What Makes a Successful Brand – Pepsi vs Coca-Cola

Consumerist posted this chart and, like them, I find it fascinating regarding the notion of branding and trademarks.

The evolution of the Pepsi logo over time doesn’t strike me as coming from a place of strength – whereas the Coca-Cola logo appears to be timeless.

The red scripted colors cause an obvious problem with the Coca-Cola logo and the bottle cap visual dates the logo to a particular technology that has been long discarded.

Beyond the simple curiosity factor – this is a great example of spending time choosing a name, logo, colors etc. that don’t tie your brand to a particular technology, place in time, etc.  

Getting from the “mess to yes” is a complicated task – but when it is executed correctly – the outcome should be timeless.

I must admit that the 1973 Pepsi logo made me recall spending summer evenings at the lake with my family…

So the question is — Does a “good” brand evolve over time or is it something that has “it” at the moment of conception. Just a little something fun for the dog days of summer.

You may be interested in reading the following related posts:

1. Kokie Cola Anyone?
2. hershey’s joins the war on drugs; uses trademarks to fight munchies
3. ashcroft on DOJ IP taskforce
4. Test your trademark knowledge
5. scanning books & plagiarism

Posted by Douglas Sorocco, August 3, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Permalink: What Makes a Successful Brand – Pepsi vs Coca-Cola
4 Comments

Comments

On August 19th, 2009 at 1:19pm Another trademark person said…

I prefer Coke over Pepsi, too, but that’s a little oversimplified. Coke has tweaked its logo, and had its missteps. Where’s New Coke? A better analysis is at http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/coca-cola_vs_pepsi_revised_edition.php

On September 8th, 2009 at 9:57pm Pittsburgh Patent Attorney said…

I like the analysis. People don’t often think about their marks evolving over time. However, this comparison demonstrates how marks can stay the same or change.

On October 14th, 2009 at 8:23am Rebranding Pepsi. Not so bad after all. — UX Hero said…

[...] Meanwhile Pepsi is “the one that’s not Coke.” That’s why Pepsi has to periodically refresh their look to boost shelf [...]

On January 13th, 2010 at 7:19pm Vancouver Web Design said…

Thanks a lot for this post. I really had no idea pepsi has changed their logo this many times I’m a web designer myself and I have noticed how much of an impact a good logo has on a website or a product they’re trying to sell.