Minute Maid's introduction last year of Minute Maid Premium, a from-concentrate chilled orange juice, made a lot of people edgy. But not Jay Gould.

Despite the market success of "not-from-concentrate" labeling, the senior VP-chief marketing officer of Minute Maid Co. knew that three years of consumer research and 30,000 consumers couldn't be wrong. People didn't care a pip about how the juice was made; what they wanted was taste.

"People said eating an orange is better than any juice they could drink," says Mr. Gould, 37. They described the aroma, texture and fresh juice flavor that hit the senses upon breaking into a fresh orange.

Thus came a new concentrate formulation of several orange varieties. The product provides a taste consistency that's difficult for not-from-concentrate juices to match, because of seasonal taste variations.

Mr. Gould knew that promoting a new entry in a mature market required a bold approach. In mid-1996, the company changed agencies to Leo Burnett USA, Chicago. It also tripled its advertising budget with the January launch of a $50 million advertising and promotions campaign, built around the phrase "like biting into a fresh, ripe orange."

The result: After years of falling behind, Minute Maid is gaining on Tropicana, which controls 41% of the $2.2 billion chilled orange juice market. In the first six months of the launch, Minute Maid added a point of market share to reach 20.5%, despite a 10% price hike. Its sales rose by 14%, outpacing Tropicana's 6%. From-concentrate is now the fastest growing segment in the category.

It all goes to show that even in an established category, "marketing works," Mr. Gould says. "We've implemented a fairly disciplined approach to gaining a consumer insight and building a communications plan around that insight."