Brand Bible

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BRAND BIBLE260

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





We provide the insights and inspiration so that we

and our clients can understand everything that a

brand is in its current state and everything that it

can become through design. We seek to understand

the role that design plays in the relationship that a

consumer has with a brand today and in the future.

Design Intelligence helps set the course for design,

but our process is not purely analytical. It’s equally

inuenced by consumer insights and our own power

to imagine. Our process would be entirely ineectual

if it involved a bunch of strategists sitting in a room

25

How to Brand

a Beverage



Mike Bainbridge

Executive Vice

President,

Sterling Brands

Finding the essential

in packaging for

Tropicana

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

Tropic-Ana, an early

Tropicana character

coming up with ideas and then hoping a designer

could interpret them. When those two sides work

to weave together imagination and design from the

outset, we get something truly special.







At one time, Tropicana was the orange juice industry

leader. They had essentially created the not-from-

concentrate category, and they owned that space

as the premium brand for many years. Over time,

several other brands became competitive, and Tropi-

cana was no longer the only not-from-concentrate

option on the shelf. We were asked to help the brand

reclaim the superiority of its agship product: Pure

Premium orange juice. Tropicana needed to reassert

itself as the industry leader.



The project of “reclaiming superiority” presents

the problem in very theoretical terms. That charge,

alone, is not inspirational enough or directional

enough to be solved through design. The rst task

of Design Intelligence was to distill that somewhat

vague notion into something that could be addressed

through design.

We spent the rst few weeks identifying problems

and suggesting themes that could be used for poten-

tial solutions. We then developed some concepts

that focused on the feel of the brand. One theme

was centered [on] the idea that drinking orange

juice in the morning is a very grounding and peace-

ful moment—but the outcome is very energizing.

Another concept was structured as a celebration of

the product’s “goodness.”

This project allowed us to do some early research to

nd out from consumers where Tropicana’s brand

equity lies today, and where it could be taken in

the future. Quantitative research ndings told the

Tropicana leadership that the brand’s name recogni-

tion was extremely solid. We also learned that though

consumers’ anity for the product was strong, it

showed signs of erosion. It’s important to remember

that if brands aren’t communicating their message,

they’re positioned in the market either by what other

people say or by what the brands don’t say. Even

though Tropicana’s leadership believed wholeheart-

edly that their product was better than any other, it

became apparent that they hadn’t devoted the time

and resources to remind consumers of that.

We conducted qualitative research—which has its

pitfalls—to nd out what aspects of the brand reso-

nated most strongly with consumers. Through a rst

phase of research, we found that the brand’s straw-

in-orange icon had a strong resonance in consumer’s

minds, even if they didn’t identify it with Tropicana.

But when consumers were asked to connect symbols

with specic brands, we found that the straw-in-or-

ange icon was very much associated with Tropicana.

In fact, that symbol was the essence of Tropicana: a

premium product that tasted exactly like what juicy

oranges should taste like. It was very apparent that

this was the quintessential visual representation of

the Tropicana brand.



We learned that Tropicana had two major problems.

First, it was impossible for the brand to claim supe-

riority when it looked like everyone else. And second,

it had become increasingly dicult to distinguish its

product in stores.

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BRAND BIBLE

Tropicana is a

case study of how

to evolve a brand

responsibly.

In these types

of projects, our

fundamental

challenge is to

keep the integ-

rity of the brand

intact, but also

spur its progress

in a way that’s

respectful to

the relationship

with the brand’s

consumer.

Tropicana’s straw-in-

orange trademark

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