The story is now a little bit old, but it is still worth going back to. In early January PepsiCo introduced the new brand identity for Tropicana. It was a huge revamp of a much-loved brand, and while it was bold to make such a move it felt also a little cold and passionless. It had some interesting little details, such as the cute ‘half-an-orange’ caps and the evolutionary use of men in a grocery brand, but to say it fell flat is a huge understatement: sales fell an astonishing 20%. Even with weak rebranding efforts sales tend to increase, if at least temporarily, so this is a truly awful result. Undoubtedly this will have cost PepsiCo tens of millions of dollars.
But it was not just the drop in sales that forced their hand: it was also the reaction out on the internet that made them recognise there was a problem. People genuinely loved the old Tropicana branding, with its straw in the orange and big green friendly typography — it was something they had grown up with, were comfortable with and easily recognised. While it had evolved over the years, it had never been through such a radical change.
Thanks to the internet regular people have gained an enormous amount of power when it comes to shaping the brands they love (or hate). Whether it be via forums, Facebook, Twitter, blogs or plain old email, people can connect with brands in a direct way that they never had before, as well as exert pressure by creating similarly-minded groups. This can be threatening for the brands, but also extremely useful if it is embraced: it’s like free user testing or focus groups. In response companies can tweak their service, campaign or product. Nevertheless, brands need to be confident in what they are doing. Understanding how to listen to customers is an art, and it does not help to lurch around trying to placate everybody, while pleasing no one or failing to move a larger strategy forwards. Sometimes you need to move on despite your existing audience.
The New York Times covered the story, and it is a worthwhile lesson in not only the risks of rebranding, but also the whole branding process as it can sometimes be practiced.
Also worth a read is Newsweek’s interview with Peter Arnell, the man behind the rebrand, as well as DKNY, the new controversial Pepsi identity and many others.
29 July, 2009