Cranky’s first critique will be on orange juice packaging. He knows he said this would be mostly about booze. That will come later. Get over it!

Both the Minute Maid and Tropicana OJ packages were recently redesigned. One is complete bravo sierra that ended up being what GSgt. Highway (Clint Eastwood) would have called a CF in the movie Heartbreak Ridge?. (I am not going to explain the letters. Figure them out for yourself. Maybe rent the movie?) And the other looks to be a potential success.

One redesign cost the brand owner millions of dollars in lost sales – 20% loss in the first two months, forcing Pepsi to abandon the new package! Why?

The other? The jury is still out on it.

Watch this and tell Cranky what you think.

Have you ever seen so much bravo sierra piled so high? Peter Arnell is supposed to be a very talented guy and he gets paid a lot for this! (And he needs to replace those faux-intellectual glasses too. They make his eyes look like they are crossed.)

What went wrong? Arnell evidently failed to consider the equity consumers had in some of the iconography of the old package, especially the straw-in-the-orange imagery that they had used for many years.

While Cranky thinks that was indeed an important factor that hindered Tropicana consumers finding “their” brand on the shelf, that is not what he heard from consumers themselves. Granted, it was a small sampling, but one word kept popping up, “generic”. The new design looked like a cheap, generic orange juice, so not only could Tropicana’s loyal customers not find their brand on the shelf, they found a “generic” OJ in its place.

Cranky finds it hard to believe the Arnell designers could not see this. He thinks they over thought the problem. There is a trend in design today to clean and elegant, and the Arnell Tropicana package is indeed that, but it is too clean and overly elegant, so much so that it looks generic. Tropicana lost its identity in the process, but worse, the new design failed to establish a replacement identity and became almost sterile!

Contrast that with what Minute Maid did about a year later. Evidently, they learned from the Tropicana disaster and at least tried to avoid over-thinking the design problem. (Maybe the faux-intellectual glasses were Peter’s problem?)

By contrast, Minute Maid’s designers made sure they did not stray far from the established iconography of the original package. Yes, they tweaked it, updated the look, but the icons are all still there.  Colors changed only slightly, got brighter and more visible. The blue sky gave way to PC green. And frankly, though Cranky hates PC, the green is more appropriate for the brand than the overuse of blue on the old package. They are not selling sky; they are selling orange juice! But they did keep the black in the logo panel, right where customers would expect to find it.

The layout of the graphic elements went from somewhat casual to structured. What Cranky really likes is the way the cut slice of orange aligns with the logo panel above it. That appeals to the engineer in him. The over abundance of “screaming copy”, the call-out banners that Cranky is sure crept into the Minute Maid package over the years, was eliminated, and what remained was made less intrusive to the design. The result is a cleaner and more elegant package, an improvement, but one that retains the brand’s identity. The customer can still find it!

Cranky expects the new Minute Maid package will not hurt sales like the Arnell Tropicana package did. In fact it is more likely this new Minute Maid package will help sales. Customers are not stupid, and they are not without any sense of design. They often know good design when they see it, and bravo sierra when they see that too. The Minute Maid package is classy, while the faux-intellectual “high-design” Tropicana package is only bravo sierra.

Earlier this week I posted about the new Minute Maid package design, but I’m going to stick with the topic because there are some interesting lessons to be learned here.

Epigenetics refers to changes in appearance or activity of a gene caused by mechanisms other than the underlying DNA. Recently the orange juice business has given us examples of two widely divergent opinions on how to deal with the DNA of a brand.

For a CPG brand, the package is its DNA, containing the basic code of its visual life. The aesthetic building blocks of color, shape, materials, typography, etc. are wound into the strands of its visual heritage. Change any one, and the brand changes, often in radical ways that cannot be predicted.

But biologists have known for some time what marketers and designers, are just beginning to grasp. Their research tells them that even if two individuals have the same DNA, identical twins for instance, the environment can alter the way they look and act. Nature and nurture, right.

