Pepsi Logo: History, Design, and Transformation

Pepsi released a new logo design last year. It’s dazzling and upbeat, with a pulsating life and a color palette to make you go whoa. It’s everything you always imagined a modern soda brand to be. Assertive, unafraid to enjoy, and up for some mad fun.

Since then, the ‘Pepsi logo 2023’ has constantly been knocking on our analytics door. The designers couldn’t stop talking about it and the marketers wanted a post on it ASAP.

So here it is.

Today we talk about everything Pepsi’s new logo. How it came about, what the new logo represents, and how has Pepsi’s logo design journey been so far.

Pepsi Logo – Old vs. New

Origins and Overview of the Pepsi Brand

Pepsi’s global revenues exceeded $90B in 2023 and are set to exceed this figure again in 2024.

Whenever we discuss these global, massive, larger-than-life brands — which we often do in this space — we frequently find beginnings that are not that impressive. Most brands start small, with ideas that do not seem too out there or even inspiring.

But from Starbucks to Pepsi, all these ideas pay dividends in the right hands and become transformative forces in countries and cultures.

Pepsi’s Founder Caleb Davis Bradham

When Pepsi was born as Brad’s Drink in 1893, its inventor Caleb Davis Bradham, a pharmacist by academia, believed he was creating a medicinal drink to aid digestion and improve gut health. He quickly realized he was onto something big.

As soon as Brad’s Drink was launched, it was an instant hit. Customers would rush to his small pharmacy and line up to buy the fuzzy cold soda.

Within a few years, his brand had gone big enough that he started buying off other local brands in the area. One such brand was Pep Kola.

The reason Caleb Bradham bought it was that he wanted to name his drink Pepsi Cola — Pepsi, after the digestive enzyme pepsin to cure dyspepsia (Latin for indigestion). Poetic, right?

Shortly after purchasing Pep Kola, Bradham filed for the brand trademark and started selling Pepsi Cola with a new logo design. The logo design was similar to Pepsi’s direct competitor Coca-Cola but Pepsi had a different soda formula. It was sweeter than Coke and more syrupy too.

Pepsi-Cola vs. Coca-Cola logo

For some years, the two brands competed fiercely for market share, but Coca-Cola remained ahead.

By 1910, Pepsi-Cola had franchises in 24 states and expansion plans across the country. But the WW1 outbreak changed everything. The prices for raw materials soared, and the cost of producing Pepsi-Cola rose too.

In 1923, the company filed for bankruptcy, though it did not mean the end of Pepsi. Caleb, however, sold the valuable Pepsi-Cola trademark to Craven Holdings Corporation—one of many future owners of Pepsi.

From 1923 to 1950, the time proved challenging for the budding and growing brand. Pepsi filed for bankruptcy again in ‘31. And again, it did not stop moving and growing. Through value-focused marketing, jingles in the ads, collaboration with musicians, artists, and entertainers, and unique ad campaigns, Pepsi not only stayed afloat but prospered and transformed.

During the later part of the 20th century, Pepsi successfully positioned itself as a brand for the youth, for those living in the moment, people who want to dream and try and push the boundaries just a little bit more every time.

While Pepsi’s branding has never been consistent like that of its arch-rival Coca-Cola, it has done something that Coke could never do: become a staple drink for cultural moments and generational transformations.

Pepsi Logo Evolution

Vintage-focused branding trend is here, and the redesign of the Pepsi logo is its biggest proponent of the year.

From the original Pepsi logo, which looked more like a shop sign, to today, Pepsi has gone through a very turbulent journey of self-discovery and reflection.

While its new logo design is bang on the buck, the section below contains some painful reminders of what happens when a brand can’t get its brand identity right.

Pepsi Logo Evolution – 1893 to 2024

Note: Deviating from our practice of chronicling every new logo change, we will divide the Pepsi logo evolution into periods. Given Pepsi’s history of frequent logo revisions with minimal substantial alterations, we propose an approach that offers a more thorough perspective.

