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The Arnell Group & PepsiCo

Summary #

The Arnell Group is a design company famous for its work with DKNY and Banana Republic (among many others). In the last several years, several of its high-profile projects with PepsiCo have met with derision and consumer outrage.

Notebook with clean paper

Blank paper does not count towards the page count of a report.

(Photo: jacqueline-w at Flickr)

Commentary #

In 2008, an Arnell Group design document called Breathtaking was leaked to the public. The 27-page document was the point of much ridicule as its contents attempt to explain how the proposed Pepsi logo was the ultimate realization of thousands of years of good design. Gems include:

Apparently, the new logo fulfills the destiny of good design in addition to making Pepsi's logo look similar to other modern logos.

In 2009, the Arnell Group orchestrated the Tropicana orange juice package redesign. (Tropicana is owned by PepsiCo). The design met with amazing backlash from consumers (supposedly, there was a 20% drop in sales) and the existing iconic straw-in-orange design was reinstated.

Meta #

What was your reaction when Pepsi changed its logo? What about Tropicana? Other companies?

See Also #