As further evidence of the increasing threat that crowdsourcing poses to advertising agencies, PepsiCo’s Mountain Dew will reward marketing duties for a $100 million-plus business to a consumer-picked player, via an online contest beginning in late November 2009.

We noticed something interesting printed on the sodas that were on the table at an all day workshop we attended (as consultants) yesterday. The Pepsi cans say New York (and they were ‘bottled’ in New York state too).

In Spain Pepsico’s Lay’s chips not only have a rather surprising Jamon flavor but also a rather surprising Bolsa de Suerte promotion. The “good luck bag” campaign dreamed up by Tiempo BBDO consists of little scratch cards in each of their bags of chips. With them you can either win a free bag of chips or cash. Pepsico are giving away 3,000,000 free bags of chips, which should say something about their margins on the stuff. The campaign, if my Spanish has not left me completely, aims at letting people who have never won anything win something. Free chips [...]

PepsiCo has opened the first ‘green’ plant in the industrial center of Chongqing, China. Meeting the standards of the U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED),  it is the first of six planned plants over the next two years.  The plant uses over 35 water and energy saving designs and utilizes the world’s most advanced technology, including an environmental management system that monitors water and energy use on every production line and every piece of individual equipment in real time. Water is reused for landscaping and cleaning, natural lighting dominates 75% of the interior  and the [...]

One of the biggest factors that hinder change at large beverage companies is the cost to alter the bottling process. Often the bottling companies have contracts that are tied up for years to deliver so many of a certain drink in a certain size. PepsiCo seem to have taken steps to change the status quo with the $6bn purchase of two of largest bottlers and therefore have greater control over its product sales in North America. The Financial Times reports:
If the acquisitions go ahead, PepsiCo will handle the distribution of about 80 per cent of its total North American beverage [...]

Pepsi will be debuting the first eco-friendly soda machines this month in Washington D.C. The vending machines are also the first to use carbon dioxide instead of HFCs as a coolant and will release 12 % less greenhouse gasses than the previous models.
Currently, PepsiCo is testing machines that use alternative refrigerants, such as isobutane and propane. The company is also eliminating HFCs from the insulating foam found in vending machines, coolers, and fountain equipment.
[via Brand Freak]

The beverage aisle just keeps on getting more complicated. In the last two years companies have put their new product development on hyper drive and the beverage segment has fractured more and more. In the last few months, though, consumers are finding it even more difficult to find their favorite refreshments— this time due to rebranding. Companies are implementing new ways to keep their brands enticing during this recession, and many are turning to new packaging.
Here we look at some of our favorite drinks, what they’ve become, and the reaction to the changes.
Pepsi Co. has lead the way with its [...]

Some readers may have noticed our mild quest against high fructose corn syrup and its uses in foods like soda. In fact, we celebrated when we learned of Pepsi Raw in Europe would not contain the ingredient that betrays your body and have natural ingredients. Now, we understand that Pepsi is going to launch in April ‘Throwback’ versions of their popular drinks Pepsi and Mountain Dew with sugar replacing the HFCS!
We hadn’t held much hope for this move. A while ago PSFK Team members were invited to a focus-group session with Pepsi executives and at the end we were asked [...]

Amidst all that has happened recently with public figures and their wrongdoings, there might be something to take away from it all.
A-Rod has admitted to taking performance enhancing drugs, Michael Phelps has been photographed taking a bong hit, and the Associated Press is being sued by Shepard Fairey in a dispute over their Obama images.
There are clear “rights” and “wrongs”. These are the legal issues. Taking steroids is against MLB rules; smoking marijuana is against the law; whether the AP or Fairey is in the right will be determined in a court of law.
Then there’s public opinion of what’s right [...]

There’s a document circulating around the internet at the moment which is supposedly the design brief behind the new Pepsi logo. It uses all kinds of complex “science” and esoteric theory to justify the logo’s redesign including: the golden mean, the “gravitational pull” of Pepsi, perimeter oscillations and more. Pepsi’s energy fields are also explained, and somehow the relativity of space and time are involved as well.
The document’s veracity is in question because, well – it all sounds so crazy. But a Pepsi promotional video from last year uses some of the same images from the document (see below), so [...]

Brand New recently compiled a list of their best and worst new logos for 2008.  Top honors leaned towards simple and colorful adaptations, but there is not an agreed formula for a perfect logo.  According to their visitors, the new Pepsi logo was overwhelmingly negative and the new Taca logo was named as one of the best.
The top honor went to 826 Valencia and their fictional pirate themed products.  A measure of playfulness is something highly respected by other designers and the best adaptations seem to come from a balance of clarity and beauty.  Most logos adopted a clearer and [...]