No, this post is not about baseball (which, the Rays are in Denver tonight @ 8:40, and the Phils are hosting Canada's Last Hope @ 7:05, so watch them!), nor is it about the latest news regarding Tropicana Field's fate (which won't be mentioned at all on this blog until something substantial comes along, I promise); it's about Tropicana orange juice - that stalwart of breakfast tables across America - and advertising ideas gone horribly wrong. I know, an introspective on bad ideas not performed by myself is a departure for me too, but there's a first time for everything, right?
Today's Tropicana Products, a subsidiary of PepsiCo, started back in 1947, when Anthony Rossi moved from New York to Palmetto - just south of St. Pete on the other side of Tampa Bay - and started Manatee River Packing Company, a packing plant for fruit box gifts and fruits destined to be thrown on salads. Then, in 1952, he bought an old cannery in Bradenton, which is now the home of the Tropicana processing plant. The familiar "Tropicana" name game from their premium juice they provided, and the company took that name as their own in 1957. Pepsi bought them in 1998, and the rest is history.
For many years, they've had one of the most recognizable logos in advertising history: the fresh-picked orange, dew still dripping off of it, with a straw in it. It's meant to symbolize the freshness of the juice, as it really does taste fresh-squeezed. I, amongst millions of people daily, enjoy a cold glass of OJ in the morning (pulp-free, please!), and have grown to love that little orange being massacred with a plastic drinking utensil. Thanks for taking one for the team, little guy!
However, at the beginning of the year, PepsiCo committed its own "New Coke"-sized faux pas, changing that beloved death-by-straw orange into this:
Classy? I guess. Bland? Completely. Enticing? Meh, not really. It's just a glass of orange juice, nothing special or fancy. Now, if it came with its own champagne or vodka, I'd be more likely to buy it, but since mimosas and screwdrivers in the morning right before work could be hazardous both to your driving and career longevity, that's probably not the image you want to go for. And apparently Pepsi realize they messed up, too, because it was changed quickly thereafter back to the lovable, drinkable orange.
So, that brings me to the reason for this blog post: marketing failures. And this is where I ask for audience participation. Other than the "New Coke" fiasco, what big advertising "miscalculations" stick out in your mind? I'm curious to see what others consider an Epic Fail.
Alright, I'm outta here. Don't forget, the Phils are on CSN at 7:05 and the Rays are on Sun Sports at 8:40. Oh, and if you're out in Denver, don't forget to don your Rays gear and head out to Johnny’s New York Pizza & Pasta Shop in Lakewood tomorrow to get your free meal, since the Rays still made it to the World Series. See? The Rays may not have won, but they're still honored across the country for being bad-ass last year!
Welcome to Monday Musings, a weekly section dedicated to pretty much anything that comes to my mind at random - which, if you know me, is pretty much like everything else I do.
How'd the weekend treat you? You see the Rays get their first 5-game win streak this season? Believe it or not, they're not doing that badly, considering they were only 7 games over .500 at the All-Star Break last year. The Phils also were able to get a win against those baastids from Boston, which the Rays desperately needed. (Speaking of, get ready for strictly-baseball talk 6/23-25...you know why!) Did anyone else see Pat Burrell sporting the goatee? Am I the only one who finds it a tad pornstar-ish and not really meant for him to wear? It was like the one time I tried to do that; God, it was awful! Some people just aren't meant to have facial hair, and that's a truth I accepted. As soon as your MC finds a pic of Pat the Bat as Ron Jeremy, you know he'll be posting it.
(Speaking of, I'm diligently trying to find a special gift for everyone to view. I'll let you know should I get my hands on it. If not, I'll put out a public appeal, but let's see where this road goes first. Stay tuned....)
