5 ms·

Ten years ago Pepsi paid $1M for a logo redesign (2019)

17 points by StrauXX 5y ago

PaulHoule 5y ago
This link is not compatible with Firefox.
- felipeqq2 5y ago
  I think it's broken, it's not working for me either (I'm using chromium)
neonate 5y ago
https://archive.md/75FYK https://archive.md/75FYK http://web.archive.org/web/20210812195124/https://www.typeroom.eu/content/ten-years-ago-pepsi-paid-1-million-logo-redesign-why http://web.archive.org/web/20210812195124/https://www.typero...
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
orf 5y ago
https://jimedwardsnrx.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/pepsi_gravitational_field.pdf https://jimedwardsnrx.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/pepsi_grav... This reads like the ramblings of a madman. Or, more likely, they came up with the design rather quickly and conventionally then tried to justify the cost with this?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
addicted 5y ago
It's a design that has continued to persist to this day and has been extremely successful for Pepsi. $1mm seems like a bargain for such a high profile change to a product, that at the end of the day, sells based on little more than its branding (cola based soft drink). I suspect that the original presentation had a lot of pointless fluff, but once you separated out the fluff, it was probably a sensible and logical approach, that led to a design that simultaneously appeared fresher, yet was undeniably recognizable as Pepsi, and was also very flexible which was important keeping in mind all the new major technology mediums that seemed to be popping up every few months around that time.
- dahdum 5y ago
  The doc reads like it took a design team a day or so to come out with the new logo, then they handed it off to an MBA heavy group to retcon into something to justify the massive bill they wanted.
  - addicted 5y ago
    Look at my next comment. The doc clearly goes over a lot of crazy ideas. But one of those crazy ideas, the comparison to emojis, led to a massive ad campaign for Pepsi. That would not have been possible if the logo was not designed in that fashion. As a thought experiment, look at those ads and those emojis on the bottle spinning to reveal a Coca Cola logo...it simply would not work. What the doc actually looks like is a fairly well thought out design, that took a highly successful logo that had become rather long in the tooth, freshened it up significantly while still maintaining a clear connection to the logo it replaced. It also contains a bunch of far out ideas to get the creative juices flowing, and at least one of those ideas did end up being a pepsi marketing campaign.
    - dahdum 5y ago
      Oh I’m not disagreeing, the emoji link is inspired but I can’t shake the feeling the doc came long after, not as part of the process. I’m not a professional designer, but that process isn’t like anything I’ve seen from those that are. Though I’ve not worked with large design committees, mostly just small teams of 1-3.
- addicted 5y ago
  Here's an example of how even some of what was ridiculed the most around that time (the comparison to emojis) was eventually part of a massive (and probably successful, considering the number of different ads created) ad campaign from Pepsi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19p9GjEMBQA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19p9GjEMBQA (A compilation of all the Pepsi emoji ad campaigns. There are many of them) There isn't an exact one to one mapping of emojis to the logo variants as envisioned in the original design document, but there is a very clear connection drawn between the emojis and the logo, with nearly every ad ending with an emoji on the Pepsi bottle, almost immediately transitioning to the Pepsi logo, which would not have been possible if the logo did not evoke emojis the way the logo designer shows in their design document. Heck, it's possible that the causation went the other way. The design brief did not require a connection to emojis, but rather, the logo design with its explicit connection to emojis led to the ad campaign, either directly, because the ad campaign creators looked at the doc, or indirectly, because the logo evoked thoughts of emojis. In any of those cases, that's a sign of an extremely successful logo, and logo creation thought process. Some of the ideas may not have been as successful (such as the "theory of attraction" or the "Pepsi Galaxy", although the latter is fairly obvious considering the wide variety of products Pepsi makes), but making a lot of these, some far out there, connections is a necessary first step in some of them potentially being successful. I was one of those who piled onto Pepsi over a decade ago on the interwebs for this logo, but it was a great lesson in humility, because the more I look back at it, the more I was clearly wrong.
MengerSponge 5y ago
I first read that headline wrong, thinking it said 2019 was ten years ago. "Hmm, I guess that tracks."
ryantgtg 5y ago
And it cost Pepsi something like $400 million to implement this new logo.
appstorelottery 5y ago
Lemon Demon: Redesign Your Logo is hilarous song about this & definitely worth a listen IMHO.
GekkePrutser 5y ago
If it were a government or non profit I'd be annoyed. But for a private company they can waste money as they wish :)

17 points by StrauXX 5y ago

PaulHoule 5y ago

This link is not compatible with Firefox.

felipeqq2 5y ago
I think it's broken, it's not working for me either (I'm using chromium)

neonate 5y ago

https://archive.md/75FYK https://archive.md/75FYK http://web.archive.org/web/20210812195124/https://www.typeroom.eu/content/ten-years-ago-pepsi-paid-1-million-logo-redesign-why http://web.archive.org/web/20210812195124/https://www.typero...

