The Lifestream of Jon Moss

Thoughts about Pepsi

January 2 2009, 11:25am

Click image for larger view, courtesy of Adrants There’s been quite the discussion around Pepsi’s latest rebrand. Patrick, of CR Blog, finds it laughable, Freddy, of adgoodness, thinks it’ll work, and 450+ comments on Brand New highlight interesting views. I’ve been prompted to give my own take following the recent thoughts of Chris Glass. The more I thought about how I felt about the new identity, the more ridiculous I felt about having any regard or feelings at all. It’s soda. Headlines declare a financial meltdown threatens the entire planet and here I am considering the choice of thin san-serif. I can certainly empathise with this, but as Chris goes on to say, the feelings are still there, regardless of value within the grander scheme.

Image from FormFiftyFive

Image from Greg Verdino on Flickr What strikes me most about the latest Pepsi logo isn’t the typeface. It’s not the somewhat cheesy ‘grin’ either. My thoughts revolve around just how often the directors choose to rebrand / redesign / refresh.

Image courtesy of Chris Glass It’s a seemingly never-ending battle of one-upmanship with Coca Cola, that continuous to cost huge fortunes (the latest rebrand a mere $1.2 billion over three years — from AdAge.com). Will the new shelf-image bring higher sales? I like to think my choice is based upon taste. Whether that’s the full reason, I don’t know. Martin Lindstrom sent me a copy of his book Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy. It’s proving an interesting read, and focuses on the largest ever neuro-marketing study. I’m hoping it leaves me with a little more insight. Look at these classic Pepsi cans.

Familiar, distinctive, I’d even say iconic. I wonder how many billions have been spent on branding between then and now.