I’m always pleasantly surprised when I stumble upon the result of a company’s marketing efforts and realize how perfectly they succeeded in directing their message. My favorite, a television ad campaign for Prego, used music to drive home the old-world style of their spaghetti sauce and succeeded beautifully.
In yesterday’s NY Times section on advertising, the article focused on Tropicana orange juice. Included with the piece was an ad image containing Tropicana’s new tag line along with a plain-jane carton of “store brand” OJ. At a glance, I assumed Tropicana was positioning their orange juice as a cut above the generic store brand. It was only upon reading the article that I recognized the simple carton design was actually Tropicana’s adopted new look–replacing the old straw and orange logo. Why would they choose such a simple carton? To appeal to budget conscious consumers.
Interestingly, Tropicana’s full brand name includes the words, “Pure Premium”. Coming at a time when buyers are eschewing luxury items, Tropicana needed to downplay “premium” without sacrificing their brand association with quality . The carton is an effective messenger. Throw in the cute new screw cap that’s shaped like half an orange, and Tropicana is poised to retain its 40% market share–even as shoppers trim their budgets. That’s effective marketing!
