V8 Soup – Brilliant or Ridiculous? You Be the Judge
July 31, 2008 by Susan Gunelius
Filed under Marketing
Is it possible that all these years Campbell’s (NYSE: CPB) has been sitting on one of the best brand extensions without realizing it? Could V8 Soup be the next “it” product in the soup aisle at your local supermarket?
V8 Soup certainly sounds like it has a good chance to be a winner. Many recipes already exist that incorporate V8 Juice, including a variety of soup recipes. Heck, I use V8 Juice in a slow-cooker pot roast recipe that’s killer!
However, the soup market is crowded, not so much by a variety of brands but by a couple of brands that completely dominate it. Can Campbell’s win over new customers or steal market share from Progresso or other soup brands with V8 Soup or will it simply cannibalize its own market share? From that perspective, what do you think about V8 Soup? Brilliant or ridiculous?
Image: V8juice.com
I love the regular, spicy hot and lemon twist flavors of V8, but the sodium content is so high (I have high BP) that I can’t enjoy it often. If the soup has the same great flavor, but a lower sodium content (compared to other soups), I’d add it to my shopping list.
I just wanna add an “amen” to what Scott said . . I use the low sodium version of V8 and if it turns out there’s a low sodium version of the soups at good prices, I’m for it. Otherwise forget it.
For the average joe, the myth that salt has any impact on blood pressure whatsoever, is just that *** A MYTH ***. Studies keep showing this, but no one bothers to read them.
“.. Dietary sodium restriction for older hypertensive individuals might be considered, but the evidence in the normotensive population does not support current recommendations for universal dietary sodium restriction. ”
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/275/20/1590
“There is no evidence that limiting NaCl consumption to 6 g/day, as recommended by a number of health agencies, poses any health risk.”
http://ajpheart.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/276/5/H1807
“low-salt diets had virtually no effect on people with normal blood pressure, a vast majority of the population, and, at best, resulted in
only a small drop in the systolic pressure of people with high blood pressure.”
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9401E7DA1039F931A15756C0A960958260&scp=2&sq=salt&st=nyt
“These results do not support a general recommendation to reduce sodium intake.”
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/279/17/1383
Now that I vented…
Anyone know of other soups that also have at least 1 serving of vegetables?
This guy must work for Campbell’s! The idea that sodium intake has no impact on health is patently absurd. The same studies he quoted also said that aldosterone production is related 1:1 with sodium intake, and people lost weight if they were on the low-sodium diet vs. the high-sodium diet. Sodium is hard on the kidneys, a factor which is easily ignored and seldom proven because it takes a lifetime of habits to produce the irreperable effect. By the way, V8 of every variety has way too much sodium. Even low-sodium has disodium guanilynate, which acts like msg to your brain.
How did you know?! Yes I do work for Campbell! I’m work in the debunking myths department.
I’ll keep an eye out in Jama for when you publish your study explaining away all those meta-studies.
The V8 soups are a winner – Healthy, hearty, and low sodium, which is difficult to find these days. The negative is that they are a bit pricey – if I am really hungry I can easily down 2 of them, which is about $5+ for a store bought large bowl of soup.
I tried the Garden Broccoli soup. I is absolutely the worst soup I have ever tasted.
Lol, i’m drinking the garden broccoli soup (cold) for lunch right now. I think it’s pretty tasty and fairly viable for a daily lunch regimen. My girl thinks they are too lumpy (small veggie chunks) but no worries there for me.
I dig them.
Brilliant. Wonderful soups.
Tried the Butternut Squash soup today. Its not too thin and definitely not watery in consistency and also has plenty of potato slivers throughout. Overall, its satisfying (I ate 2 servings), savory and very tasty and i’ll surely be buying V8 soups again (Publix had a 2/$5 sale !^_^). Bonus factors: The soups are low fat, ready to eat after less than 3.5 minutes in the microwave, don’t have the drenched-in-salt taste of your typical packaged soup, have a respectable amount of protein per box, and NO PRESERVATIVES! Vegans should be wary since even though the box reads “100% vegetarian”, this particular soup did have cream in the ingredient list…
I meant to say…not too THICK…
I tried the Tomato Herb. It was great with just a hint of red pepper. I was surprised at how thick it was. At only 80 calories per serving you cant go wrong. Im looking forward to more flavors.
These soups are DELICIOUS! I am in love with them. They are 2/$5 at my grocery store. Wish they were cheaper but I still don’t mind shelling out the money because they are FABULOUS! Yum, yum, yum!
I haven’t tried the soup only the juice but it sounds like a good idea. AND HEY CAMPBELLS WHILE YOUR AT IT COULD YOU CHANGE YOUR TOMATO SOUP BACK TO THE WAY IT WAS. I REALLY miss it!!!!!!
I have not tried these yet but they sound good and I am excited to! How can you go wrong with a cup of soup when it’s only one point :)
I tried 2 of these soups because they were on sale at Fred Meyers the other day. I paid $2.50 for each 16 ounce container.
The Sweet Red Pepper has as its first ingredient tomato paste, and if not the second, very high up on the list is food starch. It was barely palatable
The second soup, the Butternut Squash, was easily the worst butternut squash soup I have ever eaten.
Both soups reeked of food starch and fillers.
I went back to Pacific Organic soups, which I just bought today at the same store for $2.99 for a 32 ounce container.
If you don’t believe me, look up Pacific Organic soups on the web and look at their ingredient list. Then try to find the same for the V8 soups. You won’t find their ingredient list for their soups on their site.
Then do a taste test of each one, and I think you’ll be surprised at how good real food can taste.
Btw, I don’t work for Pacific Organic, I just care about what goes into my body – it’s the only one I’ve got.