Lessons from a Juicy Rebrand
Orange farmers can’t be happy. Tropicana’s celebrated “Squeeze” rebranding campaign – entailing a complete package redesign and massive national ad campaign – sent sales sailing down 20% between January and February, according to Ad Age.
“No dots to connect here,” a company spokeswoman told the advertising trade magazine when asked about the correlation between the rebrand and drop in sales. Never mind the fact that Tropicana swiftly reintroduced the old packaging last month. In stores now, new vs. the new old:
Let me connect the dots that their dotty PR department can’t seem to find:
Unlike milk, orange juice is one of those grocery items that consumers can be a bit more discerning towards. We’ve all had that watered-down generic juice. Yuck. Over the years, brands have built success by taking advantage of the disparity in quality to emphasize taste, freshness, and added-value benefits like vitamins and calcium. To get some perspective, let’s take a look at the history of orange juice ads:
Sunkist’s “Drink an orange” campaign sent sales souring when introduced to thirsty Jazz Age families. While influencing consumers may have been easier back then, it’s hard to argue with the 300% revenue growth Sunkist experienced. Albert D. Lasker’s now famous campaign was all about the orange, not the murky pale yellowy liquid in the glass. And consumers ate it up.
Ever since the Sunkist success, advertisers have emphasized the bright, fresh, ripe orange – while putting that pale yellowy liquid or concentrate further behind the scenes. The following is an undated industry promotion ad, making the connection as literal as it could possibly — nothing can get between you, and the orange:
Modern orange juice advertising has changed little in its approach. With increased competition between major multinational corporations, the positioning strategies have tended to focus more and more on that orange. It’s about whoever has the freshest, most healthy, and natural orange to offer. Florida Natural’s positioning literally positions the product as part and parcel of the orange grove itself:
Tropicana has traditionally maintained a similar approach, their ads and packaging emphasizing the same old orange. You’re literally drinking the juice right out of the fruit:
Understandably, the good folks at Tropicana may have been getting a little tired of the same old orange every year. So they did something about it. They hired by “renowned” branding guru Peter Arnell to completely reinvent the nature of orange juice advertising.
Enter “Squeeze”
“It’s time to remind consumers that Tropicana Pure Premium is pure, natural and squeezed from fresh oranges,” said Peter Arnell in their campaign press release. So far this sounds like the same old same old. But he goes on: “In order to reinforce this message, we focused on the health benefits of the juice but showed it in a more emotional way than ever before in this category. We want to remind consumers how it should feel to drink this juice every morning.”
In other words, Mr. Arnell decided to put the orange in the back seat. And the ads – which have been widely praised within the industry for their “boldness” – do exactly this. No oranges to be found. Instead, we see parents literally squeezing their kids – feel good photography emphasizing the campaign’s operative word: emotions.
The ads are certainly pleasing to the eye. I can’t find anything particularly unappealing about them – nothing noteworthy enough to drive sales down 20%. But this is part of the lesson: the advertising campaign did absolutely nothing to increase consumer interest in the “emotional brand experience.” While the images themselves probably did not turn people off, they didn’t make any connections to the product. Here’s is what you found in the grocery isle:
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The product on the shelf is emotionless, almost generic. It has a cold, detached feel that in no way correlates to the happy families pictured in the ads. But the most egregious error has nothing to do with the happy families – they are really just as superfluous as the whole ad campaign itself.
It is about the orange.
Indeed, the rebranded package does say “100% orange.” But what kind of orange?! “100% orange” is printed atop that murky pale liquid that orange juice advertisers have tried to avoid for almost a century. To the average shopper, it is nothing more than a color. In their attempt to imbue the word “orange” with an emotionally branded meaning, Tropicana successfully disconnected it from the fruit that bares its name.
Lessons learned:
- Ad campaigns are ineffective if not directly attached to the product itself.
- There must be a clear connection between the product and the “brand experience.”
- Prestigious ad agencies and brand experts sometimes know less than the average consumer.
