Markets, Norristown, Pa. "The big factor is the resealable top. You use what you want, and put it in the refrigerator." He said the company "had not gone gangbusters" in promoting it, but Campbell's did offer some coupons.

Tom Yarrows, category manager for soups at Big Y Foods, Springfield, Mass., sounded a similar note. "Like most products we carry, they need to be promoted frequently in order to support our high/low price strategy. At this point, I feel that the product's movement should be greater, and that the manufacturer needs to promote this product more frequently than they have. They are not flying off the shelves; they need more promotional activity."

Over the last century, Campbell's label and the Campbell Kids became pop culture icons, included by collector Alex Shear in exhibits of his "stuff" on display at the SoHo Studios here. "Campbell's completely gets it," Shear said as a crowd of reporters and others gathered to watch Margo Lowry, vice president for new business development at Campbell's, pull back the drapes to reveal the two new soups. They are being positioned as a snack alternative for the new millennium.

In the past year, both varieties were successfully test-marketed in nine Northeast states, the company said.

Genuardi's was one of the chains that got the product more than a year ago, and Oles told SN that, in the base sales, the Campbell's Ready to Serve items ranked fourth and ninth. Most ready-to-serve soups are in cans, but Campbell's itself has some in 24-ounce glass jars. Genuardi's, for example, stocks more than 60 ready-to-serve varieties of soup.