Tropicana Report Analysis
Summary
According to this report published by Leo J. Shapiro & Associates, Tropicana, a well known subsidiary of PepsiCo Inc., has decided against launching a new bottle for their signature orange juice. What is most striking about this study is the finding that reveals why the new bottle was abandoned.
What the report finds is that consumer generated media (CGM) is becoming an increasingly important tool for consumers to use to help make purchasing decisions, and that while traditional marketing efforts generated a somewhat ambivalent response for Tropicana’s new bottle, analysis of CGM revealed an overwhelmingly negative consumer opinion being driven online. Given the rising prominence of CGM and the greater access the public has to it, Tropicana abandoned the new bottle to avoid potential loss of sales.
Analysis
This report substantiates and adds to the evidence to support a theory that we are firm believers of here at Clearmix. The theory in a nutshell is that social media applications are liberalizing the weight of opinion and redistributing influence from small centers to millions of individuals. The massive explosion in the prominence of blogs, social networks and other social media applications is not a fluke. It’s based on this principle of liberalization.
What’s happening as a result of this liberalization of influence is that the marketplace is shifting from a top down structure to a more bottom up structure where consumers are propelling and directing brands more than the brand managers at these organizations. Now consumers feel empowered by social media tools to voice their opinions of products and with the realization of their increased influence on brand direction it will only increase the likelihood that consumers will participate in the process.
Result
Organizations must realize how to harness this phenomenon instead of falling victim to it. Rather than reacting to negative opinions generated by consumers online, organizations should be facilitating and encouraging their audience to participate in the brand development by engaging in honest discussions about the products they purchase. By doing so, organizations can increase their brand awareness, customer loyalty and reputation in the marketplace. The bottom line impact of those benefits is tremendous.
Top down marketing, interruption marketing and all the other forms of marketing that powered the last half century of successful business enterprise is no longer relevant to the highly wired, digital age where the flow of information is instant and the ability to find opinions on any product or service is rapidly increasing. Take a look at our white paper on Smarter Social Media to get an in depth analysis of this transition.
