Tropicana Scraps Squeeze Package

Posted February 23, 2009 11:35 am by BevNET.com Staff

Well, that didn’t take long.

Just three months after re-launching the Tropicana orange juice brand, PepsiCo has scrapped the multi-million dollar packaging redesign and accompanying ad campaign, the New York Times is reporting.

The new package, which took the catchword “Squeeze” to a tactile level of interaction through the development of a proprietary, squeezable, orange-shaped cap, was designed by Omnicon’s Arnell Group to put the image of the juice on the outside of the all-white Tropicana carton. It displaced the brand’s well-known picture of an orange with a drinking straw protruding from it, long the symbol of Tropicana’s commitment to fresh squeezed orange juice.

In interviews with the Times, Tropicana officials confirmed that consumers had reacted negatively to the packaging change.

While existing billboards and other static media that have been changed over to represent the campaign, fully titled “Squeeze it’s a natural,” will remain in place, other scheduled advertisements, including television spots, are being retooled. The little orange ball will remain for soon-to-arrive carton’s of Trop50, the company’s new, low-calorie juice line.

The Arnell Group, who performed the recent redesign of the Pepsi logo, had also been scheduled to redesign the packaging for PepsiCo-owned Naked Juice, as well. It is not yet clear how the Tropicana issue will affect the design group’s status.