Over one hundred years ago a pharmacist Caleb Bradham, hired his neighbor to design the new logo for his pepsin and cola nut carbonated drink. What resulted was Pepsi, which would become one of the biggest marketing brands of all time.Pepsi recently announced a $1.2 million dollar, 3 year rebrand effort. Looking to become a brand for the future, Chairman-CEO Indra Nooyi says they will explore how they look, how they're packaged, how they will be merchandised on the shelves, and how they connect with consumers.
The Pepsi logo mark has been made over many times since 1898. In 1941 they changed the their colors to red, white and blue to be more patriotic. Later adding a bottle cap element, and many more small evolutions until the most recent three dimensional globe. New York-based Arnell Group is the latest to create a Pepsi brand mark. The new logo’s concept will now loosely form a series of smiles on the various product offerings and the new type will have a more casual all lower-case treatment, with the 'e' mimicking the white curve of the classic logo.
Is a change of this magnitude a risk? What do they have to gain/lose? Creating a logo that can appeal to customers is important, a logo makeover can infuse your company with new excitement. The world, the market, and your customer base are constantly changing, if you can change with them you stand to remain contemporary and forward thinking. Although the economy is in the tank and people are more careful than ever about their purchases, treating yourself to an ice cold Pepsi on a hot day, may just put a smile on your face.
1 comment:
I think change of this magnitude on a whole is risky but still a smart idea. This seemingly radical shift from the old brand image will be interpreted by some consumers as new and exciting, and even if they know its the same old Pepsi in a can I’m sure they will pick up a 6 pack.
However, from a design perspective, the execution is clearly a little rough around the edges and desperately needs refinement. I’m hoping that this might have been an overzealous PR department trying to get excitement out about the new branding before its finished.
Conventional wisdom says innovation in tough times is rewarded, unfortunately in this case there is no innovation, just bad design.
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