Pepsi has announced that they are undergoing a drastic re-launch of their branding and packaging to bring “new life” to their flagship brands. The most dramatic element is a redesign of the Pepsi Globe logo, which for some reason is now supposed to represent a smile.

“Pepsi’s Chief Marketing Officer Dave Burwick set the tone for the change at a meeting of Pepsi bottlers when he said “If we don’t change quickly, we run the risk of being a footnote to history,” according to Beverage Digest.

PepsiCo Chief Executive Officer Indra Nooyi told BD she didn’t expect the changes to immediately stop the decline of Pepsi CSDs in the face of a difficult economy, but she expects the initiative to slow the decline until it eventually flattens out.

BD also reported that the changes generally excited bottlers, and that Frank Cooper, vice president of sparkling brands, promised to help bottlers convert their fleet to display the new Pepsi Imagery, which is due to hit the market late this year or in early 2009.” via BevNet.

I can see what they are trying to do with the new Pepsi logo, but I am afraid it’s just not working. The Pepsi logo is such an iconic mark, so beautiful and simple with so much heritage. And while I agree that the aging logo needed a little facelift, I believe they went too far. The new logo looks like it’s laughing at me, or maybe more smirking at me, and I can’t stop wondering why… and I am trying to find something that says “softdrink” in this new look, but I am having trouble with it. It will be interesting to see what advertising campaign they will follow up this re-brand effort, but as of now, I have to admit, I will be sad to say goodbye to the classic Pepsi logo.