Submitted by EdelmanAgency IPI Score 94/100

Progresso Soup Drops

Influencer Marketing

Progresso turned chicken noodle soup into a cough-drop lozenge to hijack the OTC medicine habit during cold and flu season, driving a 196% increase in top-of-mind awareness and 12.83 billion earned media impressions.

+47ptBrand association gain
12.83BEarned media impressions
+27%Soup brand choice increase
+196%Top-of-mind awareness increase
Sold out 3 separate times; final sellout in under 8 minutesProduct sellouts

About the campaign

Progresso held 16 percent of a declining US canned soup market, a distant second behind a rival with roughly half the category, and with 44 percent of its annual sales concentrated in January through March it needed to win its most critical window. Edelman's insight was that the real competition sat in the pharmacy aisle, not the soup aisle: 81 percent of consumers reached for OTC remedies like cough drops rather than soup during cold and flu season, with younger buyers bypassing soup entirely.

The answer was Progresso Soup Drops, chicken-noodle-soup-flavored lozenges packaged in miniature Progresso cans under the tagline "Soup you can suck on," launched as a limited-edition direct-to-consumer drop in January 2025 to coincide with National Soup Month. Working with Knechtel Inc., Yaniv Consulting, The Social Lights, and Promotion Management Center, Edelman paired food-science product development with influencer seeding, social surprise-and-delight, and earned media outreach.

The drops sold out three separate times, the last in under eight minutes, drew mentions on SNL and The Tonight Show, and generated an agency-reported 12.83 billion earned impressions, before returning in year two via weekly Walmart.com drops each Thursday in January 2026 at $2.97. The campaign took Gold and Silver Lions at Cannes 2025.

Case in 60 seconds

Progresso held a modest share of the US canned soup market, well behind a dominant competitor, in a declining category. With sales concentrated in January through March, the brand needed to stand out in its most critical window, when about 40% of all soup is sold.

81% of consumers were reaching for OTC solutions such as cough drops rather than soup during cold and flu season, with younger consumers bypassing soup entirely. The real competition was the pharmacy aisle, not another soup brand.

Turn Progresso Chicken Noodle Soup into a lozenge — chicken-noodle-soup-flavored drops packaged in miniature Progresso cans, with the tagline "Soup you can suck on" — so the brand could meet consumers exactly where they were already reaching during illness.

Edelman led an agency roster that combined food-science product development, influencer seeding, social surprise-and-delight, and earned media outreach, launching in January 2025 during National Soup Month as a limited-edition direct-to-consumer drop. A year-two return offered Variety Cans via Walmart.com every Thursday in January at 9 a.m. ET, priced at $2.97.

The drops sold out three separate times, the last in under eight minutes, generated 12.83B earned media impressions including SNL and The Tonight Show, and the campaign won Cannes Lions 2025 Gold (PR) and Silver (Brand Experience & Activation). All effectiveness figures are agency-reported.

Strategy Breakdown

The primary strategy-learning section — interpretation, not a press-release summary.

Primary target was US consumers during cold and flu season. Secondary audience was the broader cultural conversation, reached through earned late-night and short-form social.
Comfort food and medicine occupy different mental categories. When people feel unwell, 81% reported reaching for OTC solutions like cough drops rather than soup. Soup, despite its long association with recovery, had lost the automatic consideration that cough drops held in that moment.
Progresso needed to stand out during its most important sales window, cold and flu season, when 40% of all soup is sold, and to make comfort food relevant in a moment when most people reach for medicine rather than soup. Running a conventional soup campaign in the soup aisle would not achieve that shift, so the brand needed a reason to act outside its own aisle.
Progresso acted as a category disruptor rather than a category defender. By reformulating its core product into a lozenge format, it physically moved into the OTC space rather than advertising its way there. The mini can design kept the brand identity intact while signalling something new was happening.
Behaviour change is easier when the replacement matches the form of the existing habit. Packaging soup as a lozenge meant the Progresso Soup Drop could slot into the exact moment when a consumer would otherwise open a box of cough drops, reducing the friction of switching. Scarcity, through repeated sellouts, added social currency and kept earned media cycling for weeks rather than producing a single launch spike.

Creative & Execution System

Assets & channels

  • Physical product: chicken-noodle-soup-flavored lozenges with parsley-fleck detail, packaged in miniature Progresso soup cans — source
  • Direct-to-consumer website for limited-edition sales — source
  • Walmart.com weekly Thursday drops (year-two Variety Cans, 9 a.m. ET, $2.97 per bundle) — source
  • TikTok organic and influencer content — source
  • Social surprise-and-delight seeding — source
  • Earned media outreach to television and press — source

Partners

  • Edelman (lead agency, PR and earned strategy) — source
  • Knechtel Inc. — source
  • Yaniv Consulting — source
  • The Social Lights — source
  • Promotion Management Center — source

Participation mechanic

  • Limited-edition D2C purchase during National Soup Month only — source
  • Weekly Walmart.com drops (year two) while supplies lasted — source
  • Social sharing of unboxing and taste reactions — source

Creator role

  • Paid influencers activated across product development, paid influencer programming, and website development — source
  • Organic amplifiers on TikTok drove viral posts — source

Results & Evidence

MetricValueResult typeConfidence
Top-of-mind awareness+196%Brand MetricAgency reported
Brand association: 'soup on consumers' minds'+47ptBrand MetricAgency reported
'My soup brand of choice' agreement+27%Brand MetricAgency reported
Earned media impressions12.83 billionReach / ImpressionsAgency reported
Product selloutsSold out 3 separate times; final sellout in under 8 minutesSales / CommerceAgency reported

Awards & Recognition

Award showYearCategoryResultSource
Cannes Lions2025PRGold Lion—
Cannes Lions2025Brand Experience & ActivationSilver Lion—
Shorty Awards2025Earned Media, HumorSilver Honors—

Why Edelman's strategy worked

  1. 1

    **Product can be the message.** Reformulating chicken noodle soup into a lozenge meant the idea was tangible, buyable, and inherently shareable without requiring a separate creative layer to explain it.

  2. 2

    **Hijack behaviour at the point of habit, not at the point of purchase.** By matching the drop format to the cough-drop reach, the campaign reduced switching friction, meeting the 81% of consumers already choosing OTC remedies in the exact moment of that decision.

  3. 3

    **Scarcity sustains earned coverage over time.** Three successive sellouts, including the final one in under eight minutes, created recurring news moments that extended the conversation well beyond a single launch day.

  4. 4

    **Calendar relevance concentrates attention.** Launching during National Soup Month at the peak of cold and flu season aligned the product with a moment of genuine consumer need, reducing the creative work required to make the idea feel timely.

  5. 5

    **Humor scales organically into culture.** Designing the idea for boldness and shareability enabled it to travel into late-night television monologues and viral TikTok posts without paid placement in those environments.

  6. 6

    **Proof of concept justifies reinvestment.** Strong first-year results, including repeated sellouts and award recognition, directly supported a year-two return with new flavors and broader retail distribution via Walmart.com, indicating internal confidence in the model.

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