It takes a lot of guts to put an employee on camera admitting he doesn’t eat his own company’s food.

Toronto-based Campbell Company of Canada is doing just that in a series of three new TV spots rolling out between now and January featuring actual Campbell’s employees revealing their concerns about the amount of sodium in Campbell’s soups. Each of the spots begins with tight shots of the employees’ faces as they talk about why they previously didn’t eat Campbell’s soups. The spots all emphasize that Campbell’s is reducing the amount of salt in its products, and rolling out healthier options like soups with brown rice and Omega 3.

‘Using real employees in the commercials is a great way to bring the news forward in an authentic way,’ says Moya Brown, director of marketing at Campbell Canada. Campbell’s did an internal survey recently to get a sense of how employees feel about the products, and whether they consume them. They were startled by the results. ‘Quite a few of our employees had health concerns about our products. That was a real eye-opener for us, and a huge impetus for change,’ says Brown.

‘Canadians are savvier about the types of foods they’re eating. We have a great opportunity to reach out to all Canadians with our authentic nourishment for all.’

Featuring its own employees was also an opportunity for Campbell’s to reflect the diversity of its workforce, as well as the diversity of Canadians overall.

‘We’re really proud that we could feature our own employees,’ says Brown. ‘It created a lot of excitement internally.’

The creds

advertiser: Mark Childs, VP marketing; Moya Brown, director, marketing; Adam Zitney, senior brand manager; Gillian Aiken, brand manager; Nicolle Nordmann, brand manager; Andrea Dunn, nutrition strategy manager; Jacki Nelson, group director, stakeholder engagement strategy, Campbell Canada

agency: BBDO

CD: Daniel Andreani

copywriters: Brian Gill, Cher Campbell

account services: Darlene Remlinger, Kate Torrence, Olivier Caron, Lynn Summers, Catherine Crowe

producers: Genevieve Clement, Jocelyne Dudoc

prodco: Jet Films