Tropicana's new carton
From Invertopedia, the encyclopedia of how things fail
Tropicana's new carton was a 2009 redesign of PepsiCo's Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice that replaced the brand's orange-with-a-straw image with a glass of juice[1]. Shoppers complained that it looked like a generic store brand[1][4]. Between January 1 and February 22, unit sales fell 20 percent and dollar sales fell 19 percent, about $33 million[3], and on February 23 PepsiCo said it would bring the old carton back[2][1].
Contents
The bet
A cleaner, modern carton would refresh a flagship brand. The new design put a large glass of juice on the front, dropped the orange with a straw, and added a cap shaped and colored like an orange, backed by an ad campaign that Tropicana said would cost more than $35 million[1][2].
Tropicana's own research did not flag the risk. In January, Tropicana North America president Neil Campbell told the New York Times: "The straw and orange have been there for a long time, but people have not necessarily had a huge connection to them."[1]
What happened
| Early Jan 2009 | The redesigned Pure Premium cartons reach stores, with the "Squeeze it's a natural" campaign by Arnell.[1][5] |
|---|---|
| Jan – Feb 2009 | Shoppers write, email and call to complain. They call the cartons "ugly" and "stupid," and say they look like "a generic bargain brand" or a "store brand."[1] |
| Jan – Feb 2009 | Some shoppers say the new design makes it harder to tell Tropicana's varieties apart, or to tell Tropicana from other juices.[1] |
| Feb 22, 2009 | The Times reports that PepsiCo is scrapping the new packaging. Campbell: "What we didn't get was the passion this very loyal small group of consumers have."[1] |
| Feb 23, 2009 | PepsiCo announces the reversal, about three months after relaunching the brand. The old carton will be back within a month.[2][4] |
| Jan 1 – Feb 22, 2009 | Unit sales of the Pure Premium line fall 20 percent. Dollar sales fall 19 percent, about $33 million, to $137 million.[3] |
| Same period | Minute Maid, Florida's Natural and Tree Ripe post double-digit unit sales gains, and store brands grow too.[3] |
| Apr 2009 | Ad Age publishes the sales figures from Information Resources Inc.[3] |
The kill shot
Tropicana redesigned the one thing shoppers used to find it on the shelf. Without the orange and straw, the carton looked like the store brand next to it.
The complaints were not only about looks. Shoppers told the company the new cartons made it harder to pick out their variety of Tropicana, or to tell Tropicana from other orange juices[1]. Campbell said the outcry itself was "a fraction of a percent of the people who buy the product"[1], but the sales data showed what quieter shoppers did: they bought something else, and rival brands and store brands gained[3].
Campbell admitted the research had missed it: "That wasn't something that came out in the research."[1]
Red flags ignored
- Changing the shelf cue. The orange with a straw had long been the brand's symbol, and the redesign removed it.[1][2]
- Research that asked the wrong question. The company's own research did not show how attached loyal buyers were to the old look.[1]
- A brand that looked generic. An all-white carton with a glass of juice read as store brand to shoppers.[2][1][4]
- Everything at once. The new carton launched together with a campaign of more than $35 million.[1]
The cost
Information Resources Inc. data showed unit sales down 20 percent and dollar sales down 19 percent, about $33 million, to $137 million between January 1 and February 22, 2009[3]. Competitors and store brands took the share[3].
That is on top of the more than $35 million ad campaign, which kept running while the packaging was pulled[1]. Campbell declined to say what scrapping the design cost, beyond saying the amount "isn't significant"[1].
The inversion
Find out what customers use to recognise you before you redesign it. Test a new pack on a real shelf, next to the store brand, before you ship it everywhere.
What survived
The old carton and its orange with a straw, which PepsiCo said would be back on shelves within about a month[1][4]. The orange-shaped cap was kept for Trop50, a new lower-calorie Tropicana[1][2]. Branding writers still use it as a case study in changing a well-known pack[5].
References
- ^ “Tropicana Discovers Some Buyers Are Passionate About Packaging”. The New York Times (Stuart Elliott), February 22, 2009, archived copy. The redesign and the orange-with-straw symbol, Arnell and Omnicom, the complaints and quotes, Campbell's January and February quotes, the more-than-$35 million campaign, the return within a month, the Trop50 cap, and the cost Campbell called not significant.
- ^ “Tropicana Scraps Squeeze Package”. BevNET, February 23, 2009. PepsiCo scraps the redesign three months after relaunching; Arnell Group design; orange cap kept for Trop50.
- ^ “Tropicana Fiasco From Arnell is Gift That Keeps Giving”. BusinessWeek via Bloomberg (David Kiley), April 3, 2009, archived copy. Ad Age's report of IRI data: unit sales down 20%, dollar sales down 19% (about $33 million, to $137 million) from Jan 1 to Feb 22; competitors and private label gain.
- ^ “Consumers Reject New Tropicana Carton”. NPR Morning Edition, February 23, 2009. The reversal, the glass-of-juice design, the "generic store brand" complaint and the return of the old carton next month.
- ^ “What to Learn From Tropicana's Packaging Redesign Failure?”. The Branding Journal (Marion Andrivet), May 1, 2015. The January 8, 2009 launch in North America and the case as a branding lesson.