Tropicana – Better Design?

One of my favorite beverages in the morning is orange juice and a favorite brand of mine is Tropicana since it is one of the few that is not from concentrate and reasonably priced. Recently the bottle has had an overhaul. They recently came out with a new cap and bottle shape that is much better for pouring. The reason for this blog post however is to discuss the newest graphic design choices.

In all fairness, there is a slight difference, one of the bottles is some pulp and another is no pulp with calcium, however this blog and concepts are not really about that.

Compare these two orange juice bottles. Which is more appealing? Which is newer? Which of them most sends the message that it is a bottle of some great orange juice?

Believe it or not, the one on the left is the newer version! I believe this is a backward step. In fact when I first saw this bottle, my impression was that it was not Tropicana but a store brand or some other off brand name.

My wife thought it looks like laundry detergent and I have to somewhat agree with it. Laundry detergent bottles are often white and some of them orange or red and are similar in size. I have to wonder if someone put the orange juice bottle in the laundry room and/or the laundry detergent in the refrigerator after purchasing this. I’d love to hear that story!

The old version with the picture of the orange and straw more clearly communicated that it is orange juice, is fresh and top quality. It’s easy to understand the connection – If you poked a straw through an orange you are getting absolutely real and fresh orange juice and is not from concentrate or a lousy can. This image clearly communicated the concept for Tropicana.

The new version features a glass of orange juice, but at first you may not even notice the glass – I didn’t. I think at first glance people would think it is simply an orange background with white text.

On the old design, the first thing I noticed is the Tropicana logo. On the new design, the first think I notice is “100% Orange”. I believe that equates to putting the generic large text “Orange Juice” on the product like a store brand does. The new design the logo has changed and is in an awful vertical position. I believe this people tend to read horizontally first and therefore the brand name gets lost. The new logo has more of a contemporary design whereas the older one was more bold and I think more unique feel. The new logo seems like a standard computer font except the little leaf over the letter “i”. It is boring.

Obviously I am more of a fan of the older design, however there a couple of elements I like about the new design. I like the banner for “Some Pulp” instead of the boomerang for “No Pulp Calcium”. I also like the expires date on the bottle instead of the label. I think “Pure and Natural” and other features are highlighted slightly better with the new design – however there is opportunity to improve this drastically in both designs.

I can only guess that Tropicana felt they have used the old images for so long that they needed something different?

Jared Farnum

UPDATE – I visited tropicana.com to let them know about this blog post and they have on the website “Now with a fresh new look”. HA – Just as I thought!

UPDATE 2 – Tropicana has sent me a coupon for $5 and a letter that they are returning to the old version!