🧠 Don't Read This If You're A Boomer

Hey there, 

Welcome back to the 41st edition of Brandish, 

Your guide to crafting an iconic brand.

I’m gonna be honest with you, 

This week - I was feeling a little nostalgic.

(And critical)

We’ve seen this new wave of a certain “type” of branding the last few years,

And the legacy branding that most of us grew up with is slowly fading into a memory. 

So I wanted to focus on one in particular that has taken this to the extreme, 

And there is a LOT more under the hood than first I realized. 

So without further ado, 

Kick back, 

Grab your Brez, 

And let’s get into it. 

Sierra Mist Who?

Let’s take a trip down memory lane, 

Allllll the way back to 1999. 

The PepsiCo Boardroom. 

Executives, Marketing, Sales… everyone had been strategizing for months to come up with a REAL contender to CocaCola’s widely popular lemon-lime drink that has been dominating the market for the last 30 years…

Sprite. 

Their answer?

The new, the fresh, the spectacular - Sierra Mist. 

If I’m being honest, it was nothing “groundbreaking”.

In my opinion, you can’t even tell the difference between the two, 

But whatever. That was their answer.

Now to absolutely no one's surprise, Pepsi struggled to make Sierra Mist a truly dominant player in the market.

By this point Sprite was an icon, and it would take a hell of a lot more than Sierra Mist to take its place. 

But I digress. This newsletter isn’t about the questionable decisions Pepsi made 25 years ago, 

Just the questionable decisions they’re making now. 

The Same Drink (But with a New Face?)

Fast forward to 2023. 

Sierra Mist has had some success, but Sprite was still crushing the market…

And once again, Pepsi was back to the drawing board. 

But this time - they wanted to make some waves.

They started by pulling every single Sierra Mist off of the shelves as fast as they could.

In order to make this plan of theirs work it needed to be WIPED from existence. 

Then they moved to stage 2 - they knew that their largest potential customer base was Gen-Z, and Gen-Z has very different tastes with their branding preferences compared to everyone else. 

They needed branding that was rooted in delusional optimism and just felt “fun”, 

And Starry was born. 

“The Young & Hip Crowd Will Love This”

The major push by Pepsi to make Starry ‘young and relatable’ to the Gen-Z crowd didn’t stop at their designs… But I wish it did. 

I mean their slogan is literally “Starry Hits Different” - c’mon.

Pepsi’s goal was to do 2 things:

• Finally create a real Sprite competitor 

• Impress the TikTok-addicted Gen-Z’s

They’re heavily investing in short-form content across Tiktok, Instagram, etc. - relying on influencers & celebrities to push out the sort of nonchalant message that “this is what the cool kids drink now”.

And… it’s starting to work. Kind of. 

Sprite is still a dominant competitor, and it likely will be for a very long time. 

BUT

Starry is starting to gain “some” ground. 

The hardest obstacle with Gen-Z is that they can smell when a brand is trying too hard from miles away, 

And they’re very aware of what’s going on with Pepsi’s “fun” new drink. 

But from a branding perspective, it doesn’t make it ANY less interesting to follow.

Pepsi was able to give its original lemon-lime drink which had been around for almost 30 years a total makeover before anyone knew what had happened. 

And on top of that, their marketing strategy is only a ‘little’ cringy. 

Not bad for a multi-billion dollar corporation. 

My Starry Domination Blueprint

Now, do I think Starry will be more popular than Sprite?

Honestly… No. 

Sprite is the 3rd best-selling soft drink worldwide. 

It’s a household name, AND it’s been endorsed by some of the biggest celebrities in history.

But…

If Starry can win the favor of Gen-Z, then someday there might be a chance. 

Here’s what I think they should be doing to make this happen: 

1. Stop trying too hard to be “cool”

Listen, 

We all went to middle school. 

As soon as people notice that someone’s ‘trying’ to be cool, they’re immediately exiled.

(I really don’t miss middle school)

What they should be doing INSTEAD is ditching everything that can come across that way. 

The cringy slogan, overdone & outdated short-form content, etc. 

2. Tap into influencers that aren’t literal A-list celebrities 

One 30-minute TikTok doom scroll will tell you everything you need to know about Gen-Z’s favorite influencers and tastes: 

• Most of them aren’t A-list celebs

• They’re regular people, but just with a massive following 

Starry should be targeting THOSE influencers.

Send cans of their drink to Gen-Z’s favorite TikTok influencers and let them do whatever they want with it, no script.

Yes - a little risky. 

BUT it’ll give Starry all the info they need to frame their strategies in a way that will resonate the best with their audience. 

3. Get a little controversial

If there’s one thing Gen-Z loves… It’s some good old-fashioned drama.

(Tea, if you will)

And I’ll give it to Starry, they’re already kind of doing this. 

Just recently I saw one of their ads that felt a LOT like they were targeting Sprite. 

They’re being very nonchalant and careful about it, 

But they’re on the right track. 

Wrapping Up

All my opinions aside, I think Pepsi made the right call with this rebrand. 

It’s new, it’s fun, and it’s refreshing to see a company this size try something a little different to resonate with younger audiences. 

Is it perfect? 

Of course not. 

But there wouldn’t be valuable lessons for us to LEARN if it was. 

This newsletter may have been a bit of a ramble, but if you take anything away from what we’ve talked about, I hope it’s this: 

• Never try “too hard” to connect with your audience 

• It doesn’t matter who you are, it is NEVER too late for a rebrand

If Pepsi can rebrand their 25-year-old, $1 billion in yearly revenue drink because they saw a better opportunity with it, 

Then you can rebrand your product. 

Obviously, I'm not saying you NEED a rebrand…

But if the opportunity is there for it, 

Go all in and make it happen. 

Thank you for reading all the way through this week, 

I’ll see you at the next one!

Ankit