Although there was no lecture this week, I decided to continue to research things of interest to my project, or just somewhat relevant things, over the week and easter break.
The Pepsi rebrand has been big news this week as it’s corrected what was previously a pretty meek and cheap-looking brand. The main part of the rebrand is pretty simple as it borrows heavily from the old Pepsi logos but adds a boldness that the previous logo just didn't have.
The best thing this rebrand does is make Pepsi feel like a quality product which could actually rival Coke's prestige, as I’ve always felt like Pepsi was a cheap feeling alternative. The logo itself is the main reason for this quality feel, as the flat emblem with bold type is much more iconic.
What I think is interestingly effective is the typographic choice of the up angle which affects the P, S, and I. I thought it looked a bit wonky at first but after looking at it more I think it’s more quirky than wonky, which will help the logo be more memorable as it’s not just the safe choice of using a standard bold typeface.
Personally, I felt the secondary blue seen in the background of the logo was a bit too top right of the colour picker, but when you see it applied and accompanied by black to make patterns it works much better.
Overall, I like how this rebrand manages to balance the bold quality and a slight funkiness which effectively positions the Pepsi brand as a quality but alternate rival to Coke.
The 7up rebrand happened only a few weeks before Pepsi, making me think the company will rebrand even more of their drinks. While not as drastic a change as Pepsi, the 7up rebrand is really nice and makes a much more identifiable and bold brand.
The most effective part of this rebrand is the colour choices, which are much more vibrant. What works particularly well is the bright, complementary red colour, and the way the greens can reverse for different products. The colours feel really refreshing and zesty, which is great for making the packaging appealing to customers.
I also think the application is really great, especially how the red “up” is used as a separate part and has touchpoints designed around it. It makes the branding more dynamic through application and helps the recognisability. The use of this secondary colour which is just as important is really interesting and is something I could see myself exploring in the future.
What is truly remarkable about both of these rebrands is that they are so effective and have such massive improvements while both being done in-house and not by a branding agency.
