Thursday, February 28, 2013

Where do the oranges in your orange juice come from, and do you care?


After rebounding from a new packaging disaster several years ago, Tropicana noticed that a key competitor, Florida’s Natural, was making inroads into their business by touting the fact that they only used Florida oranges in their juice.  So after several years of using a blend that included imported oranges, they switched to 100% Florida oranges in November. 

The formal announcement of the switch took place in January amid the media frenzy about fungicides found in imported oranges.  Nice timing. (Zmuda, 2013)

Their website home page now highlights the fact that “each 59 ounce container contains 16 fresh-picked oranges.”  And this new commercial broke on the Grammy awards.  Pay attention though, the reference to Florida oranges goes by quickly.





So what do you think?  Is the 100% Florida oranges approach a winner?  The number two brand in the category – Simply Orange, continues to use a blend.



Zmuda, N. (2013, February 19).  Tropicana Goes Back to Nature in New Global Pitch.  adage.com.  Retrieved February 27, 2013, from

7 comments:

Debra Watson said...

Let me begin by admitting my love for unhealthy sugary beverages. I have to add orange juice to the list of beverages I’m trying to cut down on. Sure, orange juice is not unhealthy, unless you enjoy 16 ounces in on day.

With that said, when it comes to orange juice, I am a true brand loyalist. I only drink Tropicana orange juice. I’m probably just what Tropicana looks for in a consumer. If every other brand of orange juice was having an outrageous sale and Tropicana was regularly priced, then I would just avoid buying orange juice that week.

I do get concerned about how conscientious food manufactures are to the environment. For instance, when it is affordable I try to buy wild fish instead of farm raised fish. I do care. But does it make sense for Tropicana to use only Florida oranges instead of adding to their global footprint by importing oranges from elsewhere? It probably does. But since I am such a loyalist to this brand in this case it does not matter to me. The truth is I never noticed. And after watching the video clip, I still would not have noticed the reference to “Florida oranges” if it was not pointed out to us. But I will now keep my eye on my favorite orange juice brand.

Simply Orange is Tropicana’s number one competitor. Oddly enough, I only drink Simply Lemonade, and would not think of buying Tropicana’s Lemonade. Since Simply Orange still uses a blend, I doubt it is any different for their lemonade. They probably are not using only lemons from Florida. It’s funny the way a product is marketed and advertised can make connect to a product.

I bet it would be gold for a product to have consumers be loyal to their entire line of products. But that is not the case. If Tropicana decides to go back to using a blend, instead of uses all their oranges from Florida, they will not be hurt or lose sales. But I hope they stay on this path.

Kathleen Mattie said...

Well, I'm not an orange juice drinker, however I did like the 'sunny' ad for Tropicana, regardless of the lack of mentioning that the oranges were from Florida. I was happy to see that the bottle of Tropicana was present rather quickly and the glass was left in sight for most of the commercial. At least, I knew what the commercial was about. The 'sun' illuminating from the sky and the dancing and singing did make the commercial interesting. That being said, the company did not succeed in letting me know that the oranges were from Florida, which is a problem if that was the message I was meant to hear.

Unknown said...

I think the commercial is pretty good. And I, along with many others, do care where my food comes from. With the advent of the current food consciousness movement i.e. vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, organic, free-range, etc., the public is demanding more information about what they are ingesting. As you said in class last week--the more people who are knowledgable about what they eat, the better choices they make. Now personally, I just think Tropicana is the best brand. It tastes good, it's physically appealing to my eye, and I like the name Tropicana (as silly as that sounds.) I tend to spend a little more money on this choice, even if Florida's Natural or Simply Orange are on sale. As Debra said, if they don't continue to use 100% oranges from Florida, it really won't make a difference for me. Or most loyal drinkers. However, I also hope that they continue on this trajectory. And the fact that they are now using 100% oranges from Florida is just a bonus.

A Piece of Me said...

Nelly Reyes --- I think this approach will be meaningful to some orange juice drinkers, but not to the majority. The brand has been number one for so long, clearly established by its longevity in market as well as likability. The people who are loyal to the Tropicana brand like the taste of the blend and I do not think, they even consider where the oranges come from. I prefer Simply Orange because it reminds me most of freshly squeezed orange juice (both in appearance and taste), and I think this is the type of characteristic most consumers consider when deciding on which juice brand to buy. It is a good thing that they use only Florida oranges, just as buying "made in America" is good, but I don't believe it will impact sales significantly.

Jon D'Errico said...

I agree with the above posters - I do not believe Tropicana leveraged the fact that their oranges are solely from Florida in a meaningful enough way to convert potential consumers to their project.

However, I do think there is a lot of potential for growth utilizing this information. Even though I almost never have orange juice, knowing that Tropicana does not have any fungicides in it places it miles ahead of other brands for me, and would make it my orange juice of choice. I believe that, if leveraged well, the Florida-only oranges in Tropicana could greatly benefit the company, considering the health crazes currently abounding in U.S.

A customer insight appealing to parents (buying the healthy choice for your children, protecting their children from fungicides, etc.) could be a useful vehicle in moving the sales of Tropicana.

Anonymous said...

For me, orange juice used oranges from Florida is so attractive because I am heavy orange juice drinker. First of all, "100%" cause me desire to buy food, juice or something like that.I think, now people really care about food to choose.They drink green juice or fresh juice for their health or beauty. And 100% pure orange juice attracts people because the orange juice can be replaced as a easier, reasonable Vitamin juice for the people who don't have enough time to make fresh juice or be in line to buy fresh juice.
100% Florida orange juice sounds more attractive than just 100% even though a little bit expensive.
(sorry about my terrible English!)

Satoko Hirano

Anonymous said...

I guess the question stands: to what extend nationalism affect consumer’s decision (suppose we talk US market)? I haven’t lived in USA long enough to have a clear opinion, however my impression is, that people here are very proud of their country. The chance to support “their own” growers could be appealing to some.

To many Florida also signify certain quality status.

As research proved IT COULD WORK, especially if the price won’t go up and if the TRUTH* about the juice production process won’t be largely exposed. Motives like cutting of competition (Florida’s Natural) or rising prices in Brazil (main orange supplier) could contribute to the move…

*http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2009/05/ask-an-academic-orange-juice.html


GOOD LUCK TO YOU BOTTLED JUICE DRINKERS!


Thank you
P.