Savvy marketers may not have a clear understanding of exactly how the DNA of their brand evolves, but they are beginning to understand that outside influences can have substantial influence on how the genes are expressed. As a result they are more often tinkering with the external factors of advertising, web presence, promotional programs, point of sale material etc., and leaving intact the package, the basic building block of their brand. They are beginning to learn, especially for heritage brands like Minute Maid or Tropicana, with very rich and complex DNA, that it is probably better to rely on these other tools.

Tropicana chose to radically alter the basic building blocks of its brand, changing the DNA itself. Their new design contained almost none of the visual equity it had been known for, and consumers reacted, violently.

With the release this week of its new Minute Maid package design, it is clear that Coke has taken a different approach. Leaving the DNA intact. As Brian Kelley of Coke says in an Ad Age article this week,

“Importantly the Minute Maid logo is clear; it is what links the brand to its terrific heritage. We didn’t stray far from that,” Mr. Kelley said. “Unlike what our competitor did, this is all about improving and moving forward. We certainly weren’t running away from anything.”

As Tropicana learned earlier this year a good way to kill a brand is to radically rearrange its DNA, the package. As Minute Maid has now confirmed a better way to manage the direction of a brand is to leave the DNA essentially intact and use epigenetics, everything other than the package, to influence and adjust the course of the brand.

Clean, simple, evolutionary, professional, fruity.

These are the words that come to mind when viewing the new Minute Maid juice packaging announced yesterday by Coke. And maybe it is no surprise that the change is minimal given the Tropicana debacle earlier this year.

The press release certainly doesn’t talk much about the cultural or aesthetic values of the brand. These are Coke’s words when describing the work.

“Based on extensive consumer research, the new visual identity was created to enhance brand preference, improve shelf stand out, drive cost efficiencies and create consistency across a world-leading family of juice brands and products.”

Should we be disappointed that it is an opportunity lost  .  .  .  don’t think so. This was after all not a student design exercise but one step in the life of a very valuable brand. It is a competent evolutionary improvement, and certainly not a flight of ego driven mania and professional incompetence. Don’t get me started with Arnell.

Duffy & Partners was apparently given this chance to update their own work, originally developed in the 1990’s. Here is a link to Joe Duffy describing his earlier effort in the Corporate Design Foundation journal.

While this may not be the kind of work that originally got Joe Duffy noticed, and his firm famously purchased by Michael Peters 20 years ago, with a headline in a Wall Street Journal Ad that read “How two guys with art degrees can do more for your business than a conference room full of MBAs”, it is a different time, revolutionary and breathtaking, no, but competent, yes!

Here is a link to a before and after image on eatmedaily.com

References

Poyner, Rick. 2003. No More Rules, Graphic Design and Postmodernism. New Haven: Yale University Press

Wayne Newton is telling his fans “Danke Schoen” after 50 years in Las Vegas and hinting that his latest run in Las Vegas could be his last. But the singer synonymous with Sin City says he’s leaving himself an opening in case he wants to perform after April. 

The man known throughout the world as “Mr. Las Vegas” says retirement is possible, but that decision won’t hinge on the success of his new show that opened at the Tropicana Las Vegas hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip. 

Instead, he says, it depends on whether his itch to keep working conflicts with his desire to spend more time with his 7-year-old daughter. 

“I’m enjoying my second daughter in a way that I didn’t get a chance to do the first time around,” Newton, 67, told The Associated Press.  The decision that I make, whether or not to perform or retire, will pretty much be based on that.” 

Newton’s current Tropicana show, “Once Before I Go” took 2½ months to write and is presented as a live memoir of Newton’s life and his career, with never-before-shared insights from Newton about personal episodes along the way. 

“It’s challenging to keep it entertaining,” Newton said. “And that was my first prerequisite.” 

Newton has told his audience that it was tough for him to pick highlight songs from a career that includes 165 records. 

