60 Second Marketer Blog » The cola wars

Pepsi Introduces New Brand Identity to Add a Spark to Sales.

JamieTurner — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 16:15:41 +0000

The soft drink industry is a relatively mature industry (although you could argue that it’s a young industry in China, India and other developing nations). But in the United States, carbonated sugar water will have to work harder and harder to generate the kind of returns they did in th 19th and 20th century.

When an industry is mature, you, as a marketer, have to find increasingly innovative ways to add a spark to sales. That’s why Coca-Cola introduced the uniquely-shaped plastic bottles several years back (which, apparently, was just what the brand needed to see a bump in sales).

Last week, PepsiCo introduced a new brand identity for it’s flagship brand Pepsi. The company tends to noodle with its logo much more frequently than Coke because of its strategy to focus on youth and innovation. (For more on this, visit the Marketing That Works blog from 60 Second Communications, where you’ll find a posting called “Why is the Coca-Cola Brand More Valuable Than the Pepsi Brand?”)

In any case, Pepsi has jazzed up their logo and, in our opinion, have done a pretty good job with it. Sure, you could argue that there have been better attempts in the past, but we think this one is pretty good.

What do you think? Should they have changed their logo again? How’d they do this time?

Let us know your thoughts.

Ms. Indra Nooyi, Pepsi and the Cola Wars

JamieTurner — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 13:20:53 +0000

A few days ago, I wrote a post about the Coke vs. Pepsi cola wars. I pointed out that Pepsi is a very forward-thinking company. There’s wide-ranging evidence to support this, including the fact that they’ve hired Ms. Indra Nooyi as their CEO.

As is often the case when I write something on this blog, The Wall Street Journal is quick to follow in my footsteps with a story about the very same topic the next day.

I’m kidding. That was a joke. It’s actually the other way around.

Anyway, today’s Wall Street Journal does an excellent job with a profile of Ms. Nooyi called “PepsiCo CEO Adapts to Tough Climate.” The article highlights the fact that Ms. Nooyi was the brains behind the decision for Pepsi to take the lead in the U.S. in the beverages that are growing the fastest: juices, flavored and bottled waters, teas and other drinks.

It’s a good article and one that’s well worth reading. Check it out!

Coke vs. Pepsi: What Pepsi Got Right

JamieTurner — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 00:11:04 +0000

It’s crossed my mind that there are two articles on The 60 Second Marketer that discuss the Coke vs. Pepsi cola wars. One of them recounts a study done at Baylor University that used brain-scans to analyze the findings of a taste test. The other talks about the brand essences of Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi.

You might read these two articles and think that I’m a bit biased towards Coke, but that’s not actually the case. (If anything, I usually root for the underdog, which is why I’m an Apple computer fan.)

Anyway, there are a lot of incredible things Pepsi has accomplished over the past several decades. They spotted the bottled water trend before The Coca-Cola Company did. They were the first to jump on the consumer shift to non-carbonated beverages. And they’ve done a fabulous job with some of their core brands like Gatorade and Mountain Dew.

There’s a lot to be said for the folks at Pepsi — including the fact that they have Indra Nooyi as their CEO, proving that the gang in New York is a forward-thinking bunch. (For the record, I can recall 7 or 8 top people at The Coca-Cola Company from the past two decades and 100% of them are white males.)

Anyway, the cola wars continue in part because Pepsi keeps The Coca-Cola Company on its toes. And that’s definitely something worth acknowledging.