Feb 5, 2005 3 min read

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. (AP) – The company has a marketing deal with the whole NFL, but it’s hard to blame Campbell Soup Co. employees for having a pro-Eagles bias in the Super Bowl. The Eagles are the hometown team at corporate headquarters of the world’s largest soupmaker in Camden, N.J. And Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb and his mother are the star endorsers of the company’s fast-selling Chunky brand.

“Being based across the river from Philadelphia, there’s a lot of excitement and a lot of passion,” said Campbell spokesman John Faulkner.

In a time when Campbell is struggling to stabilize sales of its iconic and highly profitable condensed soups, the Chunky brand has been a star performer for the company, regularly posting double-digit annual sales growth.

In the past few years, Chunky sales have climbed from $500 million per year to $800 million and are now closing in on the $1.2 billion in sales generated Campbell’s condensed soups.

The rise of Chunky has coincided with a seven-year ad campaign featuring wholesome NFL stars.

Eric Katzman, a financial analyst who follows Campbell for Deutsche Bank North America, said the sales rise for Chunky is due more to customers switching from condensed soup to more convenient ready-to-serve.

But, he added, “I suppose you could say their association with the NFL does not hurt.”

This week it’s that association Campbell is playing up. The company has made a bet on the game with the Gillette Co. – based in Boston, the home of the New England Patriots – that will involve product donations to food banks and shelters in both areas.

When Chunky began featuring players’ moms, they were played by actresses.

That’s where McNabb’s mother, Wilma, comes in.

Three years ago, she replaced the professional actress version of Mrs. McNabb. Since then, she has become a star and her son has become the company’s main player endorser.

“I’m just a natural, I think,” she said in a telephone interview this week from Jacksonville, Fla., where she has been promoting soup and preparing to root for her son. “I knew the script.”

In this year’s commercial, Wilma McNabb is the team mom, reading stories to the Eagles and chaperoning on the team bus.

She doesn’t actually ride the team bus, but she does make an annual feast for the entire offense – including the kickers, she notes – at her son’s southern New Jersey home.

“It’s really close to me,” she said. “I feel like I’m the team mother.”

While some reigning Super Bowl champions have signed on to do the ads, none of the company’s endorsers – who have included John Elway, Reggie White and Jerome Bettis, among others – has won a Super Bowl while under contract with Campbell.

In fact, several players – including McNabb, Kurt Warner, Bettis and Terrell Davis – have suffered injuries during their stints as Chunky endorsers, prompting some sports bloggers to declare the existence of a Chunky Soup Curse.

“If Donovan wins this weekend, can we declare the curse is over?” Faulkner asked.

It’s more than just parental pride and curse-busting on the line for Wilma McNabb on Sunday.

If the Eagles win, Faulkner said, both mother and son will appear on “The Tonight Show” next week.

And that could help Wilma McNabb’s acting career. She said she’s interested in branching out into commercials for other products, too.