The Failure of Orangina in the US Beverage Market

Orangina is a carbonated citrus beverage usually made from orange, lemon and mandarin juice. The product originates strongly from France, and is marketed and distributed in US by Dr Pepper Snapple Group. Orangina is produced by a French Firm, Pernod Ricard SA. The brand started as Naranjina being presented in the 1936 Marseille Trade Affair, in Algeria, by its Spanish inventor, Dr. Trigo (Dr Pepper Snapple). The astounding market penetration of the product and its market leadership in France is an issue that rival firms like Coca cola and PepsiCo have been envious about. Entry to the US market
Orangina’s entry into the US market has not been too smooth. The brand was first introduced in the US market in 1978 under the brand name “Orelia” a brand name that was dropped in 1985 for Orangina. . The expected huge reception was not the case. This probably was related to Coca cola’s market dominance. The competitiveness of Coca-cola in the US market is one reason for the failure by Orangina to launch. It is evident that Coca cola possesses a huge market share in US. The social responsibility of setting up a plant in a foreign market is one contributor to achieving market share.
In this case, a plant will offer employment opportunities to the locals, social responsibility aspects like improving infrastructure and contributing to the GDP of the local market. This is the undoing of exporting Orangina products rather than opening a plant. Coca-cola is known for extensively helping the people of Atlanta through scholarships, hotlines, donations and contributions. The following are some of the reasons why the brand failed to launch in the US market. Beverage Competition The US is a traditional favorite of Coca-cola and PepsiCo dominance. The two companies have a well grounded distribution channel.

Given the local production of Coca-cola and PepsiCo in US, the disadvantage of Orangina is its inability to have a local bottling plant in US until recently (Monberg, 48). The disadvantage made the beverage to be labeled a foreign product. Consumers, especially in the food and beverages industry, are sensitive when it comes to patriotism in product consumption. Orangina was a casualty to this. The operation of Dr Pepper Snapple which bottles, markets and distributes Orangina among other brands is secluded to some parts of North America. Another factor that led to the failure of Orangina is consumer habits.
This brand was specifically developed to appease the French cultural identity. Coca-cola has numerously launched a bid to purchase Orangina in France. While Coca-cola investors see this as a move to increase foreign investment, French authorities on the other hand see this as the global leader’s arrogance of market Coca-cola-nizing the global soft drink market (Monberg, 47). The long stretching tussles of Coca-cola versus Orangina take over bids which have been in the mainstream media headlines have hurt the launching of Orangina in the US market in the last close to one and a half decade (Monberg, 52).
The speculative plans of buying Orangina by the US based soft drink manufacture has seen the media look for any clue that can scandalize the interests of the two companies. This is a constituent of failure to launch of Orangina in the US market. The suspicion has moved from a mere foreign merger or acquisition to political battles and economic supremacy battles that the cast is the state agents and not the management of the respective companies (Monberg, 48). The global spectacular events like World War II have also contributed to the brand Orangina failure in the US market.
The innovative filming of Orangina brand is seen as French’s move of extending alienation to American market that has a strong desire to preserve cultural identity (Monberg, 48). Media marketing communication strategy In France, the success of Orangina is associated with innovative and resounding advertisements. For instance, the animal magnetism ad that runs for 60 seconds using the concept of ‘Pulpeuse’ which is French possesses two meanings ‘containing pulp’ and ‘sexy’ or ‘voluptuous’ (Talking Retail).
The Orangina Company is acknowledged for shooting iconic ads in France but the same has not been received in the US. The shaking of the bottle media message to allow the flavor to mix is a unique message that Orangina has been using in the international market. For instance, in the US, given that the culture of shaking the bottle is a French culture, the emphasis is shaking the bottle longer to pass the concept (Kapferer, 472). In international marketing, the phenomena Orangina is well known, however, the filming of media ads sought to have localized market situations to sound appealing.
This is one reason that Orangina overlooked and cost the brand the ability to capture the US market as expected (Kapferer, 473). The success of iconic ads in France ought never to be assumed to have the same impact in the US market. The international marketing criterion of transferring the same ads across the border is the undoing of Orangina in the US market. The cultures of the US and that of France are significantly different. This makes exporting marketing campaign or using the same ad across the border counteractive for Orangina in the US market.
It could be better if localized (Kapferer, 472). Orangina has been prominent in creating controversial ads that some considered carrying suggestive imagination. In this, consumers accuse the company of intentional move of creating controversy that would place the product on the limelight thus enjoying huge publicity. Orangina’s rival, Coca-cola, is a well known brand locally in the US and globally. Ads slogans like ‘Always Coca Cola’ and ‘Satisfaction within Arm’s Reach’ have a magnificent US acceptance in households placing Orangina at a market disadvantage (Monberg, 47).
Another significant contributor to failure of Orangina to launch is the difference in perception of media ideology. The French understand that media is a channel through which people build up and articulate their identity. However, the US regulates the media mainly as an economic product. The difference in Media regimes of the two countries thus contributed to Orangina’s failure in the US market (Monberg, 48). Moreover, French and United States have different media ideology. For instance, in the US, the access to media by individuals is determined by market forces.
However, in France, both rhetoric and government actions have a national duty and mission of driving the government agenda on the media (Monberg, 51). It is under this basis that Orangina could have been caught up as execution of marketing communication campaign making the confusion hurt the delivery of the message. French restriction of media like internet versus the universal accessibility of the media in the US is probably responsible for Orangina’s failure (Kapferer, 473). Cultural incompatibility
The cultural incompatibility of the US and France is another reason for failure to take off of Orangina in the US market. For the French, Orangina is a cultural identity being the only French carbonated drink that has an international market presence (Kapferer, 472). The idiosyncratic shape of the bottle, the artistic detail of the textured surface, the bit of squash in the beverage and the distinguished markers of French taste and sophistication represents a huge cultural sign of the French, and actively controlled by the government (Monberg, 47).
However, despite the huge market acceptance of the product in France, the product received a poor market reception in the US. Not even changing the flavor of the product could change the image and the perception of Orangina in the US market. In the eyes of Americans, Orangina is a simply a beverage, a soft drink and a product whose significance and value should be set by the market and not actively controlled by the government. Conclusion The failure of Orangina in the US market is a culmination of many factors that have worked against the brand.
For instance, the ever present speculation of acquisition of Orangina by Coca-cola and the rebuffing of the French government has done harm to Orangina’s market share in the US. The involvement of French government in controlling Orangina’s meaning and value in the market is a thing that Americans believe the market forces should be allowed to decide for the brand instead of active participation by the government. Moreover, cultural incompatibility between the French and Americans in marketing communication is another significant contributor.
Ideally, the brand has failed to launch due to its inability to shed the foreign tag that it strongly holds. Finally, Orangina is a strong brand whose global presence may increase should the highlighted issues that have contributed to it failure to launch be addressed universally. Works Cited Dr Pepper Snapple, Orangina 2008. 20 June 2009 <http://www. drpeppersnapplegroup. com/brands/orangina/ > Kapferer J. N The New Strategic Brand Management: Creating and sustaining brand equity long term, London: Kogan Page, 2008
Monberg J, “Cultural Identity in an Era of Globalization: Contrasting State Media Policies in the US and France”, Intercultural Communication Studies X: 2 (2000). 47-54 2000. 20 June 2009 < http://www. uri. edu/iaics/content/2000v10n2/04%20John%20Monberg. pdf > “Orangina launch new advert packed with animal magnetism” Talking Retail 4 Aug 2008. 20 June 2009 < http://www. talkingretail. com/products/product-news/10355-orangina-launch-new-advert-packed-with-animal-magnetism. html >