In ’09, PepsiCo paid Peter Arnell $1 million to redesign the logo and packaging for its Tropicana Brand. Within weeks, the new design was pulled off the shelf. Consumers hated it. (Doesn’t this stuff get tested?) The brand’s sales dropped 20% costing the company $35 million.
Arnell saw nothing wrong with this, saying, “it got people talking about the brand.” If only I had the chutzpah for that kind of spin.
But Arnell’s story doesn’t end there. The next chapter, which might be called “Oh, How The Mighty Have Fallen” made advertising news just last week. And oh, how very weird it was.
Arnell was fired from Arnell & Arnell, the company he started with his wife, by parent company Omnicom. Summarily dismissed, he wasn’t even allowed to remove his quirky little trinket collection from the office, which he values at $1 million, paid for by Omnicom in the good ‘ol days when he was a big shot. (Omnicom and Arnell are now embroiled in a legal battle to determine rightful ownership of the collection).
But that’s not the good part of the story. Canned as president, Arnell was replaced by his wife. Ouch! So now Mrs. Arnell runs the shop while Peter sits at home, no doubt wondering, “whaaat happened?????”
The pillow talk must be fascinating, but all of this leads me to wonder how it feels to know that your wife has the key to the office once dominated by you, and you can’t even visit…
Wilesmith Advertising | Design is a full-service branding and marketing firm that distinguishes itself by thought leadership, conceptual creativity, execution excellence…and plain good fun. We have been recognized by the Advertising Federation for having “raised the bar” for creative thinking, design and advertising in South Florida; by the Design Center of the Americas’ as the “Graphic Design Firm of the Year”, and by the advertising industry with over 350 professional awards.
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