Pepsi’s Counter-Intuitive Branding Strategy

The International Herald Tribune takes a look at how Pepsi is trying to connect with the Second Life generation with the use of avatar iconography:

Frank Lampard, a midfielder for Chelsea, the English soccer team, is known for his quiet persona, but when he steps onto the pitch, he sometimes undergoes a Clark Kent-style transformation into Superman. So a new Pepsi can featuring Lampard depicts him as a cartoon superhero, like an alter-ego avatar from the online virtual world Second Life.

The Lampard packaging, which is being prepared for the British market, is one of dozens of new can and bottle designs coming from Pepsi as it seeks to connect with the “Second Life generation” — young consumers who may be fiercely loyal to certain video games or portable music players, but relatively indifferent when it comes to choosing a mass-market soda brand.

Under a new branding strategy, Pepsi is introducing new can and bottle designs every few weeks, planning to sell 20 or more different ones annually in every market. Pepsi has already started selling the new packages in several countries, including China, Australia, Brazil, Mexico and the United States, and they are coming soon to Europe.

For a mainstream consumer brand to vary its packaging so often is a striking departure from marketing convention, which says that brands should strive for consistency. Brands were developed to reassure consumers that they were getting the same product every time they bought it. Why tinker with that formula?

Pepsi’s counterintuitive branding strategy – International Herald Tribune