Social Media Buzz Helped Sink Tropicana Squeeze: Study

Social media played a key role in enabling a small minority of loyal consumers to overturn Tropicana's introduction of the revised "Squeeze" package for its iconic orange juice brand, according to a recent study conducted by Chicago-based research firm Leo J. Shapiro & Associates, LLC (LJS).

"Marketers are just starting to realize and harness the power of social media,” said Owen Shapiro, VP at LJS. “The essence of this new marketplace is getting peer-to-peer communication working for your brand. The days of top-down marketing are coming to an end, and consumers are playing an increasing role in directing brand development."

According to the study, which came from phone and online surveys of approximately 1,000 U.S. households, when examined using traditional macro marketing measures, the Tropicana Squeeze introduction met WITH relatively little negative reaction. One in five consumers noticed the change in the packaging, and the reactions were relatively evenly split amongst those who were negative (32 percent), neutral (32 percent) and positive (27 percent) toward the new packaging.

What these macro measurements fail to pick up, however, is the roughly 1 percent of consumers who expressed their opinion about the Squeeze packaging using various kinds of social media Web sites, and were overwhelmingly negative in their assessment of the Squeeze packaging.

While 1 percent may seem small by traditional methods of measurement, a prior study by LJS revealed that nearly half of U.S. consumers used social media sites in the past year to help them make a purchase decision, and that social media content is rated as three times more influential than traditional media, such as television advertising, in driving final purchase decisions.

For a free copy of the full report, contact Jessica Ellington at [email protected] or 312-321-8117.
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