REBRANDING: ICONIC AMERICAN BRAND SEEKS NAME CHANGE AFTER OVER 150 YEARS AMID EVOLVING BUSINESS CLIMATE
After 155 years of branding, investment, sales, overall consumer impressions and customer relations, The Campbell Soup Company is mixing it up in a different way these days. Company shareholders recently approved a move to drop “Soup” from the brand name. Now, the brand will be known as The Campbell’s Company.
Don’t worry – the iconic familiar red-and-white soup can, immortalized by Andy Warhol and adored by American families for well over a century, won’t be changing! You can still buy the same Campbell’s soups purchased by generations past. Now, however, these famous soups will simply be part of a larger overall Campbell’s brand.
After More Than a Century and a Half, Why Re-Brand?
With so much immediate brand recognition for the Campbell Soup Company, you may be asking why did Campbell’s rebrand now? The reason has nothing to do with soups or their popularity. After years of acquiring brands such as Goldfish crackers and Snyder’s of Hanover, Campbell’s name change reflects their product mix. The new name is meant to include their expanding line of products in the Campbell’s family of brands.
Like many other industries, the consumer snack industry underwent upheavals in recent years, not helped by supply chain complications and new shopping and spending habits of consumers that resulted from the global pandemic. The company decided to embrace this changing landscape and proactively evolve with a new, streamlined moniker.
What Does This Mean for My Business?
The changing landscape of the consumer snack industry can be instructive for many commercial industries. Expansion into other areas of snacks for Campbell’s is akin to the natural growth of a successful brand in almost any business sector, whereby the company acquires additional business properties in its portfolio as opportunities arise.
A natural expansion of a brand that formerly specialized in one specific area of an industry, such as Campbell’s has done with canned soups for the last 150-plus years, is to be expected of a successful company navigating changing markets, demographics and consumer demands and preferences.
Move Forward with Your Brand
For the bravery to change such an enduring brand name to conform with changing times and consumer tastes and demands, Campbell’s should be applauded – and used as a template for others.
If your business needs to undergo a similar – if less dramatic – name change or re-branding, contact us today to discuss your options for moving forward with the best protection for your evolving brand. Who knows? In another 150 years, maybe someone will be writing about your iconic brand and giving it kudos for taking a forward-thinking approach to the changing market landscape.