“It would be impossible for me to pick songs from all of them even if I remembered them, which I don’t,” Newton quipped. 

Newton arrived in Las Vegas in 1959, when a two-week tryout at the Fremont Hotel & Casino turned into lounge act of six shows per night, six nights a week for nearly a year. The crooner earned national fame after a 1962 television appearance on “The Jackie Gleason Show,” which led to many more singing and acting gigs on TV and in film. 

He also headlined at several casinos throughout Sin City, including the New Frontier, which hosted entertainers including Elvis Presley, Ronald Reagan and Siegfried & Roy over its 65 years. The casino was imploded in 2007. 

“I’ve been working since I was four,” Newton said. “There really has not been a time in my life that I don’t remember working.” 

 “If I still feel like I have something to give when this particular show is over, then I’ll make the decision to probably curtail work a little bit but not give it up totally,” he told the Associated Press. “If I don’t feel that way at the end of this, then I’ll probably hang it up.”

Give me five of your favourite drinks.

1. Ting

2. Kola Champagne Soda (D&G)

3. Peach Papaya/Strawberry Melon Tropicana

4. Grape Soda (D&G)

5. Oceanspray White Cranberry

by Dionne Aiken

When Tropicana launched its new package design, it was met with consumer resistance and consequently, there was a 20 percent drop in sales. The Arnell Group, responsible for the redesign, attempted to create a fresher more modern look but inadvertently created a generic looking package that couldn’t stack up in grocery stores compared to its original predecessor.

PepsiCo did a remarkable 360 when they retracted the new Tropicana design and reverted back to the original packaging that we all grew to know and love.  The original packaging by Sterling Brands just worked.

PepsiCo also stirred up a flurry of online chatter when they unveiled Pepsi’s new logo/redesign.  Debates still continue on whether this was a $1 million step toward a brighter future or a $1 million mistake:

The 50^th anniversary edition of Communication Arts has an article about the personal ties and attachments we as consumers develop to our brands.  Researchers call this unaided awareness in that these brands automatically elicit an emotional response and thus we recognize these brands instinctively.  Even in a recession, as seen with such brands as Tropicana or even Walmart, brands have marketing power.

10/22 (PRVegas) Having seen Rick Thomas at the Tropicana many years ago and then at the Stardust before it was imploded and after moving to the Orleans Casino before closing I can say I have seen Rick Thomas. However after attending an SPCA fundraiser and previewing his new show at the Sahara Hotel and Casino I have to say I am very impressed. The show is flawless, his stage presence and magical illusions have never been better and the Bengal tigers vanish and appear right before your eyes. He combines the illusions with dance and entertaining and touching stories as he shares his story of his dream. You will enjoy every moment from the magic and illusions, the magical rings that he does so well and his magic with birds is fun and amazing. The most important thing that stands out for me is this is a show for the whole family, it’s clean, entertaining and fun and I watched audience members of all ages just having a good time enjoying and amazed from illusion after illusion.  – Ken Summerville, PRVegas.com

The Magic and Tigers of Rick Thomas now at the Sahara Hotel and Casino, 7p.m. nightly Adults $39.95, Children (12 and under) $19.95, VIP Seating $49.95

Rick Thomas

Having seen Rick Thomas at the Tropicana many years ago and then at the Stardust before it was imploded and after moving to the Orleans Casino  before closing I can say I have seen Rick Thomas.  However after attending an SPCA fundraiser and previewing his new show at the Sahara Hotel and Casino I have to say I am very impressed.  The show is flawless, his stage presence and magical illusions have never been better and the Bengal tigers vanish and appear right before your eyes.  He combines the illusions with dance and entertaining and touching stories as he shares his story of his dream.  You will enjoy every moment from the magic and illusions, the magical rings that he does so well and his magic with birds is fun and amazing.  The most important thing that stands out for me is this is a show for the whole family, it’s clean, entertaining and fun and I watched audience members of all ages just having a good time enjoying and amazed from illusion after illusion. 

