Coming into market within the past few months are the “re-branding” attempts by Pepsi, which includes Tropicana brands. There is much discussion about the new suite of logos which, to the trained eye, are horrid. After much research, I have come to the conclusion that all of the re-branding efforts by Pepsi are to realign itself with the downward economy. You might not hear it from them directly, but this is an attempt by the company to assure consumers that Pepsi is now closer to “Generic” brands and the consumer can be confident that she or he is on board with thrifty spending. The issue with this, in my opinion, is that there should never be a drift so far from the brand that consumers have trusted for so many years. When changing a logo, you are changing the consumers image view so drastically that it may be tough to recover in the long run. Pepsi (and Coke) have had a solid family of brands for more than several years and this was due in part to the fact that they held a solid IMAGE that reinforced IDENTITY in the public eye. Now, the problem for Pepsi is that they have switched to matching their image with something that can be considered “trendy,” and we all know what happens to trends. They could recover, or the future of the world may realize what happens when it drinks too much soda!
Before and After
C-Town Market, 150 and Broadway, Harlem
Fairway Market, Harlem location, NYC