Pot Noodle is giving its laddish image a break with a new range of dried soups aimed at health-conscious women.

Pot Noodle in a Mug packet soups single-shot sachets that come in roast chicken, tomato & herb, Chinese chicken and spicy curry flavours (rsp: 49p) were rolled out to retailers this week.

Brand owner Unilever is positioning the 150-calorie soups as a light, mid-morning snack for women.

Instant soups represented an obvious category for the brand to diversify into, said Pot Noodle sales controller Mike Miller.

“Pot Noodle is the market leader in the instant pot snacks category and is bought by 20% of UK households,” he said. “We believe this gives us a huge opportunity to add value to instant soups.”

The range will compete against Symington’s leading dried soup brand MugShot, which has recorded 32% sales growth to £7.5m over the past year [TNS 52w/e 1 November 2009].

Symington’s went head-to-head with Pot Noodle in October by launching Golden Wonder: The Nation’s Noodle.

Unilever’s venture into dried soup was a retaliatory launch, said Symington’s marketing manager David Cherrie.

“If I was in Pot Noodle’s shoes I would think The Nation’s Noodle was stepping on my toes,” he said. “However, we don’t see Pot Noodle in a Mug as a threat. Looking at their ingredients, they contain flavour enhancers, which MugShot does not.”

Unilever said that Pot Noodle in a Mug would benefit from an £8m marketing support for the Pot Noodle brand in 2010 that would include a print campaign for the new range in February.

“We won’t deviate from the typical humour of Pot Noodle but will make sure our press advertisements appeal to women,” Miller added.

Pot Noodle sales have grown 9.8% year-on-year to £75.6m [IRI]. The instant soup category, meanwhile, has grown 8% to £75m.