Just Give me the Orange!
Feb 23 2009
It was the beginning of the year when I first saw the “modern” design look of Tropicana’s new packaging. I stopped the cart immediately to run over and grab the first carton I could get my hands on to examine all of its design elements (Most of you reading this blog I assume understand this instinct to look at every angle of this new packaging, while others of you just nod and smile). Now, I have enjoyed OJ all my life, and would consider myself to be a prime customer target in the cutthroat game of pulverized citrus played by the major citrus syndicates. During the next few weeks after I saw the packaging I had at least a handful of conversations about it with agency and non-agency people around town, while also reading at least a couple of articles about this subject. Each conversation and article ended with the same conclusion … this was a bad move by Tropicana. As it turns out we weren’t the only ones.
The New York Times had a great article yesterday about the backlash Tropicana received in this “brave new customer finger tip feedback world”. Apparently a small, loyal and very vocal group sent countless emails, posted numerous posts and even tweeted (The Dylan’s of the world still love their OJ) about how much they despised the new Tropicana packaging. I believe this gives us a great opportunity to look at brands and how customers react when a brand promise is broken. One of my mentors out of college was a great brand strategist and he always instilled into his clients that your brand represented a promise you had with your customer. Your job as the keeper of your brand is to make sure that at all of your communication touch points ring true with this promise. I feel that Tropicana committed major brand FAIL breaking their promise of being a wholesome, natural orange juice (Straw Sticking out of Orange, can’t get much more natural than that!), for something more modern and up-to date.
Tropicana has decided to bring back the Orange (Crowd goes wild!) But, do you think this could be a mistake in the long run? Obviously they went through a lot of meetings and God forbid, focus groups to make this decision. Was this change to soon? Did they not wait long enough for the customers to get used to it? What do you think?
Posted by Charles at 4:34 PM
Published in Design on Monday, February 23rd, 2009
Tags: brand, package design
February 23rd, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Wow – The “Dylan’s” of the world? There are more like me? Wild to think that people actually listen to things like Twitter and social media. Wait… of course they do. It is the voice of the customer. Now not that I think that Tropicana should go back to this old packaging as I actually like the new one… but it is great to see that brands are listening to what people want.
February 23rd, 2009 at 10:46 pm
I actually bought this brand for the first time *because* of the new package. In fact, the previous design always seemed ultra tacky and cheap-*looking* to me. Kinda like a large suburban tract home doesn’t come off as opulent or extravagant…just big and cheap.
I think it’s a huge mistake to cave to a vocal minority so quickly when it comes to something like brand. They shoudl let dollars decide if the redesign was effective not a few peeps that think they know better.
As to my OJ allegiance, I drnk toomuch of the stuff to buy top-shelf all the time. So my opinion doesn’t really matter.
February 25th, 2009 at 7:16 am
I’m all for minimalism, but I thought this was a generic brand!
February 26th, 2009 at 9:47 am
Yeah, I agree with Kevin. I haven’t noticed the new packaging in the stores yet, but I think I would totally overlook this carton.
Before I read this post, I actually read Dylan’s blog post about using social media strategy as a way to better relate to your brand’s audience. After looking at YouTube, I found quite a few consumer-generated videos that promoted one of Tropicana’s products: Tropicana Twister. Does anyone know if they had a some kind of video campaign that solicited consumer-generated content?
If not, they clearly have a loyal consumer base who would probably help them modernize the brand (if that was their ultimate goal when they redesigned the brand). It would absolutely make sense in this case for them to explore this a bit further, especially considering the outpouring of feedback provided to them by their consumers.
Check out these user-generated videos:
In honor of you, Charles, for Tropicana Twister
College guys and Tropicana Twister
Kids commercial for regular Tropicana OJ
February 27th, 2009 at 8:24 am
Tropicana had to make a change with new products on the market appealing to a more modern and healthier aesthetic. Competition from “natural” markets like Whole Foods have been transforming classic brands sold in conventional grocery stores rapidly it seems as of late. Many main stream grocers like Safeway are introducing natural food products and even opening natural food sections in their stores.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Tropicana’s branding move was made solely by the success of the Simply Orange Juice Company, which is simply a repositioning of OJ from Minute Made/Coca-Cola a long time competitor of Tropicana. If you want to talk about successful re branding I think transforming Minute Made into Simply is a great example and much more effective than Tropicana’s same juice new bottle approach. Not to mention the juice is noticeably superior to Tropicana or other Minute Made products. Simply Apple is by far my favourite, it actually tastes like the fresh off the orchard apple juice I new as a kid, or maybe that is just the branding talking to me.
Check out the Simply OJ site:
http://www.simplyorangejuice.com/
Now tell me you don’t want a glass of OJ!
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:18 pm
I would love to know what kind of consumer surveys and research went into a project like this. It seems like they should have been well aware of what their audience thought about the brand v.s. what they want them to think about it before (and during!) the re-design. Along that line, they shouldn’t have been surprised about the feedback with enough testing/research beforehand.
March 6th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
I really like the new packaging and was excited to see this post (never saw the box in the stores!)…. then I go onto read that it was quickly switched back. The old package is tired and blah. At least the new one looks more modern. I personally think it’s a big mistake to use mass opinion rule on these types of decisions. After all, the most boring contestants usually win on American Idol.
March 19th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
Great post and great responses. I looked under my sink and had 5 of the new Tropicana cartons. So it is very relevant. I always give Tatom a hard time for letting the packaging affect her purchases. For instance…she buys wine based who has the most innovative label (even though that is kind of cool now that I write it).I have a feeling the brand loyalist will come back because they like the actual juice. My main interest is in the way the new customer interprets it. What choices are the new OJ drinkers making. As a brand if you feel the time is right to redo your creative you should. Just know when to stop. Nothing more desperate than a brand that constantly tries to redefine itself. Trust your product trust your customers.