Two of the most recognizable logos in N. America have announced drastic facelifts.

First up is Pepsi.

The new Pepsi logo will be skewed in order to resemble a smile:

Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, and Pepsi Max will have different variations of the smile. According to AdAge, “a ‘smile’ will characterise brand Pepsi, while a ‘grin’ is used for Diet Pepsi and a ‘laugh’ is used for Pepsi Max.”

Over the next three years, Pepsi plans on spending $1.2 billion to change everything about its brands – their looks, packaging, and merchandising.

As if that wasn’t enough, Mountain Dew will be rebranded Mtn Dew (perhaps to appeal to the younger, texting crowd?):

My thoughts on Pepsi’s rebranding: I don’t like it.

Last summer, Coca Cola underwent a redesign and came out triumphant. Taking away the superfluous swishes, swirls, and fizzes, it delivered one of the strongest testaments to its brand in the company’s history.

Perhaps Pepsi was trying to take a cue from its biggest competitor. Citing the current economic situation as the driving force behind the rebranding, Pepsi tries to mimic Coca Cola’s design success and miserably fails.

Sure, the new design is more modern, more chic, more hip. However, those words are not always the best choice of adjectives for a 100+ years old company that is synonymous with American culture.

The new bottles look more like space-age energy drinks, if you ask me.

Let’s move on to the next brand on our list: Best Buy.

From the before and after shots, it is obvious that Best Buy aimed to draw away from its outdated and garish logo.

I actually like the overall look of the new logo. It’s clean, modern, and plays homage to the old logo.

However, something nagged at me as soon as I laid my eyes on the new logo and I couldn’t figure out why.

Then, while searching for images of the new logo, it hit me.

The typeface.

I had written about the power of a typeface before.

In this case, the typeface does not work with the logo.

It is an indecisive font, neither new nor particularly striking. It is inconsistent in its ends and corners, giving the viewer an unsettled feeling.

Too bad, because the rest of the logo isn’t horrible.

What do you think of Pepsi and Best Buy’s new logos?

(via Brand Infection – Pepsi, Best Buy)

The last time I was in San Francisco, I ran into the world-famous Bushman as many other tourists do at Fisherman’s Wharf. After getting the crap scared out of me, I had a little chat with him, and even asked, “Do you make enough money doing this?”

“Hell yeah, I sent two kids through college doing this.”

(image source)

Now I have no idea if this claim is true or fale, but his Wikipedia page indicates that he makes up to $60,000 a year – well above the U.S. average annual income.

I was reminded of the Bushman as I read a blog post titled The Best Salesman in the World at Get Rich Slowly.

Joe Ades, dubbed “the gentleman grafter,” may possibly be the best salesman in the world.

Mr. Ades was born the seventh child of a poor widower in Manchester, England. He now owns a 3-bedroom Park Ave apartment. He and his wife dine at some of the finest establishments in New York, and never get turned down for a table.

So what exactly does Mr. Ades do? How has he found such success?

Wearing pristine British gentleman garb, Joe Ades sits at a corner of midtown Manhattan and sells potato peelers. At $5 a pop.

See him in action here:

Get Rich Slowly estimates that Mr. Ades makes about $200/hr selling these potato peelers.

I’ve never had the chance of running into Mr. Ades, but after watching this video I have a sudden urge to go seek him out – because I now want a peeler!

Joe Ades’ remarkable story even made the pages of Vanity Fair last year. If you have the time, read it – it’s a terrific narrative of a New York legend.

It just goes to show that you don’t need to go the conventional route to succeed. If you have a special talent or an extraordinary idea, keep pushing forward with it. Because even at $5 a pop, you can still become a financial success.

I love it when companies go the extra 5,280 feet! When a fan made this YouTube video about a glitch in the Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 video game, EA took notice, spun the story to work in their advantaged, and acknowledged the fan’s efforts in this new commercial:

Brilliant marketing! Great job, EA!