The Magic and Tigers of Rick Thomas now at the Sahara Hotel and Casino, 7p.m. nightly Adults $39.95, Children (12 and under) $19.95, VIP Seating $49.95  BUY TICKETS

PRVegas.com takes pride in rating Rick Thomas
“Best Magician on the Vegas Strip”

Wayne Newton

His name has long been synonymous with the city he calls home, and now Wayne Newton – Mr. Las Vegas – will celebrate his 50th year of entertaining audiences on The Strip with an all-new, limited engagement production,

Once Before I Go, at Tropicana Las Vegas.  Tickets available at the Tropicana Box office or Click2Vegas.com

The rest of the day has proven to be pretty uneventful.  Just chillin at my desk waiting for 4:00.

The pupster has been doing well by himself during the day, so I figured that I could do without driving home in the rain today for lunch.

I proceeded to wonder around Giant for 45 minutes until I found something that I wanted to eat.  I knew that I needed to get some fruit and veggies in but man, either nothing looked appetizing or they didn’t have the ideas I kept coming up with (pumpkin yogurt, panini, etc.)

After about ten laps, I grabbed this OJ.  Liquid fruit…. score.  I know the added sugar isn’t great, but I don’t think it’s a problem every once in awhile.

I pretty much decided soup and salad would be a good combo for a rainy day and would allow me to get some veggies in.  I grabbed the items I needed to make a sandwich.  That was easy because I really only eat one type.  I had to grab lettuce off the salad bar and still felt a little unsure, so I added a hard boiled egg and some mac salad.

Next up was the soup isle and regardless of allllll the veggie options, I realllly wanted “chicken” noodle soup because it’s so cold outside!  Also, I normally love veggie soups, but I bit into a ROCK when I was eating a can a few weeks ago and have been fairly turned off by them since.

Needless to say, I lost all craving for a sandwich as soon as I got back to the office.  A big greasy plate of fries sounded so much better (and still does)!

I decided to at least make the soup and then see how I felt.

It was Amy’s No Chicken Noodle Soup.  It’s exactly the same as chicken noodle but has tofu in place for the protein.  It’s decently good.  Not the best soup ever but not on the bottom.  Middle ground I’d say.  I’ve continued to buy it because I like the fact that it has tofu and either way, organic/natural is a way bigger turn on than Campbell’s Double Noodle.

I took so many different angles of this on about 80 different settings!  I’m still trying to figure this camera out.

*****Why does organic soup always look AND taste so much more oily than others??????

The soup filled me up perfectly, and I had no need to eat anything else I bought.  The broth/tofu combination does the trick!  I’ll eat the rest sometime this weekend before the lettuce gets droopy.

45 minutes and then I’m off to tackle the gym!  There’s not really any exciting classes on friday, so I’m just going to hit the machines.  And hit them harddd baby

And I need to find something to do tonight since it’s fabulous friday!!!!

Peter Som, Spring 2009 Ready to Wear

Lakshmi Menon

“Saffron Days”
Vogue India, May 2009
photographer: Jean-Francois Campos
Lakshmi Menon

Whitney Port

The annual Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans for 2009 was released this week.  With deep sadness and regret Las Vegas Backstage Access reports that most Las Vegas gaming luminaries have taken multibillion-dollar net worth shellackings. 

Most blamed their financial woes largely on the stock market’s collapse in 2008 and early 2009. 

Las Vegas Sands Corp. founder, chairman and chief executive officer Sheldon Adelson, 76, was the highest-ranking Nevada resident on the list, coming in at No. 26 with a net worth of $9 billion. 

But even that is chump change in comparison to Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates who tops the Forbes list with a net worth of $50 billion, followed by financier Warren Buffett, who comes in at No. 2 with $40 billion. 

