This is a perfect example of how social media is changing the marketing world- in this case, product packaging. In January, Tropicana orange juice introduced new packaging, replacing their iconic ‘orange with a straw’ image. The new packaging was immediately slammed across social media sites by recognized designers and culture mavens like Kottke. Today the Times reports that Tropicana is doing an about face and dumping the new packaging.

Here’s the money quote:

“You used to wait to go to the water cooler or a cocktail party to talk over something,” said Richard Laermer, chief executive at RLM Public Relations in New York.

“Now, every minute is a cocktail party,” he added. “You write an e-mail and in an hour, you’ve got a fan base agreeing with you.”

The only problem with the article is that they think email had something to do with this- it was not email, it was the buzz that spreads exponentially across social media. When a guy like Kottke reblogs a design critic’s take on the packaging, thousands of his readers see that story in real time and they spread it to thousands more. It’s my classic brushfire effect analogy:

“Twitter is the ultimate focus group,” Mr. Shankman said. “I can post something and in a minute get feedback from 700 people around the world, giving me their real opinions.”

This is why you need to actively listen to what they’re saying about your brands. Unfortunately it appears the ad agency that did the redesign, Arnell, doesn’t monitor social media ,since they seem to think it was just a few loyal fans who complained. Kottke, for example, is one of the widest reaching blogs out there and has a very general audience whose ‘reach’ may be in the millions. Ad agencies in general are pretty far behind the times when it comes to the new marketing model, however they were for PPC, SEO and SEM, not to mention their proclivity for building client sites in Flash.