Tropicana: The Last Straw
Remember the hubbub around Tropicana redesigning it’s packaging? Well, looks like it really was a pretty bad thing:
According to Information Resources Inc., unit sales dropped 20%, while dollar sales decreased 19%, or roughly $33 million, to $137 million between Jan. 1 and Feb. 22. Moreover, several of Tropicana’s competitors appear to have benefited from the misstep, notably Minute Maid, Florida’s Natural and Tree Ripe. Varieties within each of those brands posted double-digit unit sales increases during the period. Private-label products also saw an increase during the period, in keeping with broader trends in the food and beverage space.
That compares flat unit sales and a 5% drop in dollar sales for the entire category. That’s really not good at all. Not surprisingly, Tropicana denies any connection, telling AdAge, “No dots to connect here.” Ha.
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Until this week, I had no idea that organization responsible for this is the same one responsible for the infamous Pepsi rebrand, and that said organization is run by that weird little guy who constantly guests on Martha Stewart to show off his bizarre collections of the most random objects, like “antique can openers” or “toy cars shaped like fruit,” or “matzo boxes of the 1920s.”
They made it look like a refill carton for Method soap and took the brand off the package?! Gutsy.
how have pepsi sales been since the rebranding? while i dont really like the new logo, i do like how its ‘dynamic’ between the different products (official market jargon?).
i think the single biggest mistake i made in assessing this whole tropicana redesign was giving the decision-makers the benefit of the doubt strategically.
brands are relationships that necessarily have to include some part of where the brand wants to go and where the consumer needs it to be.
i simply thought that taking the fruit off the package (let’s say it again, together: taking the FRUIT off the package) would have inspired a vigorous strategic debate that made it good for the brand. you know – a whole juice strategy or something with innovations to back it up.
alas. no such luck. shiveringly bad.