Branding Tropicana

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Master of Business Administration

MRKT - 610

Assignment 1 - Tropicana Case Study

Submitted By

Atul Pachangane ‐ 1093356                                                                    

1. What did Tropicana change in the new package design?

The iconic orange and straw graphic was replaced with "100% pure and natural".

2. Why did Tropicana feel it was necessary to develop a new package design? What were the company's objective in doing so?

In 2009 Tropicana experienced a loss in market share from 42% to 33.6%. On the other hand the competitor "Simply Orange" ( a Coca-cola brand) grew from 8.1% to 14.8% during the same three year period 2006 to 2009. Meanwhile  a research conducted by Tropicana showed that  half of the consumers thought  orange juice contained added sugar. The management at Tropicana felt that the straw and orange have been there for long time , but people have not necessarily had a huge connection to them and there was growing awareness among adults of health benefits of orange juice. The management thought that they need to communicate and educate consumers that Tropicana was pure, natural, and 100% squeezed from fresh oranges through re-branding, which  would help them increasing their market share.

3. How did consumers and design experts react to new Tropicana packaging?

Bloggers and consumers reacted negatively to the new packaging through social media. They felt that the brand Tropicana was lost. Consumers couldn’t  identify Tropicana on store shelf. The small passionate consumers who were loyal to Tropicana had a connect with the straw and orange, they felt disconnected with the brand. Bloggers described the new design as "ugly", "stupid",  and "resembling a generic bargain brand" (Elliott,2009). Matt Everson (founder of Astuteto - a design firm in Madison, Wisconsin) included the difficulty in distinguishing product variations. There were also some positive sentiments and articles, Brandweek's Todd Wasserman felt that Tropicana's re-design was terrific and that making the carton look like a private-label brand was a "brilliant strategy" to reinforce the idea of value in a tough company. (Wasserman, 2009).  Amidst  this chaos the sales of Tropicana saw a further decline.