Can you design a better Pepsi logo than a 5th grader?
02.18.09 | Posted in: Art & Design | By: Kellis LandrumTags: Ad Busters, Advertising, Graphic Design, Logos, Pepsi
When we walked into the grocery store a few weeks back and saw that Pepsi had new labels and a new logo we raised ourselves an eyebrow and moved on. Over the next week we chuckled to ourselves as we saw Sierra Mist, Tropicana, and several other Pepsi brands had received a similar (ahem) makeover.
But after we saw the BREATHTAKING Design Strategy guide the Arnell Group did to explain the new Pepsi logo we just about fell over and giggled ourselves to death. Kudos to the Arnell for being able to sell such a tremendous farce to to Pepsi Co. Just curious, did you have your interns put this thing together the night before your presentation or what? You guys have some serious Jedi mind trick shit going on if Pepsi paid a million for this with a smile.
For those of you who’ve never pitched a rebrand, it’s fairly common to show a new logo to a client photoshopped on to a product, the side of a delivery van, or on a billboard. It’s also fairly routine to show previous generations of the logo with your proposed one at the end to show the evolution of the brand.
But this? THIS IS COMEDY GOLD! It compares Pespi’s logo to the gravitational field of the Earth, the Mona Lisa, and The Parthenon. It’s the advertising equivalent of ousted Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich comparing his struggle to Nelson Mandela and Ghandi.
Apparently we weren’t the only ones who found this amusing, as someone was kind enough to upload it and pass it around for all to share. If you’d like to view the hilarity for yourself you can download it form the links below-
http://bunnitude.com/misc/files/pepsi_gravitational_field.pdf
mirrors: http://www.filefactory.com/file/afhfd33/n/PEPSI_GRAVITATIONAL_FIELD_pdf
February 18th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
yea i saw this PDF the other day. do you think it’s real? i mean maybe it’s just a joke…
February 18th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
According to Ad Age this is legit-
http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=134552
February 19th, 2009 at 5:36 am
um, yeah. that Pepsi logo sure is moving.
February 20th, 2009 at 3:11 am
[...] from NeuBlack: When we walked into the grocery store a few weeks back and saw that Pepsi had new labels and a new [...]
February 20th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Yes, the PDF seemed a bit over the top. But for what it’s worth, and I may be the only one who feels this way, but I like the new logo. I find there’s always a reluctance to like a new logo (we get on a familiar basis with logos over time) but I liked this one from the start. The only problem I have with it is the similarity to the South Korean flag or Korean Air as a friend pointed out (this similarity was there before the redesign to be fair).
February 20th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
x = 8 light years. soda. of course!
February 20th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
hey alex – get back to vacationing, damnit
February 20th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
LMAO….well i got to say that research and content is key in my opinion for a good ID/rebrand but looking at the pdf it just feels like they really took some of the key points and totally when to the moon with it *smh* there is more jargon that anything ( love The Golden Ratio example ) at the end it just looks and feels to me like they design smiley faces
just because the ID is able to mimic gestures doesn’t mean that it would be a great connector to people and their brand loyalty.
were and what is the message ???????
February 21st, 2009 at 9:32 am
The message is that there is no message. They show examples of the previous logos only to toss the out the window. Then they show examples of the golden ratio, but the diagram at the end totally breaks from it. I don’t know where they got the whole thing about earths gravity.
In the end though, you either like it or you don’t. IMHO opinion the curves on the new design seem random and a little clumsy. The old one looked like a wave made of red, white, and blue. It’s like you stuffed America into a can and drank it.
February 21st, 2009 at 12:57 pm
While this PDF presentation is totally contrived and poorly laid out, you have to give them credit for the filler. How could a firm possibly go to Pepsi execs with a 2 page PDF of logo flavored emoticons. I can’t believe any well adjusted Senior VP or CBO would buy any of the fluff and butter in this piece, For the $1Mill price tag Pepsi got their money’s worth and a little bit of chaos theory to boot.
February 23rd, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Apparently their new logo isn’t the only thing Pepsi is having a problem with-
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/23/business/media/23adcol.html?scp=3&sq=pepsi&st=Search
April 21st, 2009 at 7:47 am
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