Pepsi’s new logo—what designers like (and don't like) about the refresh

Everyone loves to hate on a new logo. That is, until one comes along that most people seem to genuinely like. This appears to be the case with Pepsi’s redesign, unveiled this week. Led by PepsiCo Chief Design Officer Mauro Porcini and created in partnership with design agency Mrs&Mr, the soda giant’s new logo and visual identity—its first since 2008—are meant to reflect boldness and energy, as well as pop-culture and digital cachet. Read: Pepsi reveals new logo—inside the rebrand The Pepsi wordmark is back in the Pepsi globe, and a custom all-caps font and new colors—electric blue and black—refresh the essence of the brand. Ripples radiating out from the logo connect the brand to its love of music, and a can silhouette is designed to work, emoji-like, as a flexible visual shorthand. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs Ad Age polled a number of designers about the new identity, and the reaction was largely enthusiastic—with a few detractors. Below are some of their thoughts and insights about the changes. Brian Collins Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer Collins Kapow! Rumble! Crash! Bang! Boom! Pepsi explodes out of its dreary millennial design malaise. And it comes out swinging. My team has worked on Coca-Cola since the mid-aughts when design began its mighty ascension at Coca-Cola under design leaders David Butler and James Sommerville. PepsiCo has worked hard since to carve out its own point of view. But after the recent smart redesign of 7Up, and now this unapologetic relaunch of their anchor brand, they are finding their voice. Even hitting their stride. I am sure graphic designers are pointing, once again, at their screens, criticizing the typography and other elements. As they should. That's all good. It means we all care. But unlike Coca-Cola, whose signature Spencerian script has been constant since 1886, Pepsi is always evolving, always shifting. So it is not only appropriate to evolve their identity, it is inevitable. And this time, they did it with gusto, if not a return to what made them stand out in the first place: acting like a confident, unapologetic contender. To Mauro and team ... complimenti! The other great thing this has done is finally shifted the mean-spirited attacks away from the “We❤️NYC” design program. That was getting out of hand. Pum Lefebure Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer Design Army The minute I saw the logo, it brought back childhood memories of a bubbly frizzy Pepsi … in a glass bottle in the ’80s! Growing up in Thailand, my mom would always have ice-chilled bottles of Pepsi in the fridge, and we would have to pop them open with a bottle opener and always drink them with a straw. This new logo has just enough retro to “recall” a specific time, without being too specific. I like it when a brand embraces its heritage and draws inspiration from it. A facelift is a good thing when you can still recognize the person. Pepsi is making their classic current. The overall branding feels like Gen X meets the metaverse. Like a bro keeping up with the times—and that’s a good thing. To me, the brand has a sports-meets-gaming feel. It does lean a little masculine in a non-binary world, due to the color. Since color has meaning both physiologically and culturally, the black-and-blue combo feels more macho. However, I happen to love a cobalt blue and black color combination. It says bold, confident, and unapologetic. Overall, I like it. The branding is confident, and it doesn’t care if you like it back or not. The globe goes BIG—that’s the biggest circle you can fit on a can—and the typography brings the BOLD with all-caps and a short x-height, putting the PEPSI wordmark front and center, unlike the previous logo. The white outline treatment will allow the logo to be applied to practically anything and is friendly to use. The logo also passes the emoji test with ease. It works well as a tiny digital expression or on a giant billboard. The logo has legs because of its simplicity. I would love to see this logo in a glass bottle again. Would be very on-brand to grab a bottle of Pepsi from the cooler, like in the old days. It would be very badass if the liquid color of the new Pepsi Zero was pitch black, instead of brown, to match the new branding. Hamish Campbell Executive Creative Director Pearlfisher Welcome back Pepsi. This rebrand makes me smile, probably the way Pepsi should. But not quite a leap for joy. In time, it might. I feel Pepsi has always struggled and been a bit schizophrenic with their identity over the years, especially if you chart their logo history—it’s been a wild journey. From the previous version, the offset nature didn’t feel right for a brand with the stature of Pepsi. I also could never unsee the “overweight character” with a large belly hanging out from under their shirt. Maybe I’m being charmed by the nostalgia but building from the ’70s and ’80s feels right for Pepsi, without being an overtly nostalgia play. I appreciate their return of confidence with a bold and unapologetic stance. Getting back to what they know—and what consumers know—behaving like a true iconic brand. Which they