Did anyone see the news this morning? Apparently, in our mayoral race here in St. Pete - the only election I've see that has more candidates than can fit on one webpage - one of the leading candidates, Deveron Gibbons, was endorsed by Gov. Charlie Crist. I'm going to keep my opinions to myself for right now on whom I endorse (I'll wait until the primary's closer), but I am going to question the logic behind accepting that nod. Gov. Crist, while once popular with more than 70% of the electorate, has since dropped to 62% since he decided to forgo a second term and run for US Senate, as well as sign SB 360, which basically reduces restrictions of development allowing urban density to be much larger than the road around it has the capacity for it. Basically put, a 12-story condo could be put on a 2-lane road and not need to expanded. That is not what Florida should, or can, become. So, while remains to be seen whether this endorsement will help or hurt Gibbons' campaign, I do know that his campaign now has that controversy attached to it, and that's not what he needs when running against a field of people that size. You need to stand out for the right reasons, and controversy's not it.
Alright, that's about enough musing for one Monday. Rays are off today, heading to Colorado, even though we're supposed to be playing the NL East this year and we won't be meeting the Braves, and so are Phils, who play Toronto at home tomorrow. Taking a cue from one of my friends, I'm gonna yank on YouTube and leave you with a special news bulletin:
You stay classy, St. Pete/Philly/wherever you call home.
Alright, it looks like it's time to join the rest of the blogosphere and leave behind the random ramblings I posted on MySpace and make it happen on a more visible, "socially-acceptable" service. The reason I say it that way is because a friend of mine was dissuaded from reading my past rants and diatribes simply because it was on that site. There's nothing wrong with that train of thought, mind you, as I haven't been on MySpace in a while, and I've noticed a lot of my friends haven't, either. So, at some point, I'll migrate them over here for your viewing pleasure. You can see that they were helping me with an apparent evolution of my writing from - in retrospect - relatively crude and unrefined to...well, you be the judge.
I'm sorry, I didn't even introduce myself properly. My name's Jimbo and I'll be your MC for what I hope will be one of your bookmarks. If not, then I'll know for certain that I suck at writing and I'll go back to road tripping, which I know I'm good at. I'm a no-holds-barred kind of person and I expect, and look forward to, comments and discussions in the same light. I'm not easily offended, and because of that, I probably will offend unintentionally. Remember it's purely unintentional and I'll buy you a beer later to show you I still like you.
The topics discussed on this small slice of cyberspace will be like my personality: random, yet passionate. As the title implies, it'll do mainly with the goings-on of both my home region, the Delaware Valley, and the my current biosphere, Tampa Bay. Nothing is off-limits: sports, politics, happenings, history, and some broader topics, like music and national/international issues that affect us all. I know what you're thinking: "Jesus, not another one of these wackos that think he needs to be heard since the Adriana Huffington's and Perez Hilton's of the world got famous from it!" And you would be right. I mean, would anyone give a crap about any blogs at all if it wasn't for them (amongst better countless others), as reviled as they may or may not be, would the weblog be as popular as it is today? But am I doing this to be rich and famous? Hardly, as there are much easier ways: robbing banks and being a high-class mack/madam in large cities come to mind. I'm doing it for the same core reason each and everyone of us does this: because we can. Who said philosophy had to be complicated?
Here's where I have to give credit where credit is due, so you can skip to the next paragraph if you're not listed (warning: I'm just listing their nicknames - in no particular order, just the order I think of them - so no sappy emotional stuff needed nor warranted; I didn't just win a Grammy®, after all): My Mom, who's a lot like Eileen Ripley, heroine of the Alien Quadrillogy Hopper Rabid Nick/Impoetry B-Love Richie Poo Zombie Princess Tonilicious Becky and anyone else I may have missed
That should about cover it today. Your MC has to leave for work soon, but he encourages you to watch both the Rays beat up the oh-my-God-can't-anyone-euthanize-them-and-spare-their-misery Nationals in St. Pete and the Phils and Red Sox slug it out yet again on South Broad Street; both games are on at 1:35pm today, so get your picture-in-picture ready and root, root, root for your home team - whichever one it may be. For me, I'm still debating that dilemma in my head.
For many years, they've had one of the most recognizable logos in advertising history: the fresh-picked orange, dew still dripping off of it, with a straw in it. It's meant to symbolize the freshness of the juice, as it really does taste fresh-squeezed. I, amongst millions of people daily, enjoy a cold glass of OJ in the morning (pulp-free, please!), and have grown to love that little orange being massacred with a plastic drinking utensil. Thanks for taking one for the team, little guy!
