What happens when classic brands are forced to adapt to different generation’s new evolving values? You get a little something like Campbell’s new business plan.

The Facts: In a world where there is a rising concern for organic foods and real flavours in food, Campbell has experience some issues within the last years.  For Campbell Soup, sales peaked in 2012 at $16.2 billion, but since has decreased to just a little over $15 billion [1]. In order to bounce back the company has decided to “revamp” their beloved classic recipe including ingredients which are more commonly found in house-hold kitchens.

The Interesting Part: Will changing the “classic product” scare away old consumers, or appeal to more consumers than before?

My Thoughts:  With right about 80 million millennial hitting the consumer market, this new generation is considering different things when buying food. In order for even classic well known companies to stay appealing in such a fast-paced industry, changes must be made, even sometimes to the “classic product” itself. It’s no surprise that the shift in values is hitting something as simplistic and harmless as soup, and in my opinion the sooner the change the better. Even within something as classic as soup, there is always a clear need for “intra-preneurs”. With such a decrease in sales, even though changing the recipe may be risky, adapting to consumer values is the best way to become as profitable as possible in the future, as well as create a possible competitive advantage. Even though there are many “organic” soup companies, none have developed well-known household at the same magnitude of Campbell Soup. By adjusting to new consumers’ values now, in the future Campbell will be more competitive than ever.

A once appealing statement is probably not as comforting for newer health concerned generations