Progresso: Soup Drops
Progresso challenged Edelman to increase brand relevance during the 2025 cold and flu season. Despite being the preferred sick food, soup lacked the portability of medicinal competitors. The brand needed a disruptive way to reach Gen Z households and drive top-of-mind awareness by inserting itself into the on-the-go relief conversation during peak illness months when consumers typically reach for over-the-counter lozenges.
Creative Idea
Transformed chicken noodle soup into savory lozenges to hijack the medicinal cough drop aisle.
Progresso transformed its iconic chicken noodle soup into savory hard candies, creating a portable "soup you can suck on" to hijack the medicinal cough drop aisle and dominate the cold and flu season conversation through a polarizing product innovation.
The Savory Lozenge That Sold Out in Eight Minutes
From Soup Aisle to Pharmacy Shelf
The campaign achieved a staggering 12.83 billion earned media impressions, successfully pivoting Progresso from a pantry staple to an over - the - counter competitor. By targeting the 81% of consumers who instinctively reach for cough drops when ill, the brand saw a +196% increase in top - of - mind awareness. The strategy was so effective that the product sold out three times in its first year, with the final batch vanishing in under 8 minutes. This momentum continued into Year 2, where a "Variety Can" bundle launched exclusively on Walmart.com for $2.97.
Engineering the Willy Wonka Effect
Late Night Culturejacking
Without a traditional celebrity spokesperson, the campaign relied on organic "culturejacking." The polarizing nature of savory candy landed the product in monologues on *Saturday Night Live*, *The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon*, and *The Late Show with Stephen Colbert*. This earned visibility, combined with a 5x surge in Google Trends search interest, solidified the "Ugh to Ahh" strategy as a masterclass in using a physical product as a PR vehicle.
Creative Strategy Deconstructed
Company
Progresso possessed a heritage of providing comforting, savory chicken noodle soup traditionally associated with recovery from illness.
Category
The soup category lacked portability, losing out to medicinal cough drops when consumers needed relief while on the go.
Customer
Sick consumers want the comfort of soup but often settle for medicinal lozenges because they are easier to consume anywhere.
Culture
A growing trend of culturejacking and viral food innovations allowed a polarizing, savory candy to dominate late-night TV conversations.
Company
Progresso possessed a heritage of providing comforting, savory chicken noodle soup traditionally associated with recovery from illness.
Category
The soup category lacked portability, losing out to medicinal cough drops when consumers needed relief while on the go.
Strategy:
Reposition soup as a portable medicinal tool by launching savory lozenges to hijack the cough drop category.
Customer
Sick consumers want the comfort of soup but often settle for medicinal lozenges because they are easier to consume anywhere.
Culture
A growing trend of culturejacking and viral food innovations allowed a polarizing, savory candy to dominate late-night TV conversations.
Strategy:
Reposition soup as a portable medicinal tool by launching savory lozenges to hijack the cough drop category.
Strategy Technique
Shift the Context
Progresso moved from the food aisle to the pharmacy section, reframing comfort food as a portable medicinal utility. This repositioning allowed the brand to compete directly with OTC relief products during peak illness months.
Explore Technique
Creative Technique
Invent a Complementary Product
By creating a physical, savory lozenge, Progresso solved the portability issue of traditional soup. This unexpected product format bridged the gap between food and medicine, generating massive earned media through its polarizing nature.
Explore Technique
Craft Breakdown
The campaign excelled by blending food science with a provocative PR strategy, turning a bizarre product into a cultural phenomenon.
Leveraged a polarizing product concept to dominate late-night television monologues and social media feeds organically.
Partnered with food scientists to replicate a complex savory meal profile into a stable, portable lozenge format.
Created miniature versions of classic soup cans to maintain brand heritage within the medicinal aisle context.
Transformed the traditional soup-eating ritual into a sensory-driven lozenge experience that disrupted the pharmacy category.
The success relied on the tension between the high-tech food engineering and the low-brow, viral nature of the PR stunt.
