Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Pepsi: Breathtaking Design Strategy (2008) [pdf]

jimedwardsnrx.files.wordpress.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 276 posts

Re: Pepsi: Breathtaking Design Strategy (2008) [pdf]

#191

Post by Gordonjcp »

iancmceachern wrote: post #125
lofatdairy wrote: post #67

I don't think the title prepared me for this. I saw the first page and thought "oh, that's a terrible graphic, why are you moving away from the future". the mona lisa and taijitsu symbol seemed a bit over blown but still sorta grounded. I literally burst out laughing when I saw the contour lines and energy fields. Definitely was not prepared for "Pepsi Universe", either. I assume that by that point in the presentatio…

And he called this work for Pepsi "BS" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-the-firing-of-weird-design-...

> In pre-publicity for Shift, Arnell reveals that his habit of eating up to 50 oranges a day has left his hands bright orange in color.

Bullshit. You'd be in a permanent sugar rush until your pancreas went on fire.

Re: Pepsi: Breathtaking Design Strategy (2008) [pdf]

#194

Post by isametry »

russelldjimmy wrote: post #118
mushufasa wrote: post #6

despite how silly this may seem to many in the HN audience, I will contend that: if you were running a multi-billion dollar sugar water company whose main moat is the brand, and spent hundreds of millions on ads each year as one of the key line items in the budget, you too would want this level of sophistication and thought put into a brand refresh. Probably even more. And you can imagine that this document was debat…

Here’s how I believe it works: 1. A link is posted to HN whose content can easily be made fun of, because it appears bizarre without context. 2. People on HN jump at the opportunity to make fun of said link so they have something to take a dump on. It’s a wonderful ego-trip. They cannot get enough of it. Most of those who do not need the ego-trip to feel better about themselves usually move along without comment. 3.…

In general you might be right. But let’s be honest – in this case, despite any amount of context, respect, critical thinking or benefit of the doubt, the content of the link is still just stupid. No way around it.

Now granted, there’s a lot of ignorance, also in this thread, as to why companies develop elaborate philosophies behind their brands to an extent which seems far-fetched for the average person. But it’s also true that in the marketing field, especially on the higher levels, it’s really easy to start bullshitting. And this document is not only a great example of this, it’s an example dialed up to 11.

I agree with you that content which is presented “to be laughed at” inherently spawns some degree of non-productive, toxic discussion. But I also believe that we should never not call out bullshit when we see it.

Re: Pepsi: Breathtaking Design Strategy (2008) [pdf]

#196

Post by just-tom »

awestroke wrote: post #179
dereg wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think so. My visceral reaction was: SMH, this is why I stick with Coke .

Why are you promoting the Coca Cola Company? I assume you're not paid to do so

Yes, they paid him to promote Coke on HN comment section.

Re: Pepsi: Breathtaking Design Strategy (2008) [pdf]

#197

Post by nomilk »

Surprising just how much the logo uses the Golden Ratio in the placement of the geometries [page 19], and generation of the circle sizes [page 20].

Thought experiment: can a logo that heavily uses the Golden Ratio actually look bad? It could be the ultimate 'design for dummies' hack.

Re: Pepsi: Breathtaking Design Strategy (2008) [pdf]

#198

Post by retcon »

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #177
shoo wrote: post #45

PepsiCo Inc (PEP, Nasdaq) isn't merely a beverage company - as explained in this strategy document - it is a space company. The Pepsi Universe, with respect to its 8 light year characteristic length, reflects the scale of the total addressable market (TAM) that PepsiCo can expand into. Noted short-seller and equity valuation skeptic Jim Chanos once described the TAM of space companies as infinite, because space itsel…

Imagine trying to conquer space when you can't even conquer Coca-Cola!

Remember that John Sculley has been the only one who could. Kinda. Sculley invented the Pepsi Challenge, (and infamously failed it on camera) signed Michael Jackson to promote and went off to Cupertino and did some interesting things there too. But Coca-Cola Company had Michael Bay and still does. If you're dealing in visual impact imagination Michael Bay's a trump card.

Re: Pepsi: Breathtaking Design Strategy (2008) [pdf]

#200

Post by _def »

rob74 wrote: post #169
iancmceachern wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is good stuff, you can't make it up. It looks like lots was going on at the Arnell group at this time. In this article it even quotes Arnell as saying this work for Pepsi in OP as "Bullshit" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-the-firing-of-weird-design-... You can't make this stuff up

Quote from the article about the "Breathtaking Design Strategy" document: > February 2009: Arnell sold Pepsi a pretentious, mostly made-up brand ideology document linking Pepsi to the Mona Lisa, De[s]cartes and Hinduism, as part of a successful logo redesign. Price: $1 million, reportedly.

Well if I pay someone 1 million $ to redesign a logo... It better comes with some life changing philosophy
Post reply on HN