Photo: PepsiCo, Inc.
Pepsi Brings Its Name Back Front And Center
If when you think of Pepsi’s logo, you think of a circle divided up into wavy red, white and blue portions with the brand name in the center, you are not alone, according to CNN. PepsiCo has found that when it asks customers to envision and describe the logo, this tends to be their answer. The name Pepsi, however, has not appeared printed in the center of the brand’s iconic circle since 1997. Or at least that was the case until last week.
PepsiCo unveiled the redesigned logo for its flagship soda line in late March. The new logo places the brand name in the middle of the circle where everyone expects it to be, embracing an insight about consumer expectations that the CPG giant’s chief design officer Mauro Porcini told CNN was “impossible to ignore.”
The 2023 logo, with “Pepsi” written in a block black font in the white segment of the circle, resembles a combination of the design used between 1950 and 1986 (which featured black text at the center, extending beyond the white segment) and the one used from 1987 to 1997 (which had blue text filling the white segment). The redesign marks the 125th anniversary of the brand. It is meant to exude “great energy and confidence and boldness” while also drawing attention to the brand’s zero sugar line.
PepsiCo’s last logo redesign in 2008 turned into a PR fiasco thanks to a leaked design brief from the agency undertaking the project. The brief detailing the multi-million-dollar redesign contained 27 pages of high-concept reasoning behind the minor changes to the logo, was criticized by outlets like Fast Company as being hyperbolic, pseudo-scientific and ridiculous.
The 2023 logo refresh is not the only change that PepsiCo has made to its soda lineup this year.
PepsiCo discontinued Sierra Mist in January, Today reported. The lemon-lime soda, which remained on the market for 23 years, never caught up in popularity with Coca-Cola’s Sprite or Keurig Dr Pepper’s 7 Up. When Sierra Mist was discontinued, PepsiCo announced the launch of Starry, a lemon-lime soda the company called “bright, optimistic, and rooted in culture and fun.”
Discussion Questions
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Is Pepsi making the right choice by redesigning its logo to be more in keeping with its customers’ memories of where the brand name is placed? Can a logo redesign significantly affect consumer perceptions of a legacy brand like Pepsi?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
Lisa Goller
B2B Content Strategist
Dave Bruno
Director, Retail Market Insights, Aptos
As a brand person I realize this may sound like sacrilege, but I am just not convinced consumers buy Pepsi (or Coke) because of the logo. Yes it’s good to modernize the logo occasionally but, seriously, when was the last time a soda drinker switched brands because of the logo? In the soda wars, marketing money should be spent looking for ways to convince Pepsi drinkers to drink more Pepsi, regardless of the colors on the can.
Spot on Dave! A new logo won’t convince consumers to switch to your brand or purchase more, especially in a mature product market dominated by three big brands.
This – 100%. Unfortunately, it looks like Pepsi hasn’t spent enough as I do not believe they have made any traction in catching up to Coke.
Pepsi’s new logo boldly asserts its positioning as a leader in beverages. Pepsi’s logo redesign is retro for many of us, yet fresh for a key target segment: Gen Z consumers.
A logo redesign alone is insufficient to dramatically sway consumer perceptions. Beyond a new logo, legacy brands need a realignment strategy that energizes consumers and employees.
The refresh looks smart and spark some nostalgic memories — although it has fallen someway short of the boldness, originality and flair of the 1980s design. While this will look better on-shelf and will aid activation in-store, it remains to be seen how much this drives sales. There are a lot of other issues for traditional soda to deal with, including the rise of DTC beverages which are capturing the attention of Gen Z in particular.
Having spent many years in the beverage business (at The Coca-Cola Company), this topic is close to my heart. In branding, one of the immutable rules is that “everything communicates,” even the slightest change in script style, color hue, size, you get it. Will the name in the center of the logo translate to more drinkers? Possibly, but it’s really more about reinforcing the flagship brand–putting it front and center with consumers with the intent to draw attention to shoppers, especially younger generational types. It’ll be interesting to watch the sales numbers over the next 12 to 24 months.
Every brand and even iconic beverage companies, such as Pepsi and Coca-Cola, always benefit from a brand image refresh. The challenge is to develop a fresh and new concept design without straying too far from the heritage and nostalgia that makes the brand what it is to the market.
Beyond the rebranding and design aspects, Pepsi and every consumer brand must find creative ways to gain a more significant share of the consumers’ wallets. Branding is one of the elements and levers that Pepsi could use, and it will draw some interest and intrigue. Yet beyond the traditional advertising complex and brand redesigns, how do Pepsi and Coca-Cola attract new consumers by leveraging social channels and immersive commerce?
My short answer is Yes. I like the new design. It will make the product stand out on the retailer’s shelves. The question remains, will it increase sales? That will depend on how consumers react and what Pepsi does to support the brand. In my experience most people are loyal to their carbonated beverage brands and not sure the logo will incentivize a coke drinker to switch to Pepsi.
It’s the “right” choice only if we acknowledge that redesigning it in the first place was a waste of resources. Truly iconic logos are few and far between; what makes for one can vary: sometimes there’s a logical reference to history – think Wells Fargo – sometimes it’s just good graphics – think Lufthansa or, best of all, Nike. Pepsi – whether old or new – I would say was acceptable, but it never was, or at least never should have been, key to the company’s marketing.
No doubt Pepsi is the one who continues to recreate its logo, in some years the only thing remaining was the red, white and blue. Whereas Coca Cola stayed close to its roots. Would be interesting to know how much money was spent on rebranding over the decades, and what happened to sales following.
Pepsi’s logo update is bold, a strong nod to the 1960’s-1980’s brand. They had a strong marketing run in those decades, especially during the cola wars. Whether they can recapture any mojo will be interesting to watch.
While consumers may not switch colas on Pepsi’s logo redesign, it gives Pepsi’s marketing efforts a chance to grab attention, to tell a new story and hopefully convince people to join their path.
At the end of the day, since this is just about slight variances in sugared water, cola companies really are only left to marketing a story, a feeling, a brand preference.
I’m not so sure I agree with nostalgia as a brand strategy for soft drinks, but Pepsi seems to have aimed for modernizing the “face” of the logo while retaining its “bones”. Restoring the brand name front and center could be intended to influence trial by young consumers.
Yes, everything communicates, David Spear. Shapes, fonts and colors have a subliminal impact on the viewer. It’s hard to measure the impact on consumer take-away however, as these subtle effects may be eclipsed by other marketing tactics such as price promotion, distribution and merchandising execution.
Attribution is a bitch.
Love the new Pepsi design. Fascinating to think that this is going back to something really similar to how it was when the Coca-Cola logo and branding seems to have hardly changed and the famous Coca-Cola script is so similar to how it was at conception.
It seems there is a trend for retrospective facing designs of late – look at many new electric vehicles similar in design to cars from 30, 40 or more years ago – Honda E is one example but Ford, Renault and others are making similar moves.
Perhaps nostalgia is back…. Again.