CAMDEN, N.J., Nov. 17, 2009 – Just in time for the holidays, Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:CPB) is making it easier than ever to answer the question “What’s for dinner?” with a major overhaul of its popular CampbellsKitchen.com website. The enhanced site has been designed to help people expand their cooking repertoire beyond the casserole, while stretching their hard-earned food dollars.
The new CampbellsKitchen.com features more than 3,000 recipes, including a recipe collection dedicated to “Budget Friendly” recipes, many of which will feed a family of four for less than $10. The site offers a “Creative and Different” section that contains recipe collections that are perfect for the cook looking to expand her repertoire with new cooking twists and techniques. And while America’s favorite protein ingredient continues to be chicken, the new website offers a “Chicken with a Crunch” collection that’s sure to expand mealtime options. Certainly no website from Campbell’s Kitchen would be complete without a “Holiday Favorites” section that covers everything from appetizers to desserts, along with favorite side dish recipes. The site’s sleek new design is organized to make affordable meal ideas, cooking tips, helpful articles on cooking and search options more accessible and user-friendly than ever.
“Our team embarked on a quest to better meet the needs of family-focused cooks, which ultimately resulted in completely revamping our website,” said Lisa Walker, Vice President, Campbell’s Condensed Soup, Broth and Campbell’s Kitchen. “We talked to thousands of people and spent time in their homes across the country to learn what has changed in recent years regarding the way they put meals on the table. These insights drove the creation of the new CampbellsKitchen.com.”
Campbell’s Consumer Insights team uncovered a major shift in American eating habits. Families are demanding greater value from the dollars spent to create meals. As a result, more Americans are eating at home more frequently and meals are again an occasion to eat together and reconnect as a family. For the cook, the challenge becomes how to provide a variety of choices that the entire family will enjoy – and doing so on a limited budget. For many, just the challenge of preparing a meal for a family is completely new – as many of today’s new home cooks have been raised on take-out meals and fast food and received little formal or informal training on how to cook.
“We’re observing a fundamental change in how Americans approach the task of planning and preparing dinner for their families,” said Charles Vila, Vice President, Campbell’s Consumer Insights. “The economic recession has re-focused consumers on making enjoyable meals at home for less money than it would cost to go out. Families all across America are now coming home to dinner and enjoying connecting around the dinner table. While the economic recession will pass over time, we believe these new behaviors will be long-lasting.”
The CampbellsKitchen.com website incorporates numerous new features intended to enhance the user experience. A few of these include:
• Intuitive features that allow for search by mood and then generates a list of inspired suggestions
• A 7-day meal planning tool and a Campbell’s cookbook of value-oriented recipes that can be downloaded for free
• Detailed recipe pages that bring the most requested information into one place, including clear ingredient lists, step-by-step directions and consumer reviews
• More than 500 new photographs that will inspire cooks to make a recipe
• Tips for smarter eating and shopping, as well as nutritious snacking alternatives and ingredient substitutions
• Coupons worth up to $15 that can be downloaded directly from the website and used throughout the upcoming holiday season to purchase Campbell products
“While Campbell has been providing recipe ideas for nearly a century, we know times have changed,” said Walker. “Each of the recipes on the new site has been thoroughly tested to make sure the cooks who put their trust in Campbell – and the rest of the family – will be satisfied with the results. We want CampbellsKitchen.com to be the go-to resource for cooks looking for simple meals that taste great and great tasting meals that are simple to create.”
Campbell has been a trusted resource for home cooks ever since it introduced its first cookbook, Helps for the Hostess, in 1914. Since then, the company has produced hundreds of cookbooks and created thousands of recipes. Over the past year, the number of visitors to the CampbellsKitchen.com website has more than doubled, to an average of 1 million visits monthly, resulting in more than 5 million recipe prints during this period.
“Our research told us that if we wanted to continue to be a trusted source for recipe ideas with home cooks, we needed to present our recipes and all the other information in a completely new way,” said Walker. “We’re confident the new CampbellsKitchen.com will reach these cooks where they are going for their information – online – with great recipes and even more engaging content.”
The new CampbellsKitchen.com website was developed by the Dallas-based design firm IMC2.