(via Micro Persuasion)

One of my favorite blogs, ColourLovers, posted an entry today titled “The Colors of Global Brand Identities.” As a self-confessed color freak, I naturally found the post utterly titillating and delightful.

Some of the color palettes were immediately recognizable:

If someone had blocked the titles of the above and asked me to name the brand associated with each palette, I would’ve been able to answer immediately.

Others were not so obvious, and I must admit that I was disappointed with myself to not be able to recognize them at first glace:

I was especially bummed to not recognize this instantly:

How many times do I access Google’s main page and use its applications every day? Heck I go to their office so much that people are starting to think I work there. Bad Jenny!

Seeing all these colors in their various hues and shades evoke different brands and images, I wondered to myself: can colors represent people too?

I believe the answer is yes.

For example, I always associate the color baby blue with my friend Jun, because he once went through a phase where he only bought clothes and apparel in that particular shade. For my birthday one year, he bought me a pink hat, scarf, & glove set – he then immediately pulled out the same thing in baby blue, proudly declaring, “Look! We can match!” Personally I think he only bought me the pink set so he’d have an excuse to buy the baby blue one. 

I associate the brown shade of a potato with J, because he’s obsessed with potatoes and Mr Potatohead toys. In addition, one of my favorite sweaters of his is that exact color, and when I picture him, he’s usually wearing that sweater. Brown may seem like a bland, neutral color but that particular shade is very friendly, approachable, fun, and laid-back…just like him!

As for myself, I think of myself as a gray. Not any particular shade of gray, but just gray in general. At first gray evokes a boring feeling. However, I believe that the color gray has the ability to change the most drastically via the addition of other colors. Think about it – there are grays with strong tones of yellow, green, blue, etc. There are cool grays and warm grays. At first glace, simple and a bit boring, but upon further investigation, complex and highly volatile, and sometimes a bit harsh…yep, that’s me.

I associate my mother with deep purple for her proper and impeccable manners. My sister is a sparkly magenta for her full and vibrant personality. My friend Elyse is a pale pink for her beautifully soft voice and femininity. Jessica is a champagne gold for her bubbly and outgoing personality. I can go on and on.

Do you associate a color with yourself or your loved ones?

A few weeks ago, I walked out of my office building and nearly screamed in delight to see this:

(My camera phone took pretty lousy pictures that day so I was reluctant to post them. Fortunately, I was able to find these photos at TheForce.Net. Although these weren’t taken by me, this is the actual view when you walk out of my office building.)

“Gold bikinis never go out of style”…how effing brilliant!!!

A couple of days later, I found this just one block away:

(photo from Gothamist)

Yes, that tappity-tap-tap is the sound of the geek in heels, jumping up and down in excitement. I want to take a bus from this bus stop just so I can live out the experience in its full glory.

Wait, it gets better.

A few days later, I saw ANOTHER ad on the train. I burst out laughing, forcing quite a few morning commuters to look up in surprise.

I did a bit more searching and found two more ads in this series:

(all three images from SlashFilm)

I have always been a sucker for good advertising and this is no exception. So Spike TV is airing all six Star Wars episodes. Big deal, right?

However, you have to realize that the product they are trying to sell is one of the best-known film franchises in history.

How do you sell something when the majority of your target audience has already purchased the product (or in this case, seen the movies)?

How do you kill that which has no life? (Sorry, stupid South Park analogy.)

It is precisely for this reason that I have to give Spike TV and its advertising group major props for this series of ads. They have taken a popular and revered product and re-packaged it with a fresh and comical twist. They have managed to target both Star Wars fanatics and potential new arrivals alike: the fanboys are reminded of the little things that made them fall in love with the franchise in the first place, while the newbies are drawn in with hints of sex, camaraderie, pride, and humor.

Bravo, Spike TV. Well done.

You can visit the Spike TV Star Wars homepage here.