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.
Posts
3 comments:
I enjoyed this post, Chris. I went grocery shopping in Publix on Sunday evening and sent my 12-year-old daughter to get the Tropicana orange juice we always buy. She came back and said they were all out. Huh? I knew that couldn't be true. I walked over with her and was completely confused. It wasn't until I closely studied the packaging that I realized I was staring at Tropicana. Another woman came up while I was standing there and she seemed equally confused by the "new look." So much for rebranding.
Chris, now that they have decided to switch back I noticed the pricing on my last trip to the store was well reduced. It seems they are trying to clear the old packages out asap.
Thank goodness the folks at Tropicana came to their senses and are bringing back the old packaging. (And thank goodness I'm not the only one who was standing in the orange juice isle in total confusion. I felt like a complete idiot when I realized that it WAS the Tropicana...)
Post a Comment