By comparison, Adelson began 2008 as the third-richest person, but Forbes refigured its list later in the year and Adelson fell to 15th with a net worth of $15 billion. In March, when Forbes released its top billionaire list, Adelson was listed with a net worth of $3.4 billion. 

Las Vegas Sands avoided filing bankruptcy nearly a year ago when Adelson invested $1 billion of his own money into the company to make a debt payment. 

Kirk Kerkorian, the 92-year-old Los Angeles billionaire who owns about 43 percent of MGM Mirage, took the largest tumble of all gaming executives on the list, falling from 27th in 2008 with $11.2 billion, to 97th in 2009 with a net worth of $3 billion. 

MGM Mirage’s declining stock since the end of 2007 reduced the value of Kerkorian’s holdings in the company from $11 billion down to $1.5 billion. Other Kerkorian investments in the oil and automotive industries also suffered throughout the year. 

Wynn Resorts Ltd. Chairman Steve Wynn fell from 118th with $3.4 billion to 141st with $2.3 billion. “Tough year for the king of Las Vegas,” Forbes reported. 

The biggest Las Vegas challenge, according to the magazine, was opening the $2.3 billion Encore last December in the middle of the recession.  

Meanwhile, Wynn cashed out more than $100 million in shares of Wynn Resorts that will be used as part of his upcoming divorce settlement with his wife, Elaine. 

Other Las Vegas gaming industry executives making the list included former Stratosphere owner Carl Icahn, who recently became majority shareholder of Tropicana Entertainment. Icahn was 22nd with $10.5 billion in net worth. 

New York billionaire Donald Trump, who owns the Trump International Las Vegas and 30 percent of the company that controls three Atlantic City casinos, was 158th on the list with $2 billion in net worth. 

Other Las Vegans include Treasure Island owner Phil Ruffin, No. 193 with $1.85 billion, and Silverton owner Ed Roski Jr., No. 236 with $1.5 billion, rounded out the list of gaming executives. 

Hilton Hotels scion Barron Hilton, who earned $800 million when the company was sold to Blackstone in 2007 and $300 million from the sale of Harrah’s Entertainment in 2008, is tied with Wynn for 141st on the list with $2.3 billion. 

Curiously, Las Vegas partier and socialite extraordinaire Paris Hilton, and even her pet monkey were left off the list. 

The only other Nevadan listed on the Forbes 400 is Henderson resident Nancy Walton Laurie, daughter of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. She was listed in 118th place with $2.6 billion. 

Three members of Mars family, whose family’s company owns the Las Vegas-based Ethel M Chocolate family, tied for 19th place on the list, each with $11 million in net worth. 

Now, a brief moment of silence for all the Las Vegas  billionaires who have lived gold-gilded lives and lost but a smidgeon of their fortunes– and for the majority masses who can’t even count to a billion, or even write it.

Create A Cone

If you love ice cream anywhere near as much as I do, you definitely can’t go to Atlantic City without stopping at Create a Cone.  It’s on the main floor of the Tropicana, a few steps from the beach and next to Hooters. I’m not lying when I say that I went there EVERY night while there.  This little ice cream counter has been around for a few years; the last time I went to Atlantic City with my family I tried it for the first time.  It’s kind of like Coldstone, but better.  You get to choose your ice cream flavor and the toppings you want mixed in with it, but you know how when they mix the toppings into Coldstone ice cream, the consistency gets kind of soft, weird, and gooey? Well that doesn’t happen with Create A Cone ice cream.  It’s also cheaper than Coldstone, another plus.

My favorite combination is Chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream with hot fudge and Reeses cups. So good.  Also, it’s open late every night, so it’s the perfect place to stop when you get sick of losing money in the slots.

The Beach Bar

Whether you just want a few tropical drinks on hot day, or you want to party the night away under the starts, the Beach Bar located across from the Trump hotel and casino is the place to be.  The entire bar is outside and sits on a large wooden deck, on top of the sand, overlooking the ocean.  It has two bars, and a large amount of tables where guests can sip a drink, enjoy some food, and soak up some sun.

