Pepsi Football Visual Identity | 2023

Designer: PepsiCo Design & Innovation, New York, New York, USA
Manufacturer: PepsiCo, New York, New York, USA

Pepsi® has long been a mainstay of the global football scene and has an unrivaled heritage in football entertainment. In the football space, the brand has always pushed its boundaries by creating new campaigns to engage more consumers, resulting in billions of views and millions from ad revenue. Ever the challenger, Pepsi is changing its game, casting a new vision to immerse itself even further in football culture beyond one-off campaigns to drive cultural impact that grows market penetration. Fueled by its longtime love of the game, Pepsi is aiming to be the world’s most iconic football entertainment brand.

To achieve this, the Design Team expanded the world of Pepsi Football and created an evergreen Pepsi Football Visual Identity System (VIS). This VIS reflects a new design strategy for a system which would go beyond the confines of existing one-off club partnerships and create further opportunities to activate football programs year-round, driving an ‘always-on’ voice in football culture. The evergreen VIS needed to build a strong visual connection to football culture to be as relatable as possible to fans while driving home the Pepsi global big brand idea of “Thirsty for more.”

In order to maximize fan connection and relatability, The Design Team anchored their approach on the human emotion that lives within football fans everywhere. The result is a VIS that is rich and layered with possibilities. Raw, authentic visual language allows the system endless opportunities to evolve each year and for markets to adapt while retaining its distinction.

Aiming for true authenticity, the Design Team took inspiration from fly posters that live on the streets outside stadiums where teams promote their matches and fans congregate. Patterns and textures inspired by team jerseys play an important role in bringing depth and richness to the VIS, allowing for flexibility within the system and the opportunity to refresh every year to drive relevancy.

Utilizing knowledge leveraged from the longtime Pepsi partnership with the UEFA Champions League, the Design Team brought football icons like Lionel Messi, Vinicius Junior, and Leah Williamson on board to ensure the Pepsi Football VIS would be relevant for local markets and solidify long-term Pepsi presence in the world of football. Ultimately, the Design Team successfully delivered an exciting new evergreen Pepsi Football VIS that drives both distinction and saliency for the brand.