Campbell's Canada Uses AI to Modernise Iconic Red and White Soup Can

Campbell Company of Canada is putting the AI in pAIntings with its latest marketing campaign aimed to help modernise its iconic red and white condensed soup can. The soup brand is leveraging generative artificial intelligence (AI) to reimagine artwork of its iconic can through various artistic styles, which will debut on social. 

For decades, Campbell’s has been a leading food brand and an art inspiration. The soup brand has brought to life engaging visualisations of how its famous red and white can could have been painted in a range of styles from the past, intended to reconnect Campbell’s with creativity. 

As part of their 'Campbell’s pAIntings' campaign, the brand’s Instagram page @campbellcanada, will be transformed into a virtual gallery featuring over a dozen reimagined artistic AI outputs, to surprise and delight consumers and art lovers alike. The artwork will also pop up on transit shelters.

“Campbell’s soup is a brand grounded in a great deal of tradition,” Mackenzie Davison, VP of marketing at Campbell Company of Canada says, “but it’s equally important to evolve and engage with modern trends to continue to stay relevant today and for years to come. Campbell’s pAIntings immediately drew us in as a way to tap into today’s culture that stays true to the brand’s history.”

“This was an exciting project because there was no way for us to know exactly what the output would look like. AI prompts are a bit of an art unto themselves,” said Brian Murray, chief creative officer at Zulu Alpha Kilo. “Also, to keep the experiment pure, Campbell’s asked us not to retouch the art in any way, even leaving in any typos on the cans’ labels.”

Campbell’s pAIntings was developed in collaboration with agency partner Zulu Alpha Kilo for the creative, paid media partner Spark Foundry, and spPR was engaged for PR outreach and earned media.