While watching the Travel Channel over the summer, I saw a show called something like “The worlds 21 sexiest beach bars.”  This beach bar was featured on the show, and I just knew I would have to go there.  I love the travel channel, and when they rate something as one of the best of its kind, I believe them.

Featured on the Travel Channel

Greg, my sister, her boyfriend, and I went to the Beach Bar for lunch one afternoon because it’s most likely 21 plus at night.  Since I was already 21, I got some fruity, frozen drink, which was refreshing, and we all got sandwhiches.  For what you get, the food is a little on the pricey side.  Also they don’t have free tap water! I’ve never been to a restaurant that doesn’t have free water, so that’s definitely a negative.  The three of them each ended up getting a tiny bottle of water for over $3.00 each.  A little ridiculous.  The food was good, though, and my sandwich was definitely filling.

Finally, next time you’re in Atlantic City you definitely HAVE TO eat breakfast at Country Kitchen.  Located at the Days Inn next to the Tropicana, the Country Kitchen has the best breakfast around.  Their pancakes are absolutely amazing; they taste like they’re made with cake batter. Nothing starts a fun filled day better than a hearty breakfast.

Any other Atlantic City favorites?

Over the past year, there’s been no shortage of press surrounding Peter Arnell’s failings with the Tropicana and Gatorade brand redesigns at Pepsi.  I just read Fast Company’s Masters of Design feature on David Butler, head of design at Coke, and was impressed by the stark contrast he represents to Arnell’s approach. David Butler’s philosophy (not to mention personality) certainly sounds markedly different from Arnell’s “purveyor of pop culture” approach which found him on a “five-week world tour of trendy design houses” as a major source of inspiration for the Pepsi assignments:

“It’s great that when David speaks, he doesn’t speak in the language of design,” says Joe Tripodi, Coca-Cola’s global marketing chief. When he talks to folks on the manufacturing side, to the bottlers, to the retailers, Butler’s message, Tripodi says, “is very simple: Here’s what I’m going to do to help you sell more stuff.”

Contrast that with his counterpart, Pepsi’s design consultant, Peter Arnell, who titillated the blogosphere last spring with a 27-page memo he wrote called “Breathtaking,” defending his new logo design. He cited inspiration from da Vinci’s Mona Lisa to his Vitruvian Man, and described the “gravitational pull” of a can of Pepsi on a supermarket shelf. That was before he compared his genius at creating a 3-D Super Bowl ad to Thomas Edison’s invention of motion pictures. Many designers were mortified, fearing Arnell had discredited the whole tribe with his claptrap.

In many ways, Butler is the anti-Arnell, a first-class designer who shuns the latest trendspeak. “I read all the journals. I love design theory. I’m a junkie for that stuff. But that’s at home,” he says. “At work, I don’t use the phrase ‘design thinking.’ Here, it’s about creating more value. How do we sell more of something? How do we improve the experience to make more money and create a sustainable planet?”

David Butler is inspired by design theory and pop culture as much as the next designer, but his real drive comes from approaching big problems through systems thinking:

[Butler's experience at Studio Archteype] and a run-in with Peter Senge’s book The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization changed the way Butler thought about design. He saw how systems thinking could be applied in a more holistic way. In the past, he says, design had been focused on straightforward problems: Come up with a drinking vessel, say. But now it was being asked to solve multipronged problems: How do we get clean drinking water? “We’re moving from linear problems to wicked problems,” he says, and the old default solution — hire a rock-star designer — no longer works. “The model of a master of design creating that magical object that is going to change the business is an old way of thinking. I can’t use it to work on wicked problems. I need to have capability internally.”

Side note: This trajectory was pioneered by Esslinger at frog design and is a major focus of his new book, A Fine Line:

]]>