Do rebrands ever work?
I am possibly the world’s least qualified person to comment on design. A bizarre portrait of Mike Gatting prompted the following comment from my 2nd year art teacher: “despite Paul’s obvious lack of ability he tries his best.” Pretty damning stuff.
Despite this lack of ability I am still going to spout forth on the recent Pepsi logo. The design brief was leaked onto and reveals the ‘thinking’ behind the new design. It’s all about the earth’s gravitational pull synergising with the gravitational pull of Pepsi. Obviously.
As a tech PR guy of many years, working with designers and brand strategists is something that comes up from time-to-time. Sometimes it is illuminating, sometimes I think ‘what on earth are you banging on about’. But this really takes the biscuit. Is this representative of design briefs generally?
Pepsi
Anyway, the outcome is the smily logo you see above. It’s positive I guess, although it certainly doesn’t look like it has had the finest design minds working on it night and day. What do you think? Which brings me back to what prompted me to write this post - do any rebrands or brand launches meet with acclaim? The London 2012 logo got universally panned and it would seem that companies that choose to spend thousands of pounds are actually on a hiding to nothing. Everyone is a critic and the internet provides everyone with a platform to share their opinions. Although its got people talking about it’s brand, maybe Pepsi could have spent the money more wisely…
Tags: branding, logos, rebrand
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Comments (5)
February 11th, 2009 at 5:53 am Posted by Becky McMichael
Ask Pizza Hut…Pasta Hut…I mean Pizza Hut.
February 11th, 2009 at 6:01 am Posted by Paul Allen
ha ha, exactly. But it seems that anyone that wants to change brands or launch a new one gets slated for it - BA, Post Office, 2012 etc etc.
There must be some good designers out there!?
February 11th, 2009 at 6:09 am Posted by Hannah Smith
Pepsi needs to make a distinction between a rebrand and simply a new logo design. Will Pepsi actually stand for anything different when it is represented by this smiling new logo? Will adding a bit more white and showing a bit less red and blue actually change the way that the consumer perceives Pepsi? Will it make your average teenager pick up a Pepsi over a Coke? Does it demonstrate Pepsi’s ongoing CSR battle to be green? I think the answer here is a categorical NO.
February 11th, 2009 at 6:23 am Posted by Hugh McKinney
Hannah raises a good point - when companies rebrand how do they ensure continuity of perception? Surely most companies will want to give the impression that some things have changed but the core values, the reason you came to the company/product in the first place remains the same - quality and continuity - you know what to expect.
In which case, why rebrand?
If you are changing the core offering and rebrand to reflect this, will re-branding make any difference? Will it widen or deepen the market?
February 11th, 2009 at 6:46 am Posted by Paul Allen
good points Hannah. maybe the money spent on new logo could have been spent on a CSR programme that actually delivered some more tangible results?
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