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

orf 5y ago

https://jimedwardsnrx.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/pepsi_gravitational_field.pdf https://jimedwardsnrx.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/pepsi_grav... This reads like the ramblings of a madman. Or, more likely, they came up with the design rather quickly and conventionally then tried to justify the cost with this?

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

addicted 5y ago

It's a design that has continued to persist to this day and has been extremely successful for Pepsi. $1mm seems like a bargain for such a high profile change to a product, that at the end of the day, sells based on little more than its branding (cola based soft drink). I suspect that the original presentation had a lot of pointless fluff, but once you separated out the fluff, it was probably a sensible and logical approach, that led to a design that simultaneously appeared fresher, yet was undeniably recognizable as Pepsi, and was also very flexible which was important keeping in mind all the new major technology mediums that seemed to be popping up every few months around that time.

dahdum 5y ago
The doc reads like it took a design team a day or so to come out with the new logo, then they handed it off to an MBA heavy group to retcon into something to justify the massive bill they wanted.
- addicted 5y ago
  Look at my next comment. The doc clearly goes over a lot of crazy ideas. But one of those crazy ideas, the comparison to emojis, led to a massive ad campaign for Pepsi. That would not have been possible if the logo was not designed in that fashion. As a thought experiment, look at those ads and those emojis on the bottle spinning to reveal a Coca Cola logo...it simply would not work. What the doc actually looks like is a fairly well thought out design, that took a highly successful logo that had become rather long in the tooth, freshened it up significantly while still maintaining a clear connection to the logo it replaced. It also contains a bunch of far out ideas to get the creative juices flowing, and at least one of those ideas did end up being a pepsi marketing campaign.
  - dahdum 5y ago
    Oh I’m not disagreeing, the emoji link is inspired but I can’t shake the feeling the doc came long after, not as part of the process. I’m not a professional designer, but that process isn’t like anything I’ve seen from those that are. Though I’ve not worked with large design committees, mostly just small teams of 1-3.
addicted 5y ago
Here's an example of how even some of what was ridiculed the most around that time (the comparison to emojis) was eventually part of a massive (and probably successful, considering the number of different ads created) ad campaign from Pepsi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19p9GjEMBQA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19p9GjEMBQA (A compilation of all the Pepsi emoji ad campaigns. There are many of them) There isn't an exact one to one mapping of emojis to the logo variants as envisioned in the original design document, but there is a very clear connection drawn between the emojis and the logo, with nearly every ad ending with an emoji on the Pepsi bottle, almost immediately transitioning to the Pepsi logo, which would not have been possible if the logo did not evoke emojis the way the logo designer shows in their design document. Heck, it's possible that the causation went the other way. The design brief did not require a connection to emojis, but rather, the logo design with its explicit connection to emojis led to the ad campaign, either directly, because the ad campaign creators looked at the doc, or indirectly, because the logo evoked thoughts of emojis. In any of those cases, that's a sign of an extremely successful logo, and logo creation thought process. Some of the ideas may not have been as successful (such as the "theory of attraction" or the "Pepsi Galaxy", although the latter is fairly obvious considering the wide variety of products Pepsi makes), but making a lot of these, some far out there, connections is a necessary first step in some of them potentially being successful. I was one of those who piled onto Pepsi over a decade ago on the interwebs for this logo, but it was a great lesson in humility, because the more I look back at it, the more I was clearly wrong.

MengerSponge 5y ago

I first read that headline wrong, thinking it said 2019 was ten years ago. "Hmm, I guess that tracks."

ryantgtg 5y ago

And it cost Pepsi something like $400 million to implement this new logo.

appstorelottery 5y ago

Lemon Demon: Redesign Your Logo is hilarous song about this & definitely worth a listen IMHO.

GekkePrutser 5y ago

If it were a government or non profit I'd be annoyed. But for a private company they can waste money as they wish :)