PETER SHANKMAN
| POSTED ON October 27th, 2008 | 130 COMMENTS | + ADD YOUR COMMENT |
A messenger arrives at my apartment this morning with 5 6 empty cans of Pepsi, each one representing a different Pepsi logo, starting in 1890.
OK.
Twenty minutes later, he’s back, with a second delivery, 5 6 more empty cans of Pepsi, logos continuing up to present day.
OK.
Finally, he shows back up again. (By this time, Karma and NASA aren’t even reacting to the doorbell anymore.) This time, he’s got five six cans of Pepsi, (full) with the new look of Pepsi, and a letter explaining that Pepsi is reaching out to me and handful of other “digital and social influencers” regarding a “multiyear, company-wide transformation.”
It also tells me that I’m one of 25 people to see Pepsi’s new look first. I think that’s kinda cool.
They also invited me to a Friendfeed room – which is interesting – a cool way to see how Pepsi is utilizing social media – http://friendfeed.com/rooms/pepsicooler
So, without further ado, here’s Pepsi’s new look. The hand is Meagan’s, and didn’t come with the Pepsi.
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without sounding corny, the choice of the new generation is — well, new-generation heavy. simpler logo, lower-case font, easy to read and identify… i like it. |
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Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Looks like a generic. Or a retro. Something that would very likely be eclipsed by a Coke can/logo. |
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How long until they switch back to the classic look? A year? Five? |
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Very cool design. I like simple. Most intriguing to me is the PR strategy they are using to engage their community. I LOVE that. Thanks, Peter. |
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Sorry, I saw it first on Seth Godin’s blog a few days ago! |
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Kinda ugly. Looks like a can of grocery store generic cola. I don’t drink caffeinated beverages anymore, though, so I might be biased. |
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Was just tweeting about this (http://twitter.com/SamKnoll) amazing when you consider that the new logo is the result of 5 months of work and over 1 million (estimated) dollars. Interesting post on it in AdAge: http://adage.com/article?article_id=132016 Kudos on being made a part of their roll out. Onward & Upward! Sam Knoll |
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looks similar to the Obama Logo. Good or bad that is the first thing i saw. |
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Looks frighteningly like the corp logos in the JJ Abrams shows/movies – Lost, Cloverfield, etc. Let Meagan know she’s has a lovely thumbnail. |
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Maybe it’s me, but I see a video game character with wrap-around shades in their new logo…similar to a colorized version of the guy in Sift Heads http://www.siftheads.net/. |
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Wow! It DOES look like the Obama logo. That’s the first thing my husband thought as well. I like it, though. |
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I like it…especially the strategy. Certainly got your attention! Thanks for the link Peter. |
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Y’all aren’t kidding about that new logo, definitely more new generation and very cool that you are a part of it. Pepsi for Obama….apparently :) |
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I like it fine. Not exciting, IMHO. But I’m still an avid Diet Pepsi drinker and it’s about taste. |
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Was being discussed on Brand New (http://tinyurl.com/5u66u8) last week – a little too swoosh-o-licious for me. |
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Love that sleek shade of blue on the can; I’m sure it will look quite nice on crowded grocery store shelves. I agree with others that my first impression was Obama – wonder if that says more about Pepsi or the success of Obama’s campaign? Too bad the swill inside is still the same, but kudos to Pepsi for creative PR on this one. |
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Sorry but saw it here first … |
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I’m sorry, not only does the circular element look like the Obama logo, but the word Pepsi looks generic. Actually, on closer inspection it looks like they used a curvy line in the e, but it’s way too subtle. Either they are trying to ride on the “change you can believe in” bandwagon, or this is the can of Pepsi that will be distributed to Obama supporters at his election night victory party. Or both. |
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I’m a traditionalists – so did not see a need to change the logo per se, but like the overall simplicity of the design and can. So I would say yes, I like it. |
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Reminded me of the Grateful Dead. Not a bad revamp, but I like the classic look. |
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looks like a 1990s high tech food supplement – something you would have seen in GNC 10 years ago – how does that logo convey the pepsi message? |
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on second thought, i can’t even tell you how much i hate it – bad logo. sit. stay. |
