Tropicana abandons pack design following customer complaints

by Staff, Brand Republic 24-Feb-09, 08:30

NEW YORK - PepsiCo juice brand Tropicana is to drop a recent packaging redesign created by Arnell following a consumer backlash, according to a report.

Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice will bring back its old motif of an orange with a straw sticking out of it next month, The New York Times has reported.

The decision comes after the brand received a deluge of complaints from consumers criticising the redesigned cartons, which were launched in January.

The new packaging depicts a tall glass of Tropicana, with the message "100% orange. Pure and natural" written across the carton.

Tropicana packaging design by Arnell

The redesigned packaging aimed to refresh the brand and drive a natural fruit goodness message.

Consumers have said that the new packaging looked "ugly", made the juice difficult to differentiate and gave it a "generic bargain brand" feel.

Arnell, the Omnicom agency responsible for the recent redesign, has pledged support for the about-face.

Peter Arnell, chairman and chief creative officer stated that he was surprised by consumer reaction, but said: "Tropicana is doing exactly what it should be doing. I'm glad Tropicana is getting this kind of attention."

Neil Campbell, president at Tropicana North America in Chicago, acknowledged that the brand had "underestimated the deep emotional bond" that consumers had with the previous packaging.

Tropicana did not see the old motif as something that consumers connected with.

Campbell said: "Those consumers are very important, so we responded."

However, research has shown that the image does resonate with the juice brand's loyal fan base.

PepsiCo is still running a TV, print and outdoor advertising campaign, 'Squeeze', timed to coincide with the design change.

The new cap, shaped like an orange, will also be kept.

Comments

Julian Esposito - 25/02/2009

Have to say the redesign is very flat, not very origianl. However, PepsiCo might have given a brief that Arnell followed to the key, the resulting design though is very plain.

Norman Ingram - 25/02/2009

The new design seems to have been implimented \(or imposed) upon the consumer without adequate reasearched testing. I agree that the new design was bland, to the extent of devaluing a much loved product.

Bex White - 25/02/2009

The design seems to oversell the 'pure and natural' line having it twice in close proximity and also reiterated by the other copy on the front and again in the logo's strap line. I think the brief under-estimated the brands already very strong appeal and customer understanding as a pure fresh orange juice and tried to push this aspect too much. I can see why they aimed for a clean white design with a leafy green highlight - however the white base with a sans-serif font so simply placed, while clean and fresh, is also similar to several of the budget brand designs out there. Had they perhaps zoomed further into the glass making the side pure juice \(as if the packet was see through and filled with orange juice) this would have given it a much more distinctive look.

Allen Fredrik Montemayor Noche - 26/02/2009

the design feels like a lifestyle/fashion magazine that exhudes the IKEA principle in minimalism though it didn't have a central focus. clean but scattered design, since the logo is rotated it'll be difficult to read, good thing consumers there are as powerful as the congress. :-)

Andy Milne - 27/02/2009

Looks like a supermarket own-label to me. Terrible. You could differentiate the old packaging at 100 yards, but this could be right in front of you and you wouldn't necessarily realise it was Tropicana. Someone forgot the old adage, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it..."

Peter Riley - 27/02/2009

The only thing that needs a revamp is Peter Arnell, coming out with the usual defensive crap.

charlie robertson - 27/02/2009

reads like a problem which could have easily been avoided with decent and basicresearch

Ant Hodges - 02/03/2009

I couldn't fit all I wanted to say about the re-brand and the mistakes made by the agency involved - so posted on my blog http://www.anthodges.co.uk/tropicana-rebrand-unravels-0