rp Reacts: Campbell’s Name Change Stirs the Pot

The beloved CPG brand, Campbell Soup, will be rebranding to The Campbell’s Company to reflect its wider product portfolio. While a legacy brand name change doesn’t happen every day, we have seen this type of move in the past, including Dunkin dropping Donuts and Molson Coors Brewing shifting to Molson Coors Beverage Company.

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Our team of strategists, creatives, and soup connoisseurs have weighed in:

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I'm not a big fan of the change. I think legacy brands should stay true to their origin, especially ones like Campbell's, who's name and logo are so iconic.

— Matt Weber, Director of Content Production

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‍Where this shows up will be an important factor on whether it’s worth the investment. Dunkin’s shift is very public-facing down to the signage on the front of their buildings—and it seems like their product strategy has in fact followed suit with their branding (more sandwiches, less donuts). But Dunkin is a single brand retailer which is much less complex than a house of brands such as The Campbell's Company.

The question becomes: How much money do you invest in a parent company brand, knowing that it’s essentially a holding company for the more consumer-facing product brands? In my opinion, a lot if it means internally rallying the company’s #1 asset—its employees—around a shared company vision that doesn’t favor any one product or division (aka soup). However, when it starts to become externally facing that is where I am a little more skeptical as to whether it’ll be worth the shift.

— Samara Anderson, VP Sales & Marketing

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Evolve away. Especially if that leans into how culture already sees the brand.

— Drew Beamer, Creative Director

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I happen to like the evolution in these three particular cases: Dunkin, Molson Coors, and Campbell’s. Most of the equity for Coors and Dunkin is in those two words. Campbell's a bit of a further reach because the word soup seems practically owned by them, but I’m sure they’ll keep the word soup in the product brand names.

We’re seeing this shift more and more in how brands refer to themselves. Domino’s vs. Domino’s Pizza—admittedly a harder play for Pizza Hut, although they are trying to brand "The Hut" in their ads.

All in all...evolve I say, evolve. But for the love of Pete, get the sodium down!

— Tim McMullen, CEO

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