By Geoff Mulvihill
The Associated Press

CAMDEN, N.J. - When Campbell Soup Co. began selling its condensed soups in their red and white cans, it couldn't have been easier - just add water and heat.

But this convenience food has been surpassed by even more convenient foods, and now the company is trying to convince the public that its products are really M'm! M'm! Better!

Campbell isn't relying on advertising alone. It's making changes to the soups themselves in an effort to stop consumers from defecting to other foods.

The alphabet soup, for example, now has 40 percent more letters and the vegetable chunks are crisper.

Doug Conant, who became Campbell's CEO nearly two years ago, said the company does not expect to revolutionize dinner tables. "Our goal is to stabilize our condensed soup business," he said.

Sales of Campbell's condensed soups have been falling between 1 percent and 2 percent a year, canceling out some of the growth in other businesses for Campbell, which also sells Pepperidge Farms cookies and crackers, Pace picante sauce and Godiva chocolates, among other brands.

Campbell has tinkered with its soups before - adding more chicken to the chicken noodle, for example - but the company has never had an overhaul like this.

The company is now using a new cooking technique, called "cold-blending," which allows different ingredients to be added at different points in the process and some ingredients to be cooked less. The result is a soup with a clearer broth and crisper ingredients.

A group of financial analysts tried the new soups a few months ago. Lehman Brothers' Andrew Lazar said he was impressed, but with a caveat: "It was still condensed soup."

The company won't say exactly how much the new equipment for the soups is costing, but it spent $300 million to upgrade the technology in all its plants during the fiscal year that ended July 31.

" If the changed taste and organization of the condensed soups doesn't draw customers, Campbell's has one more trick to attract buyers interested in convenience: putting on easy-open tops that will make can-openers unnecessary. It's already in place on the company's ready-to-serve varieties.