are. If I’m my most critical, I do like the new bold wordmark, but there is something a little off with how it sits together with the globe. I wish some of the characters had a better relationship with the wave, and the sharp cut on top of the “I” is a tad uncomfortable—but these are small things. I love how they are embracing the darker rich blues and interchangeable radiating rings that have the potential to give the brand flexibility and a modern freshness. The best iconic work comes from depth, symbolism and authenticity, and I can see this being reflected in the new identity. Looking back to move forward can be powerful and effective, drawing from their authentic self, connected to the symbolism of a balanced—yin yang like—world, or just simply carbonated bubbles. It works for me, and I think it will prove its success over time. Andy Cooke Creative Director and Head of Design BBH London In timely Pepsi manner, another identity refresh lands right on cue. The usual and logical 2020s reasoning of a logo being fit-for-digital makes sense, but I can’t help but feel they’ve missed an opportunity in not going fully in on their visual equity from the past. Burger King did and did it well—whereas Pepsi’s one foot in the future dilutes it all a bit. The type is a tad awkward, but I can see what they were trying to do. The return to the globe is good, but it’s yet another version of it. The strong association with music at a brand level potentially puts them in a corner, too. While it’s better than the 2008 rendition, I can already see a 2038 refresh on the cards. Craig Dobie Founding Creative Director Applied Design Overall, I like what the new Pepsi logo is trying to achieve and is mostly successful at. The Pepsi name returning to the inside of the globe in all caps is a great way to capture what is already in the minds of many consumers. Despite it not being that way for 10-plus years, it is certainly a good idea to build on the strong visual association people have—a quintessential form that people clearly cherish and identify with. Shifting to colors that are punchy on screen as well as on packaging also helps the new design meet the objective of being a bold and confident brand across many different touchpoints. However, the finished result could have had a little more aesthetic finesse to the way the elements are drawn and balanced. Matching the angles in the P’s and the I to the angle of the terminals of the S in the newly redrawn Pepsi logotype is a little heavy-handed for my taste, but it does lend the whole thing an interesting retro styling. The black outer keyline also skews retro but keeps it squarely in the past. Without it, I think the balance between retro and modern could have been a little more successful. It is exciting to see Pepsi move forward by returning to their roots. Yihuang Zhou Designer Mother Design I love that Pepsi has brought back the classic logo. Despite the “globe” logo being in use for 15 years, I still associate Pepsi with the classic logo. The main reason is its simplicity. I believe most people are able to draw a convincing classic Pepsi logo freehand. In contrast, the “globe” logo is a less iconic shape. The new wordmark is bold and wide, and it commands attention on both packaging and screen. The shapes of P and I do make it quite quirky, which is more complicated than a simple “good” or “bad.” Nevertheless, they add a unique touch to the brand. I am curious to see how the wordmark could be used independently and its potential to become a standalone brand asset for Pepsi, without the red-and-blue logo around it. The “pulse” pattern presents a lot of exciting opportunities for Pepsi. It was a delightful surprise to see it utilized in a tactile way on the soda machine. Howard Belk Co-CEO and Chief Creative Officer Siegel+Gale Creating a single icon by placing Pepsi within the globe will be more memorable for consumers and simpler for creative teams to brand the thousands of Pepsi consumer touchpoints. This change may look minimal, but it’s not. Those curves in the globe and nice angles in the P’s, combined with the juiced colors, make this logo sing, particularly on screens and devices. Maria D’Amato Executive Creative Director GSD&M It always feels like a bold move to change a logo of this scale and market saturation, so it will certainly be met with skepticism—see: the “We❤️NYC” logo. That said, I quite like how it harkens back to the iconic logo I remember from my childhood, which gives Gen X and older millennials a nice nod and a feeling of familiarity. I’m also thinking about the fantastic advertising they’ve done off the sail shape of the old logo. It was probably always destined to be a one-off type execution, but man it was good. From a design perspective, their reasoning to make the change is also very sound: It’s more in line with the modern sensibility than the previous iteration, and their custom font, which I love that they created, provides personality without being so specific that it will feel dated quickly. However, I’m not sure the retro typeface works perfectly with the radiating patterns. The patterns are so modern, especially with the neon and gradient effects, that they feel a little mismatched with the