Andy Warhol had a vision.
In 1961, the legendary American visual artist created a series of paintings that shocked the world and became major works of the 1960s pop-art movement.
So what was the topic that caught Warhol's eye and inspired him to create this project, which has been both lauded and mocked and that can now fetch millions of dollars at auction today?
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Campbell Soup cans, that's what. And when asked what inspired him to do this, Warhol kept his answer simple.
"I used to have the same lunch every day, for 20 years, I guess, the same thing over and over again," he said.
A lot of people had Campbell Soup for lunch over the years, and generations of children grew up hearing such slogans as “Mmm mmm, good” and "soup is good food."
"It's certainly iconic, especially for people who grew up in the 20th century," said Robert Thompson, a professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University.
"I was born in 1959 and this was one of the most recognizable brands and a major part of my culinary and gustatory experiences as an American. And I think I wasn't alone in that."
If you want to talk about the history of Campbell Soup Co. (CPB) , you have to go back ... way back.
Company 'has staying power'
The company got its start in 1869, the same year that Ulysses S. Grant was sworn in as president of the United States, Leo Tolstoy’s "War and Peace" was published in Russia and Jesse James committed his first confirmed bank robbery.
Meanwhile, in Camden, N.J., Joseph Campbell, a wholesale fruit and vegetable vendor, and Abraham Anderson, a commercial canner and packer, formed the firm of Anderson & Campbell.
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(By the way, another outfit by the name of H.J. Heinz, a predecessor of the worldwide food processing and cheese brand Kraft Heinz (KHC) , was also founded in 1869, but that's another story.)
In 1900, Campbell Soup won a bronze medal for product excellence at the Paris Exposition, which also featured such innovations as escalators, electric cars and talking films.
"That was the beginning of the 20th century and we're now slouching toward the second quarter of the 21st and they've still got that little medal on the can," Thompson said. "And Andy Warhol manages to use Campbell as the way to bring pop into pop art."
Thompson said that Warhol in many ways appropriated the Campbell brand identity as a mass-produced food item and turned it into an icon — literally, not metaphorically — of modernism and pop art.
"Campbell Soup makes it into the museum within not much more than half a century after it had made its way into the national supermarket," he added. "So it certainly has staying power."
The company kept growing and now owns such brands as Pepperidge Farm cookies, breads and Goldfish crackers; V8 juices, Swanson broths and stocks, and Prego pasta sauces. And don't forget that neat, round spaghetti you can eat with a spoon, SpaghettiOs, which was billed in a 1965 TV commercial as “The Best Invention Since the Napkin!”
The Campbell Kids, the company's cartoon mascots, were created in 1904 and their popularity led to the production of dolls, cookbooks, plates, T-shirts and other items.
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Like the company, the Campbell Kids have moved into the 21st Century, where they have been digitally rendered as 3-D figures with various personalities, such as technogeek, skater, fashionista and hip-hopper.
In March Campbell completed its $2.33 billion acquisition of Sovos, which sells products such as pasta sauces, dry pasta, soups, frozen pizza and yogurts.
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“We are encouraged by Campbell's successful acquisition of Sovos, which could help pull the company out of its current lull and reinvigorate growth,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Nik Modi told Reuters.
On Wednesday, June 5, Campbell Soup reported fiscal-third-quarter earnings and, excluding special items, the company posted a profit of 75 cents a share, ahead of analysts' consensus estimate of 70 cents per LSEG data. Net sales of $2.4 billion also edged past expectations.
“As consumers continue to focus on stretchable meals, the cooking side of the portfolio benefited in the quarter with notable dollar share gains in condensed cooking and broth,” Chief Executive Mark Clouse said on an earnings call with analysts.
TD Cowen analysts raised their price target for Campbell Soup to $46 from $44 and affirmed a hold rating.
The company reported an earnings beat and its acquired Sovos business exceeded expectations, “but management lowered guidance for [fiscal year 2024] organic sales and EPS for the core business due to softer-than-expected recovery in snacks,” TD Cowen said.
Like its snacking peers, the firm said, "Campbell experienced a slowdown in its snacking portfolio."
"Management speculated that it took a year longer for snacks to get hit by consumer slowdowns, and they called out particular weakness among lower- and middle-income consumers," TD Cowen said.
TheStreet Pro’s Bruce Kamich noticed that the consumer giant reported a 2% sales decline in snacks and asked, "Is that what is causing the weakness in the shares?"
"I associate soup with the winter months in the northern hemisphere, but markets are discounting mechanisms," he said. "A decline to $39 on CPB will turn the charts bearish."
Thompson noted that Campbell Soup has brand recognition, but it also has a lot of competition.
"I haven't looked at Campbell's complete portfolio but century old iconic name recognition can be a fickle mistress," he said.
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