The Vitrue Blog

Yesterday in "Brandweek" (article link) I read about the recent soup wars that have been waged between Campbell and Progresso. Basically each brand is slinging the MSG mud like two politicians in the throes of an election. While the article talks about running full page ads in the NY Times, I wonder if these brands considered social media? I tend to think harmful additives in food is a topic consumers will be passionate about.

Using the Vitrue SMI tool I discovered that Campbell Soup is 10 x more talked about in social media than Progresso Soup (report link). Also "Campbell Soup MSG" is 40 x more talked about than Progresso (report link) but ultimately these scores are extremely low. Proving their message hasn't gone social.

Now I'm sure one might think that taking on hazardous topics with social media might be a bit risky. I on the other hand think it shows true authenticity and a willingness for a brand to connect with their consumers. What's your opinion? Should the soup wars go social? Sound off in our comments below.

Side note: The Vitrue SMI is a new tool created by Vitrue to help marketers, agencies and social experts easily measure a brand's conversation. Check out http://vitrue.com/smi to use the tool. It's free and easy.