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HA! Loved prklypr’s take on this. It totally looks like the Obama logo! |
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Interesting. Loving the clever outreach with the cans and the friend feed, but not sure how I feel about the new logo…yet. |
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I actually thought it was a spoof on the Obama campaign’s logo. One question: have they “changed” the flavor of Pepsi? I do like the logo and the lowercase font. |
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It’s a very fashion forward look – clean, minimalist – I like it! |
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I’m still trying to digest that Pepsi makes a Yogurt flavor in Japan… http://tinyurl.com/6xrbyx |
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Love the media outreach, now I’ll be interested to see Obama outreach. |
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I don’t know what was wrong with the “old” logo. All this carrying on about logos is tiresome. I wish they would keep the same one for a hundred years. When everybody keeps changing their logos, it makes things more challenging for shoppers. Keep the same logo, and we keep grabbing the product. Change it every other year, and we are forced to roam around the store looking for what we want. We might find something besides Pepsi! |
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It looks like someone’s trying to imitate Pepsi…. I like the clean look, but overall I don’t think it reflects the new generation. |
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Pepsi’s logo was always red white and blue……doubt it’s a political statement. I think it’s very trendy….not sure if that’s good or bad. |
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I agree with the spoof off the Obama logo. I like that it is simple and you cannot mistake it with another brand. |
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Somehow Chris Brogan http://www.chrisbrogan.com/pep.....in-analog/ received 6 full cans (the delivery guy must have taste tested one of yours!) New Pepsi logo excites me, but mostly I want to see how my cans of Diet Pepsi will be reworked. I have a small display of Diet Pepsi cans here on my desk. |
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The white part looks like a feather… Font seems to be a winner! Just hope they don’t *change* the flavor! |
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It’s disgustingly similar to the Socialist’s logo. Hope they can live with pissing off half of the country. If it weren’t for the Socialists logo, I’d say I like it a lot. |
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You know where we can find a list of the other 24 social influencers? |
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I first thought of the Obama logo, then just thought this looks very sterile and corporate. |
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I like it. It would be cool if they could actually keep it a clean design without all the FDA-required text & other info. What will the diet and other varieties look like? |
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It’s an expensive waste of money, designed to appeal to the corporate management. The new logo won’t sell a single extra can of Pepsi. “Wow, I must buy that can with the great new logo on it!”. Yeah, right … |
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I like it I guess, but to be honest, I don’t think I’d even notice it was different unless you told me so. (Plus I’m a Coke drinker, not pepsi) |
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Looks swell, but for me it won’t represent Change I Can Believe In until they make a change from within, from HFCS to cane sugar. |
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As many have stated above it looks boring, retro, political and like they are trying too hard to make a change. There is a reason Nike has never altered their swoosh, or Apple, even after recreating themselves to reach beyond the graphic artist/musician clientele, still uses the same logo. Branding is everything. |
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Reminds me of Obama’s logo as well. I do like the font. If the taste has changed, I’d be willing to give it a try. Otherwise, I’m still in Coke’s camp. |
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I watched the video and thought “oh, god, not another image reinvention.” sigh. not innovative enough. maybe it’s time for soda to retire. |
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I really like it. But I’d still prefer Pepsi over Coke no matter what it came in. |
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I totally agree that it reminds me of the Obama logo. While the design is very simple and retro, I’m wondering how long they could keep a can looking like that without making use of the dead space. I’d like to see the design for “Caffeine-free diet pepsi” before I make up my mind. |
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I’m from Atlanta – where drinking Pepsi is a misdemeanor and serving Pepsi is a felony. Kidding aside, I’ve never liked Pepsi or any of it’s spin-offs. Too heavy, cloying, sweet. Now they have a logo that looks like Obama’s. Jeesh – I’m heading out to get a 12-pack of Diet Coke. |
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Obama. That is what I think. Which is not always a good thing, despite your political leanings. |
