It Ain’t Small Change When Pepsi Does a Branding Change

Pepsi just spent a ton of money redesigning its branding logo on its core product, a bottle of Pepsi Cola.  According to an article by Natalie Zmuda, in AdAge, it took the designers five months to finalize the iconic logo.   Five months and $1 million dollars for the design.

It is a nice logo.   But five months for this?  Who did they hire and where were they?   Unless everybody involved was on retreat or busy serving in Iraq, that seems like an inordinate amount of time go come up with this relatively minor change.   It wasn’t like they were employed to build the new series of nuclear submarines or even reconfiguring the Pepsi formula.   There were no significant color changes, and they didn’t change as they are planning for Mountain Dew.  To Mtn Dew, in case anyone is interested.  Perhaps the Mountain Dew drinkers find it difficult to spell “mountain,” I really don’t now.

I am artistic.  I have a background in the arts.  I have friends in the arts.   I have a son in the arts.  I have been involved in advertising, marketing, and public relations.   I was in the entertainment business, where we know that pizzazz sells.   The point is I am not some veritable cretin who doesn’t understand either the significance of branding, design, color, etc.  So when I ask–five months and a million dollars for this? I ask this with some credible background.  I’m sure I am not the only one asking, this either.   The poor guy at Pepsi who had to pay the bill on this, may well be asking the very same thing.

Pepsi, of course contends that the new design helps establish Pepsi as a cultural leader.  There they are, right on the cutting edge and no longer the antique no one thought they were.  Words like adventurous, youthful, and unique, almost flippant are bandied about by the branding experts.   Sounds kind of like the ovelry effusive wine reviews we sometimes find.

The regular old Pepsi brand supposedly hints of a smile.  The Diet Pepsi logo will approximate a grin.  A laugh wll adorn Pepsi Max.   Sounds great, if anyone get the subtle changes.   Or cares.

It is a nice log change, it really is.  But five months and a million bucks or more to produce?   My son, the artist, produces beautiful logos, animated logs, even, in two weeks.   Will people get the grin?  Will people care?  Will consumers say to themselves that old Pepsi drink was okay, but I felt kind of old and out of touch each time I put the bottle to my lips.   But now that its is grinning at me, I feel youthful and vibrant.   I am a person of the times.

Well, maybe it will go that way.   Maybe after they spend hundred of millions more switching out the new logos on the trucks, vending machines, and in the venues where Pepsi is sold, it won’t be quite as effective as Pepsi had hoped.   You never know.

My suggestion?   Spend the few bucks extra and switch back to sugar as sweetener, instead of that high fructose corn syrup.   That would work for me.  Ahhh!