When Tropicana unveiled entirely new packaging for its Pure Premium orange juice early this year, the company received an unexpectedly vocal response from a small cadre of customers. According to Stuart Elliot, writing at the New York Times, they didn't mince words—using adjectives like "ugly" and "stupid," the unhappy shoppers complained that the new packaging made Tropicana look like a generic store brand.
In an interview with the newspaper, Neil Campbell, president of Tropicana, 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."
Deciding he couldn't ignore his most loyal customers, nor their emotional bond to the old look, Campbell made a drastic decision. The sleek new design was out; the old packaging, with its evocative image of a straw pressed into an orange, would return. The company even plans to contact everyone who left feedback and explain the changes they can expect.
Campbell provides Marketing Inspiration by treating the strongly negative reaction with equanimity. "I feel it's the right thing to do, to innovate as a company," he told the New York Times. "I wouldn't want to stop innovating as a result of this. At the same time, if consumers are speaking, you have to listen."
Source: The New York Times. Click here for the full story.
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by Christina "CK" Kerley
Comments
by Agnieszka Gornicka Sat Mar 14, 2009
What strikes me really is that they said it DID NOT COME OUT OF RESEARCH that the new packaging is a flop. My advise would be: change the research agency , and do it quickly.
What Tropicana really could do, is to share their case: what went wrong? Ws it the research brief? Or research design? Or lack of in-store tests? Or execution? Or corporate procedures? Or the whole strategic concept? Or that nobody dared to challenge the decisions that came from the top?
This would be a great benefit to marketing community and I think also a good move to do for Tropicana as abrand and Pepsi as a corporation.
What a story, indeed!