Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG), one of the largest consumer products companies in the world, set one of its brands out to pasture this morning, announcing that it was selling its slow-growing Sunny Delight juice-based drink to private equity firm J.W. Childs. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Sunny Delight provided some $550 million in revenues to Procter & Gamble, but has not fit in well with the remainder of P&G's snacks and beverages business.

P&G's management team has sought ways to streamline its product offerings to focus on the ones where it competes extremely well, and has either de-emphasized or jettisoned the remainder. Most recently and most notably was the transaction in 2002 that sent Jif peanut butter to J.M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM). Sending a peanut butter brand to one of the leading jelly and jam manufacturers makes a great deal of sense. I ask again: Why hasn't Smucker taken the opportunity to change its ticker to "PBJ"?

For investors, this transaction will be fairly neutral. The amount that Childs is paying for Sunny Delight roughly matches the lost economic contribution for that brand to P&G. But P&G is able now to take resources that it would have reluctantly had to deploy on Sunny Delight and focus them on its core brands, such as Folgers and Pringles. Ideally one of the first things that the Childs folks will do is get a new advertising group to manage the Sunny Delight campaign. We're talking decades' worth of bad ads at this point.

Brand management is extremely tricky. Few companies are as good at it as P&G. Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO), Disney (NYSE:DIS), and perhaps even Altria (NYSE:MO) rank highly for management of their multiple brands. But P&G recognizes that some brands just don't fit, or perhaps they just aren't very good. Rather than continue to de-worsify its offerings, it's sending this particular underperformer to a place where it believes it has a better chance of success.

Do you agree that the best thing to come from this deal will be no more Sunny Delight ads with those over-happy, hopped-up kids? Give your opinion on the Procter & Gamble discussion board (free trial required.)

Bill Mann owns shares of Procter & Gamble and Disney. Please check his profile for other holdings.