#608 orange

I recently read an article in Fortune that Roll-Global, the company that owns POM and Fiji Water, is now looking to market mandarin oranges under the Halo brand.  So far, they have invested $220 million in a packaging facility and another $100 million in an ad campaign.  If the strategy they used with POM pomegranates is any indication, we’ll be seeing Halos and the little oranges everywhere in the near future.  

I wonder what possesses someone to have the vision to brand an obscure type of produce. The plant can box 19 million mandarins, each day!  Is there really that much demand out there for tiny oranges?  The investors obviously think so.  The goal for Roll-Global is to “transform a piece of fruit from a commodity to a premium brand.”  

I am reminded of a training exercise I do where I hand participants (ironically) an orange.  At first glance, all the oranges look alike, but the attendees need to write a story about their orange and share it with the others.  Some create a tale about how the orange received its dimple or spot.  Others give super powers to the coloring on the orange peel.  By the time the exercise is over, most people could match the specific orange to its owner.

Think about your organization in the context of oranges.  Whether it be on a multi-million dollar scale like Roll-Global or in a modest way like my basket of oranges at a workshop, the objective is to give the oranges a brand.  How can you tell the story of your organization to set it apart from others that are seemingly like you at first glance?

Source:  The Big Rollout by Anne Vandermey, Fortune, February 3, 2014, p. 12