• 1893: Brad’s Drink — The Original Pepsi Logo

Brad’s Drink – 1893

Pepsi was originally called Brad’s Drink after the guy who invented it. Caleb Bradham was an unknown pharmacist in North Carolina who, perhaps inspired by Coca-Cola’s success, created his spin on the drink and marketed it to locals as a drink to combat indigestion or dyspepsia.

He sold Brand’s Drink from his pharmacy and quickly realized it was becoming a roaring success. Using his business acumen, he created a logo design for his new drink and turned it into a predecessor for much bigger things to follow.

• 1898 – 1942: The Swirly Pepsi Wordmark

Caleb Bradham bought a local soda competitor ‘Pep Kola’ and renamed Brad’s Drink to Pepsi Cola. While the name Pepsi refers to a digestive enzyme, that enzyme is not part of the Pepsi recipe. Caleb probably just liked the idea of Pepsi fighting off ‘dyspepsia’ and went with it.

Pepsi Logo – 1898 – 1942

Pepsi’s first logo design resembled another famous cola logo of the time. It featured a wordmark logo design in red on a white background, and to say it was swirly would be a gross understatement. The logo design’s script went everywhere and did everything.

The wild wordmark had elaborate curls and buzzy, electrifying strokes. The kerning was nowhere to be seen, and letterforms were connected but disjointed. Over time, the logo started to simplify.

The wordmark calmed down. Kerning was introduced, the ribbon feature became more prominent, and by 1940, Pepsi’s old logo design was transformed into a stylish new identity similar to its competitor but not weird to look at.

• 1950: Pepsi in Blue and on the Bottle Cap

Pepsi Logo – 1950

1950 bought with it a string of logo design changes for Pepsi.

• The blue color was introduced to the palette.
• The three colors now appeared as stripes on the logo, mimicking a flag design, perhaps to champion the post-war win euphoria.
• The logo transformed from a wordmark to a combination logo.
• A cap illustration became Pepsi’s primary logo icon.

In this era of Pepsi cap illustration, the Pepsi logo had another change of heart.

In its 1962 redesign, the cap illustration became the official background of the Pepsi logo. It abandoned its delicate swirls in favor of a solid and commanding sans serif in the dark, rich blue and became a more imposing wordmark by expanding beyond the cap’s limits.

• 1962 – 1969: Pepsi (sans-Cola) in Black

Pepsi Logo – 1962 – 1969

The Pepsi cap illustration took a new turn with another primary logo revamp. The ‘cola’ was dropped from the brand name in a significant move, and the cap illustration is now laid flat on the Pepsi official logo, working as its formal background.

The 1962 redesign also abandoned the delicate swirls of the previous logo and made the first Pepsi logo design appear bold and commanding in a dark, rich black sprawled beyond the confines of the tiny cap.

• 1969 – 1996: The Pepsi Globe Era

Pepsi Logo – 1969 – 1996

This period highlights a critical moment in the history and evolution of the Pepsi logo.

In its 1969 rebrand, Pepsi introduced its globe icon for the first time. This icon was achieved by smoothing out the ridges of the bottle cap and eliminating any clear borders. The Pepsi logo now resided comfortably inside the Globe over the white stripe of color.

The Pepsi wordmark was again recolored—this time blue. With so many details removed, we see a clean and cohesive Pepsi identity for the first time, and it certainly looks fresh and ready for the 1990s.

• 1997 – 2008: Pepsi in 3D

Pepsi Logo – 1997-2008

The Pepsi logo’s history is marred by its 3D experimentation. Sure, the late 90s and the aughts were riddled with a little too many 3D visuals for anyone’s taste, but Pepsi, in its haste to remain relevant and fresh in changing times, hopped on the wagon too quickly.

In any Coca-Cola vs Pepsi logo evolution study, people would notice that Coke was able to form an unshakeable brand identity because it refused to move every time the tide shifted.

