The Tropicana Brand Fiasco

Photo courtesy of Tropicana Brands Group

Florida Gulf Coast University, Department of Marketing

Founded in 1947 in Florida, Tropicana was the best-selling orange juice in America for decades, with an annual sales revenue of over $700 million (Marion, 3). Then, Tropicana was sold to PepsiCo in 1998 (Wright-Isak, 2021).

On January 9th 2009, Pepsico decided to replace Tropicana’s existing packaging design with a newer, more modernized version. Tropicana’s management team enlisted the help of a design company named Arnell, investing $35 million in an advertising campaign that promoted the new packaging (Marion, 3). Both were well-respected and successful companies, but the downfall of this campaign was an utter lack of market research.

In short, the campaign was a complete disaster. Within two months sales dropped by 20% and the company lost an estimated $50 million (Marion, 3). By February 23, 2009, Tropicana announced that it would return to its original packaging design. It was a PR nightmare, both the CEOs were fired but worst of all, it gave Tropicana’s competitors the opportunity to effectively challenge its brand.

PepsiCo’s first mistake was assuming that Tropicana’s packaging needed to be updated. It was already the top orange juice brand in the nation, so clearly its promotion tactics were working just fine. It is very clear that neither PepsiCo nor Arnell considered Actor B during this debacle.

PepsiCo tried to fix something that was not broken, completely disregarding Tropicana’s strong reputation and loyal following. Meanwhile, Arnell got rid of the brand’s most important visual identifier, an orange punctured by a signature candy-striped straw. Both companies took advantage of Actor B’s relationship with Tropicana: The orange juice they drink daily.

It appears that there was no consideration for the continuity of Tropicana’s overall brand meaning. Arnell seemed to ignore the prior design that so many Americans were familiar with and came up with something completely new.

First, Arnell got rid of the Tropicana orange and straw. This was a poor decision because not only did it have a strong brand association with customers, but it also conveyed the quality of the product. The article titled The Worst Rebrand in the History of Orange Juice confirms this, stating, “The orange with a straw was iconic. No one else had it. Any customer would automatically associate it with Tropicana and remember it” (5 Göke).

The new Tropicana carton featured yellow juice inside a cocktail glass which confused many existing customers. Arnell also changed the text on the packaging, consequently making it very difficult to read. The only positive design choice the company made was a clever orange cap with a green leaf printed right by it. Due to the lack of continuity, Arnell ended up making the Tropicana brand unrecognizable, and that cost both companies big time.

If I had the opportunity to manage the Tropicana situation differently, the first thing I would have done is research. Specifically looking at our audience, what people think about the brand, the packaging and about the product itself. I would want to know what we are doing right and what we can improve on. I would want to do a lot of primary research, interviewing loyal consumers and fully understanding their attitudes and perceptions towards Tropicana before moving forward.

Secondly, I would have stayed closer to the original design. People hate change, that is just a fact about humans. When you impact a people’s daily rituals and routines, like changing up their morning cup of OJ, you should expect some backlash. What Arnell did was stray too far from what people knew, from what they were comfortable with. People grew up with this orange juice and just changing everything about the packaging is a fast way to lose customers.

I would have kept the iconic orange and candy-striped straw but bigger. In fact, I would remove a majority of the text and make the graphic of the orange the focal point of the packaging. Sensationalize the symbol, make it the logo. Simple as that. The fact that people already know and love Tropicana’s brand only solidifies the power that imagery holds. It is a shame that Arnell f*cked it up.

Works Cited

Göke, N. (2020, April 22). The worst rebrand in the history of Orange Juice. Medium. Retrieved September 26, 2021, from https://bettermarketing.pub/the-worst-rebrand-in-the-history-of-orange-juice-1fc68e99ad81. 

Isak-Wright, C. Author name, Initials. (2021, September 26). Tropicana Pure Premium FALL 2021 MAR 4832 [PowerPoint slides]. Department of Marketing, Florida Gulf Coast University. https://fgcu.instructure.com/courses/523335/files/45795225?module_item_id=10850113

Marion. (2021, February 25). What to learn from Tropicana's packaging redesign failure? The Branding Journal. Retrieved September 26, 2021, from https://www.thebrandingjournal.com/2015/05/what-to-learn-from-tropicanas-packaging-redesign-failure/.