Today, soup lovers in America consume more than 10 billion bowls of soup each year-and by a wide margin, the most popular soup is Campbell's.
Our two most popular soups are Chicken Noodle and Tomato. These soups are among the top 10 food items sold in grocery stores.
"Eating" soups represent $2.4 billion at retail, and more than 70 percent of all wet soup sales. As the world's leading soup maker, we strive to nourish, nurture and delight our consumers with a variety of soups, from choices like Campbell's condensed Vegetarian Vegetable soup to heartier selections like Campbell's Chunky Sirloin Burger with Country Vegetables soup, with more beef than any other leading soup.
In 2001, consumer purchases of our eating soups grew six percent, a significant improvement over the prior year. This increase was helped by advertising, which brought back the popular M'm! M'm! Good! jingle, one of the top 100 advertising slogans of all time. Advertising highlighted the health benefits of tomato soup and of diets rich in tomato products, and our Eat Smart message featured 30 condensed soups with fewer than 100 calories and three grams or less of fat. New formulations, including more chicken in condensed Chicken Noodle soup, also helped to boost performance.
Campbell's Chunky soup, our leading ready to serve soup, experienced double-digit growth for the fourth year in a row. Our sponsorship of the National Football League helped to solidify Chunky positioning among target consumers. The "Mama's Boys" advertising and its popular slogan, It Fills You Up Right, continues to bring to life the promise of Chunky soup as a hearty soup for big appetites. In 2002, we will introduce Chunky Homestyle Classics, including Seasoned Beef Rib Roast with Potatoes and Herbs, Chicken with Dumplings, and Salisbury Steak with Mushrooms and Onions. Additionally, we will improve the quality of our top beef soups.
We are increasing our effort behind Campbell's Select soups, which posted a double-digit sales gain for the year. New advertising, convenient easy-open lids, and creative varieties are re-establishing this brand as one of our highest quality soups for adult tastes. In 2002, we plan to upgrade almost two-thirds of our Select soups with quality improvements, including twice as many clams in our New England Clam Chowder and 100 percent oven-roasted white meat in our chicken soups.