It stayed true to its origins and earned a solid standing with its consumer base. Pepsi, on the other hand, earned the reputation of a volatile brand identity prone to frequent changes and experimentation. Some of them paid off big—the Diet Pepsi logo for its Zero Sugar cola was a smashing sensation—but some of them totally missed, like this 3D logo tragedy.

• 2008 – 2023: Modern Pepsi Logo

Pepsi Logo – 2008-2023

It isn’t humanly possible to talk about Pepsi’s 2008 logo iteration without mentioning the Arnell Group document — the document that equated the new Pepsi logo they were designing to earth’s magnetic fields, the gravitational pull, and the perfection of the Golden Ratio.

While the golden ratio is a natural phenomenon of perfect visual harmony, the rest of the document was so ridiculous that many people thought it was a hoax.

Unfortunately, it was not.

Pepsi stood behind Arnell Group as the design firm became an internet joke. The group would go on to finalize the brand identity it was creating for Pepsi—a tri-color Pepsi Globe, with the red and blue stripes merging and gradually expanding in width along the center.

That old Pepsi logo was not very attractive design-wise, but it continued to serve the Pepsi brand until 2023.

• 2023 – Now: New Pepsi Logo

Pepsi Logo – 2023-Present

Celebrating its 125th anniversary, Pepsi has released a brilliant new identity. The new Pepsi logo is a refreshing take on an old version, in step with the branding trend of going back to the roots and finding answers for the future there.

This new logo design has metallic tones and a very thirst-quenching color palette. The iconic Pulse is back, too, and plays in time as the Pepsi logo animates and moves.

When the company launched its new logo design, it wanted the identity to take over the world and position Pepsi in an optimistic, vibrant light. Nearly a year into the new design, we can confidently claim the Pepsi logo redesign was a success and wait for what it does next.

Key Elements of the Pepsi Logo

The current Pepsi logo is made up of 6 key branding elements.

• Primary Icon: The Pepsi Globe

Of all the significant brand identity assets, the logo design is the most critical. Pepsi relies on its iconic globe symbol as its most prominent logo design feature.

As a combination logo, the globe not only identifies the Pepsi logo but also communicates Pepsi’s position as a global snacks and beverage company known to all.

Pepsi Icon Evolution

While the Pepsi Globe has become an iconic logo the world over, it didn’t start as a globe. The beginnings of this ‘gravity-defying’ mark are much simpler and practical.

It speaks of a simpler time in 1950 when Pepsi rebranded its logo and used its bottle cap illustration as its logo design. Over the years, Pepsi kept simplifying the cap illustration, eventually smoothing out its ridges and uncovering a globe shape underneath.

• Supportive Icon: The Pepsi pulse

If you’re new to the Pepsi branding, you may have noticed its ‘pulse’ feature for the first time.

Pepsi introduced this supportive element back in 2012 with its Live for Now campaign. It has been reintroduced with vigour. It works as the brand’s background feature on various touchpoints—website, social media posts, logo design, and more.

Pepsi Pulse – (Source: CreativeReview)

The Pulse represents Pepsi’s rhythm, its connection to music, its outlook on an optimistic future, and its confident space in the midst of it all.

As a brand messaging tool, Pulse is exciting and wants to be experienced to the max.

• Colors: Electric Blue, Black, & Red

The new Pepsi logo has a brand-new color palette too. The electrifying blue and that sanguine black herald the future as the Pepsi Era.

Pepsi Logo Colors

By keeping the colors solid and saturated with enough light in them, Pepsi’s branded color communication has reached new heights.

Shedding away the decades that weighed down Pepsi with one misjudged branding after another, these colors allow Pepsi to reassert itself as a vibrant, contemporary, and modern beverage brand.

• Typeface: Pepsi Owners

A good logo design will always have a typeface that complements its character and personality. The new Pepsi logo uses a bold and upbeat custom typeface that matches its new vibe.

