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How did Tropicana lose $30M in a packaging redesign?

bootcamp.uxdesign.cc

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Re: How did Tropicana lose $30M in a packaging redesign?

#151

Post by [deleted] »

toss1 wrote: post #76
makecheck wrote: post #35

What seems to be lost in these “redesigns” is the why : why are you doing it? If there isn’t a list of benefits long enough to justify the cost and possible risk, well, that’s a problem. There’s also a tendency for companies to be super proud of what they’ve done so they neglect methods like A/B testing and instead just bet the farm on their great new design. After all, it cost a lot of money and looks cool to the de…

Yup. The "Why?" question gets lost among the impulse to be 'clean and modern'. >>Tropicana’s original packaging had rich colours and a strong visual hierarchy. On the other hand, the new packaging failed to impress the consumers, with clean lines, a lack of visuals, transforming the once indistinguishable orange juice into a “generic store brand” product. This same thing happens in everything else too, such as automo…

[deleted]

Re: How did Tropicana lose $30M in a packaging redesign?

#152

Post by throwaway742 »

lelandfe wrote: post #37
tootie wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is linked from the main article and is itself a bit of an ad for their eye-tracking software with some dubious claims. But it did send me down a rabbit hole over the agency that did the package design. The design came from Arnell Group headed by Peter Arnell. Arnell was retained to rebrand both Tropicana and Pepsi (same parent corp) and the produced the infamous logo redesign deck that circulated back in 2008: h…

My favorite quote from Arnell around that logo: > "When I design things, I design in a pure vacuum. When I did the Pepsi logo, I told Pepsi that I wanted to go to Asia, to China and Japan, for a month and tuck myself away and just design it and study it and create it," he said. "There was a lot of research, a lot of consumer data points ... and dialogue that I had with the folks at Pepsi, consumers and retailers. We…

If it was bad enough to go viral maybe it was actually a marketing success.

Re: How did Tropicana lose $30M in a packaging redesign?

#153

Post by eps »

numair wrote: post #133

I looked at the title, opened the link, searched for “Peter Arnell,” got zero results, and knew the article was total garbage. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/arnells-explanation-of-failed-t... I had a close friend who worked on a project where they brought this guy in. Charged $1m a month and invoiced his jet fuel to the company, if I remember correctly. Now you know where the $30M actually went. The article is an exam…

The article also praises the design of the new lid, which was - surprise - one of the most derided elements of the redesign in professional product design comminity. The idea was that you'd feel like squeezing an orange when opening the carton. In reality, you'd be squeezing that nipple to get to your OJ. Worked out as expected.

Re: How did Tropicana lose $30M in a packaging redesign?

#154

Post by darkwater »

irrational wrote: post #77
userbinator wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect the "why" is most simply explained by "because designers had to justify their salaries."

I worked on a website that was completely redesigned every few years. We, the developers, didn’t understand why until one of the business people, who was leaving for a new job, admitted to us that they (the business management team) mainly did it because it was fun, because it let them expense meetings/travel/food doing “research” and meeting with design consultants, because it gave them something to do other than th…

Not that different from some rewriting, refactoring or moving to $TECHNOLOGY I saw in the last 20 years of my career. Probably minus the travel/food...err no, I forget the mandatory conferences to understand better the new tech and know how other companies use it!

Re: How did Tropicana lose $30M in a packaging redesign?

#155

Post by throwaway742 »

_carbyau_ wrote: post #89
brohoolio wrote: post #75

At least for me it’s about pattern recognition of something that I know delivers value. As in I’ve had this juice before and it’s good and I don’t know the name but I recognize what the bottle looks like. At least that’s how parents with young kids operate.

Iconography. I honestly don't care to read the packaging every time I shop. Once I find something I like, I buy the "same" damn one at a glance.

If I stopped and read every package in the grocery store I'd never make it out of there.

Re: How did Tropicana lose $30M in a packaging redesign?

#156

Post by mickael-kerjean »

Zamicol wrote: post #141
numair wrote: post #133

I looked at the title, opened the link, searched for “Peter Arnell,” got zero results, and knew the article was total garbage. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/arnells-explanation-of-failed-t... I had a close friend who worked on a project where they brought this guy in. Charged $1m a month and invoiced his jet fuel to the company, if I remember correctly. Now you know where the $30M actually went. The article is an exam…

Here's him talking about the design: https://youtu.be/WJ4yF4F74vc?t=29

This is fascinating in the worst possible way. Lot of fancy words alongside "the purity of the juice" when the ingredient list is full of weird things the average consumer has no idea about

Re: How did Tropicana lose $30M in a packaging redesign?

#157

Post by renewiltord »

voisin wrote: post #54
tomcam wrote: post #2

It is my theory, backed up by nothing but instinct and my own very fallible personal experience, that many customers simply did not “see“ the new design. That is, they would have preferred to buy Tropicana but assumed it had disappeared from the shelves.

I am surprised by how the redesign looks like a lot of store brand versions.

Thank you! Exactly my thought. The first thought on seeing the new design was Safeway Essentials or some shit.

Re: How did Tropicana lose $30M in a packaging redesign?

#158

Post by ramraj07 »

mickael-kerjean wrote: post #156
Zamicol wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's him talking about the design: https://youtu.be/WJ4yF4F74vc?t=29

This is fascinating in the worst possible way. Lot of fancy words alongside "the purity of the juice" when the ingredient list is full of weird things the average consumer has no idea about

I mean isn’t that the point? Most people still think OJ in a carton is squeezed from the orange in the tree itself or something.

Re: How did Tropicana lose $30M in a packaging redesign?

#159

Post by wodenokoto »

numair wrote: post #133

I looked at the title, opened the link, searched for “Peter Arnell,” got zero results, and knew the article was total garbage. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/arnells-explanation-of-failed-t... I had a close friend who worked on a project where they brought this guy in. Charged $1m a month and invoiced his jet fuel to the company, if I remember correctly. Now you know where the $30M actually went. The article is an exam…

You still need to know _why_ it was junk, or else you might end up buying snake oil from someone else.

Re: How did Tropicana lose $30M in a packaging redesign?

#160

Post by wodenokoto »

eps wrote: post #153
numair wrote: post #133

I looked at the title, opened the link, searched for “Peter Arnell,” got zero results, and knew the article was total garbage. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/arnells-explanation-of-failed-t... I had a close friend who worked on a project where they brought this guy in. Charged $1m a month and invoiced his jet fuel to the company, if I remember correctly. Now you know where the $30M actually went. The article is an exam…

The article also praises the design of the new lid, which was - surprise - one of the most derided elements of the redesign in professional product design comminity. The idea was that you'd feel like squeezing an orange when opening the carton. In reality, you'd be squeezing that nipple to get to your OJ. Worked out as expected.

Sister comment links to a contemporary news report, saying that the cap was the only element to be kept when returning to the old carton.

https://youtu.be/WJ4yF4F74vc?t=29

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