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It worked, didn’t it? Very clever (if a little invasive) way to get your attention (and ours). |
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It looks like they tried to hard to be simple and new – It doesn’t have a natural feel to me. Thumbs down. |
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I used to work for Coca Cola (long ago) so I find this pretty funny. Especially how much they paid for it. I would have done it for half that price ;-) I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when the agency presented their justification of this concept to the Pepsi folks! The new look is attractive in a retro kind of way but I think it’s wrong for them. When you’ve got one of the strongest brands on the planet, why deconstruct the look of your flagship product? To see a history of the Pepsi branding, check out http://www.logoorange.com/logodesign-P.php Aside from my disagreement with the marketing philosophy behind this major change, the proportion of the symbol to the name is out of wack. They’re taking a name that’s priceless and minimizing it. The roll out method is clever, though. |
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What’s the point. You either like it or not. The can ain’t changing that. |
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Seriously, Pepsi is rolling out a logo that is not original at all since it looks like the Obama campaign symbol–not a good thing. Naturally they will take away a large margin of drinkers if they are McCain supporters. |
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It’ll be a great one, if Obama wins, otherwise look like a loser. :( Isn’t that logo the same one for Obama I saw painted on a Prius yesterday? |
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What a cool way for Pepsi to spread the word about its new brand. +1 to them for being creative with new media and influencers. Now the new logo and look…that’s another story I suppose. |
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It’s a sleek design and SEEMS like a great strategy (because it’s getting viral attention), but as a consumer, it doesn’t make me want to buy it or drink it. It’s also unlikely to stick out in the crowded soft drink aisle of a supermarket, so it probably won’t attract too many new Pepsi consumers and it might even confuse current Pepsi drinkers who will be looking for it who won’t know about the redesign. Of course, the shade of blue sort of reminds me of energy drinks, such as Red Bull, so if Pepsi’s strategy is to attract energy drink users, it might work. |
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Off to Coke now…when my soft drink gets political, I’m outta here. |
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I agree, Pepsi for Obama. Hmmmmm. I still like Coke better. I hope that doesn’t mean I am a closeted Republican. |
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Ahhh. My LAST addiction. Pepsi. I want to see it in person. Pepsi? Pepsi?? Hellooooo Thanx! |
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My first impression: “Looks like a generic brand.” I really don’t like the squiggly “e” either. Oh well. I’m not a Pepsi drinker! |
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First think I thought of when I saw it was less is more….I like it. Plain and simple. |
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Janine, I don’t know about Nike, but Apple has definitely updated their logo: http://www.gotomedia.com/gotor.....brand.html Keeping the exact outline while changing the color and 3D effects is excellent branding, but they *have* changed. |
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I know I have Obama on the brain having worked the phones at his Palo Alto, CA headquarters this weekend but youdon’t have to have too much imagination to see the resemblance between the Pepsi logo and the Obama logo. |
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Actually, I heard about it here first. And tumblr’d it myself. |
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Pointless and stupid. If they are going to re-brand, then re-brand! Doing a derivative, asymmetric, hard to reproduce version of a logo they’ve used for decades, and then a “cool” font that already looks ‘five minutes ago’ is pointless. In the 21st Century, their brand needs to be about more than an ‘updated’ look that just looks like their old look in a funhouse mirror. They need to convey what they are about. Changing COMPLETELY would send a clearer message. This looks like a compromise, and will be seen in hindsight as a disaster. |
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The new Pepsi logo is round & red-white + blue – Obama’s logo is too, as are several of the older Pepsi logos – so are dozen’s of other logos. I don’t think Obama when I see this new look (although that certainly would be cool). this new can seems clean and modern but it doesn’t reach out and “grab me” (maybe if the hand actually did come with it). However, what I did find interesting was this http://tinyurl.com/5aerc9 |
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And I wouldn’t worry about the Obama comparison. Pepsi will 3 years to make it THEIR logo before Obama 2012 gets started. Then it will be up to Obama’s campaign to reinvent their “pepsi-like” logo (less they offend the Coke drinking voters) |
