Market Research

CASE: CAMPBELL’S IQ MEALS

In 1990, Campbell Soup was the undisputed leader among U.S soup manufacturers, with a market share of over 75 percent. Soup consumption, however, was leveling off, and top management was looking for opportunities for growth in related markets. Competitors such as ConAgra (Healthy Choice brand) and H.J Heinz (Weight Watchers brand) were making sizeable sales and profit gains in their frozen goods lines, stressing their dietary benefits, and this seemed like a good place for Campbell to begin generating new product ideas.

At the time, the U.S public was becoming more interested in the relationship between diet and disease prevention. It seemed that, every day, health benefits were turning up in one food or another, causing fads such as oat bran to sweep the country. Campbell’s R&D department soon turned to investigating the diet-disease relationship, focusing on foods that could be used to prevent illness such as diabetes or cardiovascular disease (including high blood pressure). Given that 58 million Americans have some form of cardiovascular disease, and another 16 million have diabetes, this focus seemed very reasonable. Soon enough, the rough idea had been generated: a line of goods with medical benefits. The rough idea now needed to be further developed.

The challenge was to develop a food line that not only played a role in the prevention of these diseases, but also would be accepted and adopted by the U.S population. Dr. R. David McNair, Campbell’s chief technical officer, built an advisory board consisting of leading nutrition, heart disease, and diabetes specialists, who would scientifically analyze the new products. Campbell’s CEO at the time, David W Johnson, was 100 percent behind the food-with-medical-benefits idea, saying that it had “explosive potential”. Soon he was attending the advisory board meetings as well. Mr. Johnson said, “Wouldn’t you be dumbfounded by the opportunity to take a quantum leap and develop a product...