Blog

During one of the coldest months of the year, Campbell’s Canada’s pop-up restaurant in downtown Toronto is serving as an open invitation for passersby to connect over a hot bowl of soup.

Called “The Cantina by Campbell’s,” the restaurant on 501 Queen St. W. offers four styles of complimentary soups designed by chef Matt Dean Pettit, founder and chef of the popular Rock Lobster restaurants. But it’s more than a place to sample soup – the experiential campaign demonstrates that soup unites people, says Moya Brown, VP Marketing at Campbell Canada.

“In a world of billions of people, where we can often feel pulled apart, sitting down over a bowl of soup provides an opportunity to connect and have a shared sense of belonging,” Brown says. “In every culture and every country there is soup. And you can’t rush a hot bowl of soup.”

The campaign primarily targets millennials and features sleek tables, a pop-art wall and a garnish table where patrons can customize the Spicy Vegetarian Ramen, Roasted Beer Can Cream Of Chicken Soup, Creamy Tomato Black Bean Taco Soup and Thai Chicken And Rice Khao Soi. Visitors to the shop, open until Feb. 21, can learn how to recreate the dishes from chef Pettit or one of his fellow chefs daily between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. or 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.

“We partnered with chef Matt Dean Petit to show that soup is delicious, exciting and relevant for life today,” Brown says.

Campbell’s also seeks to demonstrate that soup can help alleviate hunger and to raise awareness that none of its soups contain artificial flavour or colours. The project also makes it easy for patrons to give to a cause by placing a sticker on a mosaic wall. For each sticker placed, Campbell Canada will donate a can of soup to the Daily Bread Food Bank.

Taxi developed the “We All Soup” campaign idea, Chalkboard Marketing developed “The Cantina by Campbell’s” experiential idea and activation., while The Mint Agency led the PR aspect of the activation.