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I shared my observations about the new look with my son. And here’s what he said. http://ping.fm/TcJxn |
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Having been through one redesign and one ground up design, I can appreciate their struggle. But this logo is a loser. They don’t need to change the one they’ve got and they’ll fugure that out about two years and a 100 million bucks too late. |
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For all the money Pepsi Co has they couldn’t come up with something better…..The Pepsi logo has been Obama-ish way before Obama was Obama and had an Obama icon….But really Pepsi…THIS….come on you have way more smarter people working for you, don’t you? |
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Following up on my earlier comments (#61). I showed it to my 17-year-old son and he really loved it. Well, I think it’s an unfortunate mistake, but then I’m not the target audience. |
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According to a Pepsi VP, apparently the brief was to “make the logo more dynamic and more alive.” I’m not sure about everyone else, but this logo looks less dymanic and less alive than before. In fact, I think it looks sterile. Off brief. Way off brief Pepsi. |
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It’s looks a little like something one of my students did a few weeks ago with an assignment I gave to recreate a product label of packaging! Very modern! |
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This is fun. This is the future of PR. If we’re (the PR industry) not doing this, we’ll all be dinosaurs in five years. This campaign fully integrates public relations, social media and branding. Our voice is just as important as our clients’ because we’re tied closer to results than ever before — and more exposed (transparent). This is an exciting time in our business, in our careers. This is a time when we make textbook history. [Can we still say that? Maybe I should say "Wikipedia" history?] |
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All you east coasters beat me to being able to blog “you heard it here first” although I did get a sneak peek at the new can too. Oh and in my photo you can see my hand too… I don’t have an assistant :( |
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I dig the font. Is the taste changing too? Like New Coke? This is just a rebranding correct? |
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Changing the can will not change the taste.All it will be is the same old stuff in a new can.Wise up!Change the taste to go along with the new can. |
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As a part of Generation Y, it just looks like they’re trying a little too hard. Too “contemporary” for being a soda pop. Also, the actual placement of the brand name is a little awkward. “A” for effort. |
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that can is horrendous! they’re lucky their product is addictive as crack to me. |
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Hate to jumop in on obama. Thatsa ALL it looks like. Why piss off 50% of the people? Too risky of an emblem for me. |
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While I’m thinking of it ………. If they have an American flag anywhere on their can, I hope they dont get rid of it, like BHO did on his plane? What’s with that move? |
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How very Obama! Not sure whether I love or loathe how everything seems to be going ‘retro’ lately… |
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This look is not new at all. It reminds me of Burger Chef from the very early 70′s (when it was owned by General Mills), both with the font and logo. It’s a step backwards, beyond generic, and not “retro”. If they really wanted to do something right, dump the corn syrup and go back to cane sugar! |
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Wow I Am a Huge Huge Addicted Pepsi Drinker,I think Im addicted Lol To the taste if the Logo was clear,And Pepsi still Taste the same(But no more caffiene please lol)Id still drink it,I dont care About if it is Or looks Like Obama’s Logo But If it gave him Support I give Him 100% My Vote,But To Also Help Bring The 12 Packs Pepsis Down to all the time 2 12 pks 5.99 Thats my thoughts on this Subject~ |
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A little Pepsi trivia, I believe one of the Pepsi logos was designed by the father of actress Mariette Hartley. |
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I like the old,old logo YEP the bottle cap w/pepsi red/whi/blu color from the 1960′s |
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I like the old logo as this is just too much like what I saw all throughout the campaign. With his start thus far being less than stupendous, I would say the same for this logo! |
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Smile logo is good ! But I like the old ! I think the old logo, nice ! |
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That new logo is horrible. Every time I see it, a piece of my heart dies. More thoughts here: |
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I would have to say I love the old logo best. I think that is great that you have had the opportunity to one of 25 chosen for this. Congrats |
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