Pepsi Logo Font – Pepsi Owners

The new Pepsi typeface is called Pepsi Owners, a customization of the Owners typeface, which was inspired by the public signage across LA parks and streets. The Pepsi Owners typeface is a display font with thickset lettering yet comfortable stroke joints.

• Brand Emotion: Unapologetic Enjoyment

When Pepsi announced the logo redesign, the company stated its purpose of helping fans experience unrestricted joy and vitality through its products, marketing, and global reach.

“At its core, Pepsi is inspired by helping fans choose more moments of unapologetic enjoyment.”

We can probably guess what this unapologetic enjoyment might mean—more aggressive marketing positioning Pepsi as fun, hilarious, and cool as you please. Take a look at the ad below and see how right we are.

• The Pepsi Slogan: “That’s what I like.”

Pepsi Slogan – (Source: Variety)

To compete with its new brand positioning as edgy and enjoyable, Pepsi has come up with a new slogan: That’s what I like.

The focus is on choice, enjoying the choices we make, and giving ourselves the freedom to choose freely.

While we may not induct this Pepsi slogan into our best slogans of all time list, it’s frankly not a bad one. It stays on message, delivers it perfectly, and is easy on the ears.

For those who want their logos to be more commanding and evocative, here is our free guide on crafting a business slogan that sticks.

Your Pepsi Logo FAQs

Ask, and you shall be answered!

• When did Pepsi change its logo?

Pepsi has changed its logo numerous times over its 125+-year history. The latest logo, featuring an electric blue brand color with a black Owners font, was released on March 28, 2023. It sports a vibrant color combination and a font style perfect for print—features necessary for modern brand identities in digital landscapes.

• What does the Pepsi logo represent?

The new Pepsi logo represents legacy branding to the core.

Through this latest redesign, Pepsi has revisited its logo design past to find elements and moments that solidified its brand character and messaging the first time around. Pepsi has found these brand comrades in an electric blue color palette, a rich black font, and the return of the iconic Pepsi pulse.

Together, these changes position Pepsi as audacious, ready to do more, and a brand on the beat with the latest in pop culture and entertainment.

• Why is the Pepsi logo round?

The round Pepsi logo is actually a globe icon, branded as the Pepsi Globe. In brand-speak, it represents Pepsi’s global reach, the love it receives from a worldwide audience, and the language of confidence and pop culture relevance it speaks.

Historically, the famous globe icon is an evolutionary product. Pepsi’s early bottle caps prominently featured its brand name, symbolizing a changing identity. The original logo evolved into the iconic Pepsi globe emblem in the 1970s, which has endured as the company’s official symbol since then.

• What changed in the logo of Pepsi?

Pepsi’s new branding has introduced several new features. We see a refreshed color choice that makes Pepsi appear more exciting and upbeat. The revised wordmark looks confident, too, undoubtedly helped along by the dark, rich black.

While the key details may be reminiscent of an old Pepsi logo design, these details put the soda brand firmly into the future as a gutsy, fearless icon.

• Did Pepsi change its logo in 2024?

No, the new Pepsi branding was unveiled in the US market in March 2023. Due to global marketing strategies, you may see a new Pepsi logo in 2024 if you are outside this region.

• What is Pepsi’s complete form?

The word Pepsi is not an acronym or word combination. Two factors contributed to Pepsi being named as such:

• Pepsi’s inventor, Caleb Bradham, bought the name Pep Kola from a local beverage competitor.
• He believed his drink was healthy and aided digestion, similar to the digestive enzyme pepsin. This enzyme is not part of the Pepsi ingredients.

• What is Pepsi’s slogan?

Pepsi has had many slogans over the decades. Its most famous ones include:

• 1964-1967: Come alive! You’re in the Pepsi generation.
• 1939-1959: Twice as much for a nickel.
• 1980s – 90s: The choice of a new generation.

Pepsi’s current slogan is ‘That’s what I like.’