The recent uproar over the short-lived redesign of Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice packaging reminds me of numerous conversations I have had with clients. To bring you up to date, Tropicana redesigned the juice box, scrapping the familiar straw-in-the-orange image and replacing it with a glass of juice against a stark white background. The font was updated, and the overall design was clean and modern. Less folksy Florida. The new design debuted in January.

Well it didn’t take long for the complaints to come rolling in from hardcore customers far and wide, wanting to know what happened to their favorite morning nectar that they came to know and love for so long. Many said the product lost its uniqueness, it was generic, the package looked just like any other brand. They were outraged. Tropicana quickly took notice, and dumped the new packaging.

The juice giant failed to recognize one thing that is common in many companies that have spent a lot of time, effort, and money in building and protecting its brand: an enormous emotional bond by loyal consumers, and even one little change could send them into convulsions. Although Tropicana said it did “due diligence” before the redesign, it seemed blindsided by the fact that the juice enjoys such a huge following and emotional fan base.

The moral of the story? Don’t be in a rush to drastically change what you have worked so long and so hard for in building your company’s brand. Even if it’s “just” an image of a straw-speared orange.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 26th, 2009 at 3:59 pm and is filed under Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.