Pepsi branding campaign: 90s vs 2020 🥤

Whilst searching on the internet for a successful product with strong marketing, I came across two Pepsi campaign posters one from 2020 for the United Arab Emirates, expo games. The other from the 90s starring the basketball player Shaquille O’neal. Both campaigns immediately caught my attention due to the aesthetic, you could truly see the brands growth and development.

The poster from the 90s has a celebrity ‘Shaquille O’neal’ on the front cover which would have appealed to a lot of people, especially basketball fans. I really like the structure of the poster it’s a montage of Shaquille holding a Pepsi vending machine. The design layout fits very well within the generation, it has a nostalgic, retro look. The colour pigmentation is well saturated which creates an old effect.

During the 80’s and 90’s Pepsi had a variety of campaigns that featured well know a listed celebrities, this was partially due to social media not being around. People were influenced by celebrities and it was easy for brands to spread messages around.

Fast forwards to the 2020 UAE EXPO ad, it’s much more vivid and illustrative based. It doesn’t include any celebrities due to advancement of social media which allows brands to easily promote their products.

The bright, crisp colour choices have a strong appeal of energy which truly stands out, it also reflects the UAEs development and growth as a country.  My favourite campaign poster would have to be the 2020 design, as I really like the illustrations and colour scheme.

-Ihtisham