New Pepsi Branding :-(

Just when I decide that I think I like Pepsi more than Coca-cola they go and ruin their packaging. Now I don't want to be seen drinking it. Coca-cola cans were always cooler but now the pepsi cans look like a supermarket own brand. I'm not impressed atall. Good job I am cutting down on my cola intake.

I can kind of see what they were trying to do. Be minimalist. Coca cola cans are very simple. But the coca-cola logo is kitsch and classic and curvacious- it's interesting on its own. This new Pespsi logo is so timid and weak. It's got no energy or oomph. It doesn't say sugary, sweet, energised, fun, fizzy drink to me like the previous branding. It doesn't say much atall!

Coke has always positioned itself as 'classic' and Pepsi as more contemporary and hip, changing with the times to keep up with the kids but now I think it's gone backwards. Perhaps not backwards enough though. If only the cans looked like these classic beauties, I would be reaching for a can right now, if only to have it sat on my desk for a while to admire. You could say this branding is minimalistic and simple like the new branding so what's so much better about it? but these just have more impact, confidence and personality.

Personally, I think they should have saved a few milion dollars and gone back to this classic branding.

Or to be even more classic and nostalgic, I would love to see cans with this old logo on. It's perhaps a bit too much like Cocacla though.

But then maybe I need to stop comparing Pepsi to Coca-Cola and let it do its own thing.

I think I will just have to go back to liking Coca-cola more!

Strategically placed billboard ads- This one's got the X Factor!

I love seeing billboard ads which are strategically placed to utilise the surrounding ads/use the ads' content to make their ads more amusing, current and sometimes shocking. Not only does it make them noticable it makes them more amuzing and memorable- they seem to take over from the other ads and become like the star of the show. The ads around them seem less clever and pathetic in comparison. It's like they got upstaged, like they performed but then another ad came and did one better than them. In this sense, the latest milkshake ad from McDonalds certainly has the X factor.

It's probably the best one I've seen as it uses a very famous and contraversial campaign to promote the product. The loreal ads came under fire when cheryl was accused of using hair extentions to thicken her hair, therefore misleading consumers in the ads.

McDonalds claims their milkshakes are 'painfully thick', making fun of Cheryl Cole and suggesting that their milkshakes are extremely thick. I think it works becasue by making fun of the Loreal ads it portrays McDonalds as an honest brand that wouldn't advertise their products as something they are not. Although I think the mesage would have been simpler and more effective if it said 'genuinely thick' as 'painfully thick' is a bit confusing- im not sure exactly what they are trying to say- that Cheryl Cole is painfully thick to have done the ads perhaps? Not sure but I love it anyway.

Would Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez have played the US president?

I was watching a quiz show earlier when there was a question on Emilio Estevez (whom i'd never heard of)- 'Who is the famous father of actor Emilio Estevez?'- the answer was Martin Sheen and I remembered seeing him on a chat show talking about how he had changed his name a while back. But I thought if his son has taken his real surname Estevez, why had he changed his name, as it's a perfectly interesting, attractive and glamourous sounding surname- unlike mine (Hancocks). I then read that his real full name is Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez and that he changed it to avoid being type cast as ethnic characters. It totally made sense becaue hearing his real name didn't suit his persona atall- it didn't suit his brand. I realised that a stage name is like a brand name. Martin Sheen couldn't say powerful, white, American, good-guy any better and as a result he has played US president more than once as well as other athorative characters.

A recent advert for Aviva asked 'Would Walter Willis be the leading man in a movie?'- the answer is probably not but Bruce Willis would be! As with Marilyn Manson- would Brian Warner become a terrifying heavy metal super-star?

There are the many more obvious examples of stage names which create a brand- from 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg to Dita von Teese and of course Jordan.

And 'Jordan' is the perfect expample of how changing a brand name doesn't always work- as Katie Price is just as hated by the public! Maybe if she changed her name to Dita von Teese's real name, Heather Sweet she might get somewhere...

The Logo Board Game

I got the Logo Board  Game for christmas as my big sister knows I have an interest in logos. At firt I thought it's be a bit geeky and somethig that only I would enjoy and would have to pretend I didn't. But it's actually a really fun and interesting game for all the family. 

I think it should perhaps be called the Brand Board Game as it's more about brands than just logos but  'logo' is a probably a more fun sounding word. The questions are about all sorts of brand related things; some are about identifying brands from their logos and packaging and some are about slogans and origins of brand names. There are cards where you are given a clue such as 'Animals' and are then asked to name a brand of boiled sweet for example: the answer being 'Fox's'. Then there are cards where you have to name the box of chocolates from looking at the shapes of the chocolate- definatley a good game for sweets and chocolate lovers. I found it to be really fun and competitive because you get questions that only certain age groups might know and all the questions are about things you could possibly know. You don't need to be clever or full of knowledge, the answers are all around you.  It was also really educational for someone wanting to learn about brands because you learn things abut brands you didn't know before and you can find out some interesting trivia to tell your fellow graphic designers if you want to be really geeky! Do you know what animal is hidden in the toblerone logo? That will give you something to look for next christmas...