It seems rebranding is in the air at Pepsico.
The biggest orange juice brand in the world, Pepsico's Tropicana, recently embarked on a packaging redesign. Who knows why exactly. But in the process, they lost their unique typographic logo, and their well known image of an orange and straw... Just take a second to comprehend the magnitude of that last sentence. They 'lost' their two key brand identifiers at the most important touchpoint – the point of sale. The new packaging has taken on a more 'generic' look. The close up of a glass of orange juice is (dare I say it) piss-weak compared to the authentic orange, and the Tropicana logo has been reduced to a single font, which is also used for the other information.
Subsequently, unit sales dropped 20% between January 1 and February 22 this year. Equating to $33mil in lost sales. Not to mention the cost of rebranding. After the dip in numbers, Pepsico decided to scrap the new Tropicana design and move back to it's iconic packaging (another huge and costly logistical task). They've put the wheels in motion to get the brand back on track, however their 20% loss has been a gain for the challenger brands – Minute Maid, Florida's Natural and Tree Ripe. So it's going to be hard ground to recover.
Just another shining example of a top-down approach to brand reinvention. And another unsuccessful Pepsi redesign that can be traced back to the Arnell Group. If you haven't seen their effort with the Pepsi rebranding, click here for an earlier post. To view a video of Peter Arnell defending the new Tropicana design, click here.