flair of the letterforms. Ultimately, for a brand that is associated with popular music and culture, it’s wise to lean into that in the new identity, which helps to differentiate from the “classic” positioning of another brand. And while lots of people will probably be super vocal about hating it, it’s far from an epic failure like the Gap rebrand from 2010 that lasted all of six days, and I think we’ll all get used to this one over time. Ad Age Creativity Bookmark our section covering the best in brand creativity every day Read more here Meg Jannott Head of Design Lafayette American I think the Pepsi rebrand positions the brand well for the future. I can already see myself making eye contact with this in Target and then instinctively reaching for it. It’s comforting. The cyber P’s are a little nuanced, but maybe they’ll appeal to a gaming or tech crowd. The newer generation has seen enough ’80s movies to feel the heritage in this. I think brand loyalists will love it the most. They’re going to become true evangelists because this takes the brand back to its legitimate DNA. It’s like being at a Stevie Nicks concert and hearing the opening notes of “Dream.” The crowd goes wild. Amin Todai Founder and Chief Creative Officer OneMethod So … without context on the “why” of the rebrand, or any broader background of the strategy that went into it, I’d say they’ve done a really good job of blending nostalgia with contemporary. I’m getting those ’70s vibes with enough of that new-age sheen to make this feel new. We all know design trends run in cycles, and I can already see the next KITH collab that riffs off this—if they weren’t already getting paid by Coke. Haha. In today’s world, the brand war of Coke versus Pepsi is already locked and loaded for most people millennial and up—does RC even matter? So, ultimately this comes down to swaying Gen Z or even next Gen Alpha. This brand nod to modern-retro will give them a rich design territory to work with for that “next generation.” Wasn’t that one of their old-school slogans anyway? The key will be how creatively adventurous they will be with this rebrand. Lazy design relies on nostalgic tropes to evoke emotions. Let’s see what Pepsi’s agencies do with this to push past that. Adriana Ivory Design Director The Garden, Toronto The main takeaways from the rebrand and various rationales for the changes is that leaning into consumer equity and perception, as well as being inspired by the past, are strategically sound choices for a rebrand rooted in brand resonance. The rebrand has done a nice job of balancing the desire to rewind into a nostalgia-inspired logo space with modern and contrasting brand components. This is evident from the updated wordmark to the fresh new take on a classic Pepsi blue color story, a palette clearly leaning into the black tones of the new “hero” Zero Sugar can. That said, some questions of refinement and longevity do come to mind. The logo seems to mostly be presented in applications where it’s visually screaming and loudly showcasing itself. While that is super successful in terms of making a splash and reinforcing the brand’s personality, what does it look like in a more subtle approach? How does this evolve beyond the rebrand launch? I also wonder about consistency in application and timeless nature of such intense and high-contrast graphic elements. Although it’s clear where certain design choices have come from—leaning into bold, energetic and more digitally focused branding—at the end of the day there is also a very on-trend style treatment happening in both color combinations—vibrant blue and black—as well as vector patterns and gradients. Some questions/food for thought: How will all of these old yet new graphic styles play out after the first year of launch? Will relying on such a strong color palette and minimal design system help or hurt the brand after years of consumers seeing these elements? How will this treatment apply across varying touchpoint and applications where imagery or video will be the hero versus a texture behind the logo treatment? In the end, I recognize that we as designers are creating work to make a splash and stand out in the market as it is now, but what does that mean for the life expectancy of brand elements that support a rebrand? I for one am excited and curious to see how this rebrand evolves and grows over the years within a market and industry that are constantly evolving right alongside it. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs Stephanie Yung Chief Design Officer Zulu Alpha Kilo First off, no company should fear change. So I appreciate that after 15 years they decided it was time for a change. Conceptually, I think what they were trying to achieve was spot on—making it optimized across mediums, and harkening back to, in my opinion, their best logo from 1987-97 (not to date myself) by integrating the PEPSI name at the core of the globe icon. A reclamation of their origins of sorts. I love that they referenced those elements from that identity, and switched to all caps. If the Pepsi logo from 1950 and the Pepsi logo from 1987 were to have a baby, this would be it. On a craft level as a designer, I would have loved to see a little more balance in the letterforms themselves, but I’m not sure any layperson would see that, to be honest with you, as the overall effect is bold and confident. While looking at the logo as a standalone mark, you can be very discerning and nitpick certain details. I think where the identity really comes to life is through its applications. It looks extremely bold and modern yet retro at the same time. It’s interesting how the scale of the logo can create a visual interest and standpoint on par with the more popular Coca-Cola wordmark. I can see the cans themselves standing out on shelf, and applications like OOH and motion are visually engaging, which I appreciate. I enjoy that it honors the storied, iconic brand that is Pepsi and I’m happy to see them reclaiming that in this design reset. Nicole Massaro Director of Design 22Squared I love it! Where the previous branding lacked personality, the new logo is commanding, lively and modern without losing any of the classic elements that make it Pepsi. The new logo, and the scaling of it, has a lot more presence to attract consumers to the product. It definitely feels classic without looking like a “throwback” design. Modern design has departed from the stark and simple “blandvertising” of the early aughts, and I was thrilled Pepsi take the cue with this new logo. Excited to see it on shelves! Greg Auer Executive Creative Director Fusion92 and Mint Werx Personally, I like the new logo and can see how the simplicity and boldness of this 2023 iteration will help Pepsi cut through the cluttered digital space. Similar to restomod cars, the new Pepsi logo brings a modern take on an American classic. A confident brand like Pepsi is wise to transform with the times. I can see applications of this refreshed logo across many different platforms, from a metaverse concert to a video game reward to retail and beyond. The new logo design will allow my “Pepsi Generation” to harken back while inspiring the “current/next Pepsi Generation” to feel connected to this iconic brand. Stephen Niedzwiecki Co-Founder YARD NYC The new direction does have a boldness to it that the previous one started to lack. Some of the new design, graphics and imagery additions give the brand more ways to express itself on different platforms and mediums. That said, though, when I first saw the new logo, it made me think of a gas fuel or energy brand, the Obama logo and a sweatshirt I bought years ago at SXSW which was a play on the Pepsi logo but said PEYOTE. I prefer its use on flat and digital with the addition of imagery and graphics than on the can itself. I do think the new logo borrows bits and pieces from logos of the past, from 1950 to 2007. The feeling of modernism comes from the graphics surrounding it or behind it. It’s a departure from the more recent logo, but for the consumer, it will still connect because the nostalgia of past logo reiterations is there for them. Carlos Ortega Senior Designer McKinney I think it looks great. It’s bold and fits within the current landscape of legacy brands where old is new again. The colors and typeface feel new and vibrant, but it’s got a distinct retro flair that harkens back to its logo from the ’80s and ’90s. We’re seeing lots of brands looking back at their visual history and reintroducing elements from previous logos and marks with modern updates. Burger King and Heinz are recent examples of brands bringing back old visual language and simplifying it, or as Heinz called it, “celebrating simple greatness.” I think this is in line with a few different movements within branding we’ve been seeing lately—one being Gen Z’s proclivity for appreciation of legacy brands with decades of history to draw from and shying away from the direct-to-consumer brands that defined millennials’ shopping habits. I feel like the post-COVID era will lead to a renaissance of older brands reestablishing themselves with younger audiences. People want to feel safe and look for stability, and older brands have a distinct advantage of having cachet with consumers who are looking for reliable and trusted consumer products. Brands would be smart to bring back visual elements that remind consumers of their childhood but have been updated in other areas like colors and typefaces. It’s not going retro just for the sake of cashing in on the trend but for reestablishing an old and trusted favorite with today’s consumer. I think Pepsi executed it well. Zack McDonald Chief Creative Officer B-Reel As a child of the ’80s, I spontaneously like the new design. I’m glad they took inspiration from their slightly glam decade versus going into a thesis on the Golden Ratio. Thumbs up! Neil Cooper Senior Creative Director, Head of Design London Wolff Olins I really like the new Pepsi identity. It's a bold mark that harks back to the brand’s heritage. This ‘big revert back to old’ is something we're seeing more and more of from brands recently, as direct-to-consumer brands flood the market. Legacy brands are looking to reinforce their heritage, rather than reinvent themselves to stand out. 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Pepsi’s new logo—what designers like (and don't like) about the refresh

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