Pepsi’s rebrand was big, bold and courageous

Brand renewals aren’t easy—especially when you’re a gigantic global icon, vulnerable to viral ridicule for any perceived mistake in design or direction. Pepsi learned as much in the aftermath of its last brand renewal, even as it drew mixed reviews. See all of Ad Age’s 2024 Creativity Award winners here This time, things were different. A bold new design that recalled past glories while at the same time looking fresh and contemporary earned Pepsi Best Rebrand honors at the 2024 Creativity Awards. As a brand with a long history of courting the youth market, Pepsi could not afford to look old-fashioned, even as market research indicated a nostalgia for past designs. As part of the design process, the brand asked consumers to sketch the Pepsi logo from memory. Nearly all drew old versions of the Pepsi logo—and virtually none drew the then-current version with the “smile” globe and lowercase lettering. With that experiment as a guide—and a mission to convey a message of “unapologetic enjoyment”—a custom all-caps font powerfully inserted the Pepsi name back into the globe. New colors—electric blue to convey vibrancy, and black to signify the brand-driving Pepsi Zero Sugar—were introduced. And a series of “pulses” and “ripple effects” radiating out from the logo—what Pepsi called a “living and breathing” design asset—helped the brand stand out on store shelves and online, while evoking Pepsi’s long association with music. Post-launch, Pepsi saw its brand value improve by 17% on Kantar’s Brandz ranking, with Kantar attributing the rise in part to “great advertising.” Judges were impressed with the look—and admired the courage with which Pepsi attempted a big bold change, and pulled it off. “I loved it,” one judge said. “I thought it was great design, great feeling … visually creative, and that’s hard for a brand like Pepsi to do.” See all of Ad Age’s 2024 Creativity Award winners here

Pepsi’s rebrand was big, bold and courageous

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