Why Did Pepsi Decide to Change the Color of the Can?

1. Why did Pepsi decide to change the color of the can? What were the drivers for this decision? Who was resisting? Who are the stakeholders and what’s at stake for each of them?

Executives were assigned to evaluate a signature color to Pepsi products. Pepsi charged an identity consulting to evaluate the point-of-sale presence of Pepsi family of brands.

The results were inconsistency and lack of integration in the presentation of the Pepsi logo and graphics all over the world. The test showed that Pepsi owned no particular color except white this made Pepsi look weak, flat and washed out compared to Coca Cola’s bold red decal. Furthermore the old long red pedestal and it’s ball did not work well on the side of trucks or vending machines. Some people associated to Pepsi cans with motor oil. The logo did not express energy and core essence of Pepsi that’s why Pepsi decided to change the color of the can, so blue was identified as a strong color and represented a contrast color to Coke’s dominant red color. The PCI’s president and the vice president in charge of Eastern Europe saw this idea as a positive change. On the other hand several franchise bottlers were concerned about Pepsi blue.

Concerns were e.g. expenses and management time that would be required for this project to work or the question of the U.S. organization would be willing to adopt the plans from the international side.

Others were worried that funds might be diverted from faster growing non-Pepsi brands to support weaker links in the brand portfolio. Mainly executives and bottlers were stakeholders of PCI in this case. A new product appearance could limit production abilities and significantly raise costs. Executives …………………………………………………??????? Was risikieren die stakeholder, wo steht das?????????

Who is Pepsi’s target audience and how is that