
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 21, 1994                   TAG: 9404210221
SECTION: NATIONAL/INT                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CAMDEN, N.J.                                LENGTH: Short

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF A PHOTOGRAPH ON THE LABEL

Shhhhh. Put your ear to the ground and see if you can hear Andy Warhol rolling in his grave. The red-and-white label that made Campbell's Soup a household name and a pop art icon is getting a new look.

The new label has a photograph of a bowl of soup at the center and a recipe panel on the back. The red panel on the upper half of the label is smaller, and the name of the soup variety is higher.

A small box on the label reassures customers: ``New look; same great soup!''

``This is the most comprehensive redesigning of the label since it was created'' nearly a century ago, Campbell's Soup Co. spokesman Kevin Lowery said Wednesday. ``This is a pretty dramatic change.''

The Camden-based food maker will formally unveil the redesigned label at a news conference today in Philadelphia. Cans bearing the new look on 51 soup varieties will begin appearing on supermarket shelves this month and should spread worldwide within two years.

Campbell ranks sixth among U.S. food companies with annual sales of $6.3 billion. It controls 80 percent of the U.S. market for condensed soup, producing 2.5 billion cans annually. It holds 65 percent of the domestic market in other types of soup.

It wants more.

``We believe this can be a dynamic growth business,'' said F. Martin Thrasher, president of Campbell's U.S. Soup Division. ``We want more soup consumed.''

by CNB