Maybe it’s just me, but not a big fan of the generic looking Up and Up typography, arrow or colors.

Given the current economic state, findings like these are unfortunate for any brand. However, for Tropicana, the news has to be especially difficult to swallow as the drop in revenue seems to have been driven not by rivals who introduced a new product or technology but, rather, by their own accord. And, even more disappointing must be the fact that new packaging typically spurs higher sales volume by virtue of the increased marketing spending that a new roll-out naturally entails. That said, I’m still a huge fan of Tropicana’s taste and will be glad to see this whole debacle work itself out. Let’s stay tuned to see how market-share metrics respond in the coming months – should be interesting.

According to Superbrands, “Listerine became a runaway success in the 1920s, when it was pitched as  solution for ‘chronic halitosis.’ This was a term that the Listerine advertising…created in 1921 to describe bad breath. By naming – and thus creating – a medical condition for which consumers now felt like they needed a cure, Listerine createda mrket for its mouthwash. Until that time, bad breath was not conventionally considered a catastrophe…In just seven years, the company’s revenues rose from $115,000 to more than $8 million.”

Who knew?

Eat Your Heart Out, Frenchies!

The scene was set as such: each couple at the tasting brought two identical bottles of wine. One of the bottles went into “The Collection”, a kitty, if you will; the other bottle went under wraps – literally – as labels were pasted to each bottle so as to remove any indication of brand, wine-type or vintage. Each anonymized wine was then tasted, ranked and rated with the prepster bringing the lowest-scoring wine taking home the two least-favorite bottles in The Collection and the couple bringing the highest-scoring wine taking home the rest of The Collection.

After much merriment and intense competition…the winning wine was a merlot from Stonehedge winery in California. Branded in a simple, black bottle, the wine seemed very approachable and unassuming. It was clear that – relative to the branding of the other wines around the island – this winery wanted to reinforce the hand-crafted nature of each of its wines. Among the rave reviews it received: “…an outstanding red”,”I like,” and “deliciously nutty.” The final scorecard detailing how all of the wines performed is below: 

My question – who did the consumer research on this new package line-up? Does anyone know?  I would be curious to explore whether the research subjects gave this redesign rave reviews.

Remember when White Castle’s coffee had the kicky cache of an American underdog? With its iconic, striped packaging and an all-American price, its suite of coffees had doggedly muscled its way into some pretty decent shelf space in supermarkets across the country. After all, isn’t the perfect compliment to slyders and chicken rings a hot cup o’ joe? 

Intrigue. Mystery.

Let’s begin with the basics: the new design is a nice change. A contemporary typeface brings a sense of movement to life through the interplay between the “u” and “n”. The bright orange color provides a fast and easy means to identify the product line. And, the imagery – which draws upon the clothes line heritage of its old iteration – delivers a sense of fresh, crisp, clean clothes.

However, a mystery remains. Curiously absent in the new design is any sense of a premium brand positioning. In fact, the tone and sense of the new packaging seems to resemble more that of Procter & Gamble’s mid-priced detergents – Gain and Cheer – than its premium detergent, Tide. 

Which has me thinking…does a new face of Downy (also owned by P&G) await us in the near future? And, is an evolving strategy one that will tie Bounce, Gain and Cheer more directly together to increase the company’s market share amongst value-priced consumers and evolve Tide and Downy into a super-premium product line that increases profitability within the ultra competitive laundry space?

See how different they are?

The company’s new 9 SKU orange juice line-up launched to great fanfare and included a cheery overhaul of its juice website. But, I wonder if anyone over at Tropicana (which is owned by PepsiCo) ever lined up the entire family of 64 ounce cartons to see how consumers would react to nearly identical looking packages. Aside from a small strip of color used to differentiate the varieties of juices, the cartons look basically the same. Any hurried shopper taking a quick glance at the juice aisle is surely going to get confused.

Moreover, three packages – Pulp Free, Plup Free Calcium + Vitamin D, and Health Kids – look to utilize nearly identical color strips which means that the main differentiator available to the consumer is the verbiage reversed out on the top carton flap. Hardly a fast and easy way to select your juice of choice.

I give Tropicana credit for delivering a clean, crisp design. Unfortunately, the subtlety of differentiation across the juice varieties is anything but intuitive. I’ll be curious to see how this packaging evolves after the Tropicana phones lines are plagued by consumers who wanted to purchase Antioxidant Advantage but accidentally picked up some Pulp Free mix instead.

UPDATE: Tropicana decided to ditch its new orange juice packaging and will, instead, revert to the good ‘ol days. According to The New York Times: “It was not the volume of the outcries that led to the corporate change of heart, [said Neil Campbell, President of Tropicana North America].’ Rather, the criticism is being heeded because it came, Mr. Campbell said in a telephone interview on Friday, from some of ‘our most loyal consumers. We underestimated the deep emotional bond’ they had with the original packaging, he added. “Those consumers are very important to us, so we responded.”

Among those who underestimated that bond was Mr. Campbell himself. In an interview last month to discuss the new packaging, he said, ‘The straw and orange have been there for a long time, but people have not necessarily had a huge connection to them.’ Reminded of that on Friday, Mr. Campbell said: ‘What we didn’t get was the passion this very loyal small group of consumers have. That wasn’t something that came out in the research.’ Read more.