tropicana celebrates moments of real brightness

Tropicana and ad agency Cramer-Krasselt aimed to kick off 2020 in a big way. The first new brand campaign since 2017, ‘Sip Your Sunshine’ aimed to connect with “vibrant families” in a complex and carefully coordinated promotion across a broad spectrum of channels—television, social, and face-to-face in a brand activation timed to coincide with the unique solar phenomenon known as ‘Manhattanhenge.’

After bringing in the experiential marketing expertise of MKG and site location consultants, EventPermits™, the Tropicana brand rounded out their team of branding heavy-hitters by contacting BoxPop® to produce their unique activation idea. Three fully customized shipping containers along with other, key visual branding elements were concepted and fabricated on a strict timeline corresponding with one of the rare days in a year when the sun rises in perfect alignment with the New York’s street grid. In addition to an iconic view, Tropicana offered complimentary breakfast sandwiches and single-serve Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice to consumers throughout the morning.

With ‘Sip Your Sunshine’, Forbes columnist Michael R. Solomon called the 70-year-old PepsiCo Brand “a case study in how to wrap old, familiar virtues in cutting edge trends.” Working under a tight deadline and frigid winter temperatures, a BoxPop® installation team worked all through the night setting up the two-story activation before dawn on 41st Street and 5th Avenue. Tropicana called in the perpetually bubbly mother and actress Ellie Kemper (The Office, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) to help host, serve, and greet rising New Yorkers at the event. “I’m thrilled to partner with Tropicana to encourage everyone to cherish those little moments of brightness,” said Kemper in a Tropicana news release. “And as a New Yorker, what better way than by greeting the Manhattanhenge sunrise?”