PEPSI - Rebrand Failure?

Has anybody seen the latest rebrand for Pepsi? I absolutely hate the new branding which is done in a minimilistic style with light typography. The new look is incredibly poor. The style reminds me of a superstore brand, rather than a billion dollar enterprise. I cannot understand why they have made such drastic changes. The old style had character with a solid typography which gave the feel of a confident brand. The style now, strikes me as being more suitable to yoga lovers who like all things slim. Due to the minimalistic look, it doesn't even look American anymore, which to my mind, strips the PEPSI brand of its identity. Time will tell if whether this 1.2bn rebranding has worked.

Old Pepsi Brand



New Pepsi Brand

Storm Troopers

While reading the free Metro newspaper on the bus, I came across a fun segment that made me smile. The segment was about a photographer who for over a year has been putting up daily pictures of Storm Trooper toys in various forms of adventure. My two favourites has to be the the table football and the free and easy spiritual walk through the dandelion patch (both shown below). I just think the simplicity of these pics are brilliant and relies on the historical association of the Storm Troopers, had it been unknown toys, it would simply not have worked. See my third example to see what I mean, as there is no association to the unknown Japanese toy, the fun factor cease to exist. However for the young familiar Japanese audience, they would probably find it funny.

Storm Troopers Table Football


Storm Troopers leisurely Stroll


Japanese Super Hero fighting cat (example mock)

Wolff Olins - Two bad designs

I have been working on a UNI project to improve the look of the Samaritans. The current design is just awful, even the website is dated looking. I am unsure if the branding for the Samaritans is done deliberately like this, to show that it is run by volunteers. More astonishingly, with over 25,000 volunteers, someone could have improved the look by now. In case you are wondering I am not slagging the work that the Samaritans do, I think as an organisation, they are tremendous, and a brilliant cause. It was during my research that I found out that the Samaritans brand was designed by the design agency Wollf Olins. This totally oustanded me, surely something from a reputable agency could have come up with something better. The logo itself is just a typeface called Tarzanna created in 1998 by Zuzana Licko, nothing is actually designed. This I know, as the new Samaritans brand was developed in 2002. Ok, it has been 8 years now, but it would have looked dated even then. Again while researching, I found out that Wollf Olins also designed another project, which caused huge uproar in the news and on TV, the design in question is the 2012 Olympics logo, again another astonishing piece that I personally find poor. The point of this thread, is that it shows, no matter how good you are, agency, designer, artist, you are going to have the odd off day.

Samaritans


2012 Olympics Logo

Dexter Guerilla Marketing

This is such a bizarre concept. Although advertised to such a small audience over the meat counter, the prop of the fake (hopefully) hand being exhibited as meat, with a price pick attached, but instead promoting the detective series Dexter instead of a price is uncannily clever, in that it will remind you to watch or discover the series of Dexter, about a forensic profiler by day and vigilante by night. However there is a risk that it will put people off purchasing the meat on the stall. The same concept could be used to promote Thomas Harris best seller Silence of the Lambs etc. I think this is a 50/50 situation where it can work to the benefit of the TV series, but a hindrance to butcher's stall.

Anybody fancy a hand sandwich?


Another Dexter Guerilla Promotion

Samuari Vodka Design

While trawling through the net, I came across this design for a japanese vodka, although heavily stereotyped, you can't help but admire it. The sloping of the bottle, indicating that it has been sliced is incredibly cool. The packaging although simple in shape is truly elegant. The pattern surrounding the box is similar to the style of clothing that a samurai warrior would have worn. This beautful design was produced by Moscow based designer Arthur Schreiber.

You can find other bottle designs by Arthur Schrieber here.

Samurai Vodka Design


Samurai Warrior

DHL Courier Service - Fab Concept

This is such a clever concept for DHL International Courier Service, so simple yet absolute genius!

However I would have done something a bit more cultural, maybe one side asian, with asian landscape, and the other side possibly europe, with a typical european background.

At the end of the day, this is a brilliant concept of turning the central page which features the same courier on a transparent page, which tells you straight away what DHL is all about.

Left Side:



Right Side:

John West Red Salmon - Bear

After analysing part of this advert for my research for my thesis, I couldn't help but chuckle every time I watch it. This ad will be forever timeless. It was during my deeper research that I discovered that this ad was made in Scotland and not Alaska as the clip is pretending to show. There was also only one bear made for this scene, the other bears in the scene were in fact the same bear, this was achieved by clever movie crop editing. The bear outfit itself was made by the Jim Henson Creature shop.

The humour of this advert proved to be a massive influence for the brand, as the sales increased by 23%, and the market shares rose by a staggering 72%. This kind of proves how a successful advert that has a great humorous sketch can draw attention to consumers. Humour in advertising when used correctly can be a powerful tool.

Jinnah

I can't believe from a professional view point how much money Christopher Lee and his co-owners has been sued for not paying an artist extra payment for other dvd work he had done on a 1998 movie called Jinnah. £640,000 is to be awarded to artist Gerardo Moreno. I think this is great news that the artist had won his case, but I would never had dreamt that such a lawsuit could generate this kind of money for designing a dvd cover and interactive menu. Although looking at it from another point of view, 1998 was 12 years ago, so possibly through a combination of sales and merchandise baring the work of Gerardo, he was entitled to some of that money. Had Lee and co paid when they should have done, Moreno would not have been entitled to anything else, accept the terms of the contract. Personally though, without being disrespectful, the dvd cover does nothing for me in terms of design, although the period and style is very much associated with the theme of the film. I personally find the cover a little bland and predictable.

Rolo

One of my most favourite adverts of all time has to be the Rolo advert, this featured the mean little boy who teasingly deprived the baby elephant of his last Rolo, only for the elephant to get his revenge years later. This Advert was made in 1992 by Rogier Van Der Ploeg. Rogier's other work can be found at http://www.100commercials.com/

So in future, remember what you do with your last Rolo!

Advert for Metro

A spanish advert for the Madrid Metro, very clever effects wise but a little hard to comprehend. Although the voice over is in Spanish, it says in English "There are more people to see that madrid is an unlimited city to move in, that's why in Metro de Madrid (underground, subway) never stop to improve, to grow, to reach further every day, because you deserve one of the best metro of the world. Metro de Madrid, flies".

On a personal note I have used this service and compared to England, the service is spot on!

What does anyone else think of this advert? Does it work or not?