Campaign: Tropcn
Company: Tropicana
Agency partners: MullenLowe (public relations and social media); Cramer-Krasselt (creative); Don Jagoda Associates (sweepstakes).
Duration: January 9—February 4

For those worried about a dystopian future in which artificial intelligence leads to humans becoming subservient to robot overlords, fear not. Your Tropicana orange juice is not powered by AI. That’s the short-but-sweet message of Tropicana’s recent campaign at a major tech event.

The most notable word of the year in 2023 was AI, according to dictionary publisher Collins. (To clarify, AI is an acronym, but we don’t want to insult the robots).

“One of our strategic pillars for Tropicana is to actually earn our brand consideration and affinity and not always buy it…one of the best ways to do that is to show up in culturally relevant conversations,” said Julia Low, Tropicana head of integrated marketing communications.

The brand’s message: “there’s nothing artificial” about its orange juice, Low said.

To activate the campaign, brand representatives, including Low, attended CES 2024, a consumer electronics event in Las Vegas. They showed up in a retro recreational vehicle and distributed bottles of the orange juice with the letters “a” and “i” removed, so the label instead read “Tropcn.”

“We are in this massive arena and stage for everything artificial, and we were this little engine that could, and it was a great juxtaposition against the cultural conversation happening at CES,” Low said.

The brand also distributed the bottles at Kroger stores around the country to promote the campaign to a national audience, Low said. If a consumer found a bottle at a store, they could scan a code on it — or enter it at Tropcn.com — for a chance to win a trip to Florida.

On social media, the brand focused on Instagram, where it posted a reel featuring a bottle of Tropicana that spins until the label instead reads “Tropcn.”

“AI’s everywhere, but we’ve temporarily removed those letters from our name, since there’s nothing artificial in Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice,” the post states.

More than 17,000 people entered the sweepstakes, according to the brand. The campaign’s Instagram Reels generated more than 16,000 views. The campaign received coverage from media such as CNN Business, Fox Business and CNET.