Mother has taken Cup a Soup to the sophisticated confines of the
opera in its first national television campaign for the brand.
The agency won the £5 million account from Lowe Lintas in July,
following Unilever's sale of its Batchelors brand to Campbell.
Mother's campaign moves away from Cup a Soup's previous strategy, which
had concentrated on the moment a consumer chooses to take a break and
drink the soup. Instead, it focuses on raising the personality of the
brand by dramatising occasions when drinking the soup is completely
unsuitable.
The campaign is comprised of two spots, both directed by Partizan's
Traktor.
The brand enters the unlikely territory of the opera in the first spot,
which opens on opera-goers having a drink during the interval.
Instead of ordering a typical gin and tonic, people happily quaff Cup a
Soup out of Martini glasses, while a row of men choose to slam their
soup in shot glasses.
The endline states: "There's a time and a place for Cup a Soup. This is
not it." A second commercial sees the soup replacing water at a
marathon, with chaotic results.
The TV work will be backed by a radio campaign. It will also run in
conjunction with a national sampling initiative through RPM.
Mother's Andy Bellass said: "We found that to communicate the 'break'
moment, in any form, was completely futile. People know what Cup a Soup
is - the real challenge has been to move away from the past and give the
brand an energy and personality that will make people love it
again."
Richard Kingsbury, the senior marketing manager of Batchelors, added:
"Cup a Soups are enjoyed by many, but the brand is still a bit passive
and dusty in most people's eyes. I believe Mother's work will give it a
real shot of adrenaline."
Media planning is through Naked, with buying through Zenith.
