People rarely consciously look at logos. Their shopping habits were formed years ago, and don't change, especially for essentials. But when packaging suddenly changes in a big way, they definitely notice. When Tropicana tried to change things up, customers revolted, and they lost a fifth of their sales in a matter of weeks.

Bloomberg's Market Makers brought on Olson Chief Creative Officer Dennis Ryan, a veteran of campaigns for Target and Budweiser, to discuss Yahoo's logo strategy. He reminded viewers of Tropicana's efforts to modernize its classic straw-in-orange packaging.

"About five years ago [Tropicana] went to this very clean but kind of cold-looking logo, and their sales dropped 20% in one month. Some pundits said they weren't recognizable," Ryan said. "Tropicana has something like eight feet in the refrigerated section. People recognized it. They didn't trust [the new logo]."

Here's the offending logo, alongside the one that preceded it:





People don't like change. And when a logo or packaging for a favorite product changes, it creates trust issues. The package has changed and they wonder if what's inside has, too. The generic logo made people expect a generic product.

It's one of the reasons Yahoo has chosen to ease people in and experiment rather than up and change things without some preparation.