Do you know who your customer evangelists are?

Tropicana spent $35 million learning that their customer evangelists matter.

The orange juice brand was in the midst of launching redesigned packaging when a loud bus of vocal fans who liked the old packaging, thank you very much, raised hell. They liked the iconic picture of a large orange with a straw, making the juice easy to find in the crowded OJ aisle. After their protests drew a flurry of unexpected calls, letters and email complaints, Tropicana announced it would revert to the original packaging.

In an apologia, Tropicana president Neil Campbell said the disconnect was research: “What we didn’t get was the passion this very loyal small group of consumers have. That wasn’t something that came out in the research.”

When traditional marketing research doesn't include input from passionate fans who love the brand and tell others about it, it risks creating a Tropicana effect.

Tropicana's research may have expertly divided its customers into demographics and "heavy users" vs. "light users," but it probably did not account for vocal, connected and passionate customers who know how to create a Facebook protest group in less than a minute or spread buzz via Twitter hashtags. Had Tropicana had a way to reach out to evangelists, this might not have been a story.

So what does Tropicana have now? Actually, it's pretty good: a second chance. A gift to convert that passion into something tangible. But Tropicana has work to do. There's no blog on their website, which still touts the "fresh new package." There's no official Facebook page. There's no Twitter account. (No, a brief Twitter campaign shirt-tailed to the old presidential campaign doesn't count.) It's a great opportunity to start a network or community for that busload of fans.

Of course, customer evangelists needn't decide everything (that's always the straw-man argument), but you can't ask for their opinion and improve the odds of a $35 million bet if you don't know who they are.

My question for you: do you know who your customer evangelists are? Do you have a special club/community/list for them to join?

4 Comments

Comment by Steve Gentile on March 2, 2009 at 8:55pm: Jackie - There are many lessons to be learned by manufacturers, ad agencies, marketing researchers, consumers. With successful brands, there is always a great risk when making sweeping changes to the image of that brand. Sometimes research suggests "small changes over time" are sometimes better. Sometimes "fresh new package" does not imply "same great taste" And sometimes, the research that is actually done gets denounced or disregarded. One should trust the seasoned researcher and brand team who is brave enough to ask courageous questions of the consumer, and one should listen very carefully to the "stuff" behind the reply, Feelings of "nostalgia" "tradition" "same old thing" and "a no-brainer" in the hands of a careful focus group moderator are probed and maybe, just maybe, you unlock that these are not "bad" attributes but solid, strong good ones that should be honored. It's what I do.

Comment by Kim Proctor on March 2, 2009 at 10:07pm: Thanks for sharing this, I wondered about the design change myself and glad to see when a company has an opportunity to learn they need to connect with existing customers - including passionate and evangelist types. Sorry it had to be such a painful expensive lesson but since it is it will likely communicate this important message to other brand marketers. Traditional market research is nothing compared to talking with current customers and evangelists.

Comment by patty smith on March 2, 2009 at 11:30pm: Tropicana not soliciting feedback from us, needy consumers? How could they consider changing their product packaging without asking us? I am not a fan of t heir iconic organce image but it sure stands out. I agree. They need a Twitter account for Market /User research. Imagine all the conversational data they can turn into actionable analysis.

Comment by Steve Gentile on March 3, 2009 at 9:50am: @Kim - Current customers/loyalists were spoken to, their comments and what was under them were probed I am certain but disregarded by Trop and taken out of context to support need for Branding/Image change - not by researchers but by Trop - huge mistake!
@Patty - they didn't need Twitter and thousands of conversations, they just needed to trust the analysis of sharp researchers who delivered findings that support the disaster that is currently occurring "Tradition" "nostalgia" "same old thing" are not always negative attributes when you are speaking with loyalists as we did. To project one's own negativity on these attributes upon any demographic is NOT why we do research lest we become "party of one" vs church of the consumer.

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