Campbell fires up budget for lines other than soup; Prego, Pace and Franco-American to get more consumer ad support.(Campbell Soup Co.)(Brief Article)

Advertising Age, March, 2001 by Thompson, Stephanie

Campbell Soup Co., hoping to show consumers and Wall Street its nonsoup brands are also ``M'm M'm Good,'' plans to significantly increase ad spending for lines such as Prego, Pace and Franco-American in fiscal 2002.

Faced with pressure from stockholders to turn the company around, new CEO Douglas Conant has pledged to analysts that Campbell will rev up advertising and consumer spending for its U.S. sauces and prepared-foods brands next fiscal year, just as it did this year with soup and Pepperidge Farm. Spending for those brands suffered a cumulative 44% decline over the past three years, he said, and now it's time to ``restore sufficient spending in order to generate competitive vitality.''

In 2000, Campbell spent a mere $3.3 million on its...

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