Brand new

I think Pepsi must have an entire division assigned to re-branding fails. We can't forget the Tropicana disaster from last year (although, to be fair, the first time I saw that carton on the shelf, I rather liked it.) but more recently, Pepsi rebranded another of its flagship products: Gatorade.

Once upon a time, there was Gatorade. Just Gatorade. Then, came the low-calorie variants, which were branded G2. So we had Gatorade and G2. OK, nothing too confusing there. But oh wait, here come three more products: Gatorade Rain, Gatorade Fierce, and Gatorade X-Factor. Uh-oh.

And here begins Pepsi's two-year spiral into marketing madness. Determining (rightfully so) that their product line was a little convoluted, the good people at Pepsi decided it was re-brand time. So, Gatorade Rain became Gatorade No Excuses. Gatorade X-Factor became Gatorade Be Tough. Gatorade Fierce Became Gatorade Bring It.  Simple and logica -- wait, what?

Hmm... still confusing. So in 2010, ANOTHER rebrand. The answer to this mess? The G Series. Now, every kind of Gatorade has a number, which indicates the drink's level of performance. So we've got a G Series 01, G Series 02, and G Series 03. We've also got G Pro 01, G Pro 02, and G Pro 03.  And for the calorie conscious, there's a G2-branded low calorie option, within the 02 level of the G series.  So... I guess that makes it G Series 02 G2?

The whole mess is summed up quite nicely in this article at Daily Finance: Gatorade's Rebranding: So Confusing It Requires an Ad to Explain It. Stay tuned here, because one day this week I intend to create a handy little graphic to help simplify this mess. Just as soon as I figure it out myself.