CHERRY HILL, N.J. -- Rejoice, couch potatoes -- the original TV dinner is in reruns.
The Swanson TV dinner, the archetypal home meal of convenience born during the Eisenhower administration, is getting a marketing overhaul as part of the 45th anniversary for C.A. Swanson and Sons.The company plans to unveil 10 new products this year and spend $10 million on advertising. It is even temporarily bringing back the aluminum tray, which it long ago replaced with microwaveable packaging, and will again use the words "TV dinner" on its frozen meals.
Swanson parent Vlasic Foods International is trying to regain some of the market share it began losing in the '70s when Nestle took over the No. 1 spot in the $4 billion frozen foods industry.
Swanson ranks fourth behind Nestle, which makes the Stouffer's and Lean Cuisine brands. Americans did buy more than 160 million Swanson dinners last year, but that was down from a peak of about 175 million in 1994.
"It's been a neglected brand for a number of years," said Murray Kessler, president of the Swanson frozen foods division.
Indeed, Swanson's menus have changed little over the decades. The company still features main courses like fried chicken, Salisbury steak and roast turkey.
A brownie or cobbler desert still comes in its individual compartment and the turkey -- complemented by potatoes, corn and green beans -- still has a gooey cranberry concoction at its side.
"It's part of American culture," Kessler said at the company's headquarters just outside Philadelphia. "We're proud of who we are."
TV dinners -- the label has stuck long after company officials dropped the term -- have become an American icon since they were unveiled in 1954, perfectly in sync with the quickening pace of life.
Swanson wasn't the first company to try its hand at frozen meals, but earlier attempts were met with limited success. The dinners became a hit as more and more families began eating in front of their new televisions.
Gerry Thomas was the Swanson executive who came up with the idea of frozen dinners to get rid of 520,000 pounds of excess turkey. He sketched a drawing of a three-compartment aluminum tray, presented it to his bosses and then came up with the name "TV dinner."
"It's the classic example of necessity being the mother of invention," said Thomas, 77, now retired.
A company bacteriologist, Betty Cronin, developed cooking techniques for the meal, figuring out how to get the breading to stay on the meat during the freezing and then the baking.
The first meal -- turkey, corn bread dressing and gravy, buttered peas and sweet potatoes -- sold for 98 cents, the equivalent of about $6 today. Although Swanson initially ordered only 5,000 dinners, the gamble paid off -- the company sold 10 million the first year.
A frozen fried chicken dinner was introduced in 1955, the same year Campbell Soup Co. acquired Swanson, based in Omaha, Neb., which went on to become a leader in the convenience revolution and a $300 million business.
Swanson stopped calling its meals TV dinners in 1962 because executives feared it would discourage consumers from eating the meals at any time.
Yet during the anniversary celebration, "TV Dinner" will appear on special edition packaging, and 45 authentic aluminum trays will be rolled out for a sweepstakes.
The grand prize? A big-screen TV.