I was ready to give Pepsi a chance when I saw their redesigned soda packaging. Maybe there was some forward-thinking advertising guy who thought that a clean, back-to-basics aesthetic is the next wave in brand and marketing, especially in a world where products tend to yell at you at every opportunity — from the TV to the shelf. I wasn’t sold, but I was willing to give it a shot.

But when the rebranding extended to Tropicana, yes, it crashed and burned. My biggest complaint was that it looked exactly like I would expect a store generic to be. (I’m not the only one who thinks so.) Aside from what other people have been saying about usability and information design — those pieces of the packaging were lost too — the Tropicana name itself was lost in the design!

The information hierarchy on the packaging is now:

100%
orange
pure & natural
not from concentrate

I’d expect a store generic, an unrecognized brand, to use this design and push the product instead of their name. “This is orange juice,” it says. The store generic is appealing to shoppers who care more about saving money than about a particular brand.

But Tropicana is a recognized brand. According to Ries, Tropicana is the brand leader in fresh orange juice. You can’t ignore the brand trust built up over so many years. And anyone who has ever dealt with clients or customers should know: never shock them. Small steps, easy does it.

. . . I’m curious if any part of the redesign came from their Design Our Pepsi Can tool.

P.S. I also now think that Pepsi shouldn’t have messed with the red, white & blue globe/wave. The made the white part different widths on different varieties of Pepsi. Hello, it’s part of your brand, why are you varying it? You want it to stick, right? Be consistant! (Although some people are having great fun with the new Pepsi logo.)

P.P.S. They are dropping the new Tropicana design, by the way.

Wal-Mart was the only seller of Act II Caramel Popcorn around here, and they stopped carrying it a few months ago. The nice thing about Act II was that their box had 3 bags, whereas Orville’s has 2. Still, a good sale will make it worth it. And yes, Kroger is the only seller of Orville’s Caramel around here.

Both brands are by ConAgra foods, so I suspect there’s little difference. Orville’s probably use different popcorn, but the caramel wafer is the same.

I tried looking up caramel popcorn recipes, but most look too hard — i.e., take too long. I’m an instant gratifaction sort of girl when it comes to caramel. This one looks to be the easiest, but it doesn’t call for vanilla, corn or maple syrup, or baking soda like other recipes did. I’m loathe to try it because of that — just doesn’t sound as tasty.

Read more: “Got cabbage? Make sauerkraut!” >>

Sauerkraut and other fermented foods are recommended to help minimize Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Sauerkraut Recipes from Great Lakes Kraut Co. (Krrrrisp Kraut) >>

P.S. The probiotic thing applies to pickles, too.

We went to a Tides baseball game in the middle of our first retreat day. I haven’t been to a ballgame since junior high, I think. Interestingly, because our team is now owned by the Orioles, the Tides uniforms are orange instead of the blue or gray you would expect with a name like Tides. However, blue and orange are a great sporty color combination, and there is a lot of blue left in the signage and mascot, etc., so it actually works. The Tides are a “farm” team, meaning the players could get called up to the Orioles to play in the Majors.

I also ate a lot during the retreat. The first day we had a buffet at the ballgame (there is a restaurant off right field). I couldn’t resist getting a beer brat and potato salad, although there was no kraut or spicy brown mustard for the brat. Then we continued the meeting on a shaded deck at a pub at Waterside. I had several Diet Pepsi’s. Gorgeous sunny day, about a week since we saw the sun last, so it was nice to be in the fresh air. Then we all went to dinner at Freemason Abbey. My first time there. I had the penne pasta with beef, button mushrooms and broccoli in a smoked gouda cheese sauce. Yum! I also had an Abbey Rose: light rum, dark rum, and several fruity additions (banana, strawberry, raspberry, etc.).  Very delicious as both appetizer and dessert (it lasted the whole meal). My stomach felt rather stretched out by the time I went home.

So this weekend I don’t have anything scheduled. I will likely work on the software for the side project with Jeredb, do some laundry, clean up a bit, and give my body a rest from the rich food this week. Other than that, I’m following my whims. That might mean staying in my pajamas, reading, and napping, or making a shopping trip to Kohl’s (extra savings this weekend) and the mall, or spending a lot of time at my PC, coding, gaming, or Photoshopping.

Hello weekend, welcome!