Rebranding...Really?

OK, so I've been seeing the new Pepsi logo floating around and had pretty much passed it off as crap, but the other day I saw something that really got me. It was a document that explained the process of the tweak that was made to the logo and why at this link. Take a read and see if you buy it. As a designer I have no doubt that people in the creative industry shovel BS, but this is beyond belief. If they spent as much time working on the rebrand as they did to justify it, Pepsi might have a new unique logo. Of course I really question Pepsi more for buying the whole load.


Anyway the thing that got me looking at this whole rebranding fiasco was when we were in the store 2 weeks ago and my wife was looking for her normal Tropicana OJ. After 30 seconds of examination, we realized that it was now branded to look like a generic (at least that was my opinion). A huge stockphotoish glass of OJ on the box with the name turned sideways (strangely like the new pepsi bottles). The amazing thing is this ended up being a topic of conversation between me and my wife for the next half hour (btw she's not a creative). We talked about how could they lose their custom logo type as well as the orange with the straw stuck into it representing freshness.

Yesterday I read how Tropicana spent $35 million on the rebrand and that it was a huge mistake. Obviously they had been getting a lot of feedback about how much their rebranding failed. So you guessed it, they are going back to their old packaging (bravo). Here is the kicker I find that Tropicana is owned by Pepsi Co and imagine to my surprise both brands were rebranded by the Arnell Group. Huh - somebody at Pepsi Co might be out of a job soon. Oh yeah and just to let you know Peter Arnell (of the Arnell Group) recently spoke at an event hosted by Pepsi Co and explained, "consumers needed to be able to visualize the juice inside the orange. ” Because us little consumers don't know what orange juice looks like.

Taking Ownership

There are several things I love about winter, but the main thing is the rush of annual reports that start up. A lot of designers would tell you how much they hate annual reports, how constrained they are, how uncreative they allow you to be and most of all how little of a budget they have to produce an amazing piece. All of those things can be true, but I think with a little work designers can show their clients how a creative and engaging annual report can benefit them and hopefully in the process excite their client about the report as well.

Above is my latest completed report. It's for a metropolitan planning organization, which on the surface sounds pretty basic and dry, but in reality has a lot of interesting angles to concept an annual report around. I started working with this organization 6 years ago and since the beginning things have changed a lot. The organization has come to see how valuable of a PR piece a well produced report is to them. And personally I love working with this client on their report because for the last several years they have been taking ownership. Every year now they are thinking ahead and on the look out for ideas to make their report even better then before. They are excited about their own annual repor, what more can you ask for.

Maybe I'm different because I want the client to be involved in the process, I want them to think about paper and ask what they can do to make something work even better. I prefer to do work with my clients instead of do work for my clients. As a designer I always take ownership of the work I do (even though sometimes I would prefer not to), but having clients that are willing to take ownership makes the work I do that much more valuable.