We might as well weigh in on this one, too. If you haven’t seen it yet, there’s a new mark coming out for the Pepsi family of products – and they’re all variations on the “globe” mark used for good, old Pepsi (shown here). The re-design of the brand’s marks extends to Mountain Dew and Sierra Mist as well (check out the logos and the packaging here).
(Laughing Lion Design did a nice job showing the progression of Pepsi logos over time, here.)
So what do we think of it? Well, Pepsi could have spent their money better – but we’re glad to see the demise of the 3-D globe mark. Too tricked out for our taste.
For all of you business and marketing folks thinking about a logo redux for your company or products, keep this in mind:
A complete overhaul of your logo/mark can be very upsetting to your loyal customers. You need to make sure what you want to do is “evolutionary” rather than “revolutionary.” History (and past brand equity) are important considerations.
Slight variations of an existing logo to draw a distinction from one product line to another can be confusing (to say the least). Differentiating Pepsi from Diet Pepsi from Pepsi Max based on the width of the “smile” in the globe is, in our opinion, too much “self-talk” and a form of “brand conceit” to think that anyone really cares that much to notice.
The line between changing logos to stay trendy and changing logos out of boredom seems to be growing thinner and thinner as the pace of consumer interaction heats up. Don’t fall into the trap of having to make a change because of fatigue inside your marketing department – remember, you’re exposed to your logo and marketing messages more than anyone else on the planet. Change when it makes sense to change your story, it will make the resulting loss of brand equity (and there will be a loss) worth the trouble.
If you want to see how one company handled an “update” of their current product label in expert fashion, check this out:
