Behind SodaStream’s design and product overhaul

SodaStream—once known as a spunky upstart with ads mocking big soda companies—continues to pursue a more refined marketing approach nearly four years after PepsiCo bought its one-time competitor. The brand’s latest moves include a design overhaul, new tagline and more upscale product lineup that seeks to appeal to design-obsessed and environmentally conscious consumers. The maker of at-home sparkling beverage machines engaged design and branding agency Pearlfisher to assist with the redesign. It includes a new logo featuring two interlocking water droplets arranged in a yin and yang formation, which SodaStream describes as “depicting balance and harmony, as well as resembling the planet.” The new look, which will be included on the packaging soon hitting the market, follows the debut of the new tagline, “Push for Better,” which began appearing in advertising earlier this year, replacing “Better for you, better for the planet.” The new line plays off the action of punching the button on SodaStream machines that begins the process of producing at-home carbonated drinks. It “symbolizes the positive choice that you make for your life and for the planet,” SodaStream global Chief Marketing Officer Karin Schifter-Maor said in an interview. “And our consumer relates to that with our big mission to change the way the world drinks.” The changes come as SodaStream begins selling a new premium product line of sparkling water makers called the "SodaStream Collection.” They include features such as “Quick Connect,” described in a press release as giving “the consumer a more seamless experience by simply snap-locking the bottle into place and inserting the carbonating cylinder with one click.” One of the machines, branded “Art,” sells for about $130 and is aimed at design enthusiasts, coming in colors such as Misty Blue and Mandarin Red. It comes with a lever, rather than a button. “It’s a modern, retro design…that not only looks beautiful but gives you this feeling of you're making your own first sparkling water,” Schifter-Maor said. Another model, called “Duo,” has not hit the U.S. market yet, but is being promoted in other countries as its first machine compatible for both glass and reusable plastic SodaStream bottles. SodaStream is planning to launch a new ad campaign early next year, once the new logo and visual identity are incorporated into packaging, Schifter-Maor said. The brand, which is sold in some 47 countries, uses Energy BBDO as its lead U.S. agency. PepsiCo, which acquired SodaStream for $3.2 billion in 2018, has increasingly touted SodaStream’s mission as it responds to rising consumer demand for brands and products that are perceived as sustainable. The beverage giant late last year rolled out an ambitious sustainability program called “pep+” that called for scaling the SodaStream business globally as part of a goal to cut virgin plastic per serving by 50% across PepsiCo’s food and beverage portfolio by 2030. Moves have included marketing Pepsi-branded flavors tied to brands such as Pepsi-Cola, Lipton and Bubly for SodaStream machines across multiple global markets. In the U.S. SodaStream began testing Pepsi syrups in California in March. In mid-2020, PepsiCo began marketing SodaStream outside the home, with a new business called SodaStream Professional, which is aimed at workplaces and other food service accounts. The collaborations are a far cry from SodaStream’s marketing approach from several years ago, when it mocked Pepsi and Coke with ads featuring visual devices such as exploding plastic soda bottles. While PepsiCo does not break out SodaStream’s financial results, “my sense is it has been successful as a business,” said Duane Stanford, editor and publisher at Beverage Digest. “It's not that it has to have the biggest growth rates in the world [because] it's a very good way for them to hedge their bets on the bottles and cans sustainability issue.” SodaStream experienced a surge in demand in the early days of the pandemic as more people worked from home. The bump began subsiding by late last year, as life returned more to normal, forcing layoffs, according to press reports in Israel, where SodaStream is headquartered. But Schifter-Maor suggested that the brand is still benefiting from the “home-as-hub” trend, as a significant number of people continue to work from home. As a result, “our products become a much, much more integrated part of their lifestyle,” she said. See all of Ad Age's 2023 Agency A-List winners here

Behind SodaStream’s design and product overhaul

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