Tropicana's rebranding debacle did more than create a customer-relations fiasco. It hit the brand in the wallet. When Tropicana tried to change things up, customers revolted, and they lost a fifth of their sales in a matter of weeks. 

When a brand undergoes a major re-design it usually signals increased marketing expenditure and leads to improved performance, at least in the short term. It gets people to look at the brand again and brings some kind of news and excitement around the brand. Tropicana had certainly sought to create excitement around the Pure Premium rebrand, announcing on Jan. 8 2009 a "historic integrated-marketing and advertising campaign ... designed to reinforce the brand and product attributes, rejuvenate the category and help consumers rediscover the health benefits they get from drinking America's iconic orange-juice brand."

However following the launch of the new pack, sales for their premium orange juice dropped 20%, roughly $33 million, to $137 million between Jan. 1 and Feb. 22 2009. Moreover, several of Tropicana's competitors appear to have benefited from the misstep, notably Minute Maid. On Feb. 23 2009, the company announced it would bow to consumer demand and scrap the new packaging ....... It had been on the market less than two months.

When changing packaging you have to be careful not to lose the essence of your brand. In this case a complete redesign of the logo and visuals made it hard for consumers to find their preferred brand. Tropicana took on the look of a generic house brand. After just two months Tropicana went back to their original packaging.

Luckily a recent redesign proves they’ve learned from their mistake without losing the guts to innovate. In fact this recent redesign for the pure premium orange juice is a massive change. Tropicana has opted for a transparent PET bottle with some interesting relevant features improving the customer experience significantly such as easy opening and pouring.