Your Logo is a Symbol, Your Product Can Be a Social Object

On Monday I received an interesting package at work. It was actually three packages that seemed to be orchestrated to be delivered at different times - they all came together. Steve Rubel had reached out to me to ask permission to have the package delivered on behalf of Edelman's client, PepsiCo. By then, I had already read Seth's post, which has my full agreement. Yes, your brand is not your logo - the logo is a symbol...

... which can be a sign to indicate a story. Now, that is much more interesting to think about. When I saw the cans, I immediately thought about the gentleman from Colorado Springs who is the President of a Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co. and with whom I discussed social media on a flight to the last Blog Council meeting in Chicago. See how vividly we remember people and stories?

The interesting part of this outreach initiative is the room PepsiCo. opened on FriendFeed Monday. The move made me use my brand new Flickr account to download the photos I took with my iPhone in my office. At the time when I took this screen shot on Monday evening, there were 109 members in the room and the PepsiCo. team was beginning to warm up a little. I know, the thought of warm soda! But, hey, warm works in social media.

Admittedly, I was excited for the team. I do know what it's like to represent a large business. Many of the rules become self-imposed in the beginning as well. Welcome to social media, PepsiCo. team. Bart Casabona writes:

“As you now know, Pepsi has a new brand identity, which is the first step in a multi-year, multi-pronged company wide transformation, that’s deeply rooted in reconnecting with influencers, youth and pop culture. I’m interested to know what your initial direction is for Pepsi as it reinvents itself.”

Let's not talk about Pepsi so much. It may be the guest of honor, but the people in that room, who have come as guests, are far more interesting. How does Pepsi connect with their stories? How is Pepsi a social object? From Hugh:

The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the reason two people are talking to each other, as opposed to talking to somebody else. Human beings are social animals. We like to socialize. But if think about it, there needs to be a reason for it to happen in the first place. That reason, that "node" in the social network, is what we call the Social Object.

I know it's really hard to shift mindset from the product to the reason, but the reason is really what matters. The FriendFeed room might become more interesting if we invited the people in it to bring friends who have a special story about Pepsi. Focus on the people, and think of the new can/logo as the reason - the tangible reason for being together. That is where your execution can really take off as a positive experience in the conversation. Social networks form around social objects, as Hugh says, not the other way around.

Who has stories with soda in it? I'll go first. When I was growing up (in Italy), we were allowed to drink soda only at parties, so a sip of carbonated drinks felt really special to us kids. Seth had it exactly right - your brand is not your logo. Part of your brand is the stories it evokes in the minds of the people who have reason to come together because of it. Uncover the stories, make it about them, not you. That's how you re-connect.

Comments

[KatFrench]

I love this. That's exactly what I thought when I first read about this--that the opportunity for Pepsi in social media is to capture and amplify personal stories where the product is a conversation piece--a "social object."

My own soda story? The summer before I started dating, I was 13, and I loved going to the lake with my family. My parents, sisters and I went out on our boat into a flooded quarry, and swam around the rocks, and sunned ourselves on flat limestone outcroppings. I distinctly remember it was the first time I'd ever had a cherry cola. I was expecting something similar to grape or orange soda I hated--too sweet--and being surprised that I liked it. I remember my parents talking about getting cherry colas at soda fountains when they were young.

Looking forward to reading other's soda stories.

[Chris Kieff]

Valeria, you've got it nailed.

I've been amazed that so many companies spend so much, time, money, effort and resources worrying about their logo, when they should spend that money in way that tangibly impacts their customer.

The color, shape, look and feel don't matter- the customer experience and feeling are what matter. Foster, promote, and help to recall that feeling and you've got the customer won over. Regardless of the darned logo.

My soda story? I don't have one, I have many- I love/hate that moment when you are laughing so hard soda comes out your nose. When I think of doing that I always smile.

Thanks,
Chris

[Andrew Foote]

Valeria - love your POV here. I had actually posted very similar thinking over at the Pepsi Cooler on Friendfeed. I agree that it's about aligning the logo to something meaningful and personal. From Pepsi's standpoint, the idea of connecting the logo 'smile' design to a social message is intriguing to me. My idea was to do something cause-related; what you propose is very fun and a good fit.

My 'Pepsi story' is that I have a very distinct memory of my grandfather who ALWAYS had a case of Pepsi in clear view under his bed. He drank it warm, which I still don't quite get. As a young child I'd constantly sneak into his room and steal cans. He must have known I was the reason his Pepsi's were disappearing at any incredibly fast rate, but he never called me out on it! Anyway, when I think of Pepsi, I think of my grandfather and it puts an instant smile on my face :)

[Richard Becker]

Valeria,

100 percent spot on. Over time a symbol (or identity) can become connected strongly enough that it represents the brand on sight (the mind-bending Coke logo comes to mind), but that's about it.

Soda story? The only one that comes to mind is having to chronically remind people at a Wendy's drive-thru window that we didn't have Coke … so is Pepsi okay? Ah, the joy of a first job.

Best,
Rich

[Perry Hewitt]

Drinking old Tab poolside on a blistering hot day in the 1970s. A ton of kids, a diving board (a rarity in litigious USA now), moms chainsmoking, and red dye #2. It was kind of great, actually.

[Mike Wagner]

Valeria, thanks for getting my mind racing.

"How does Pepsi connect with their stories?" For me that is the question. How does a brand's story connect, enlarge, uncover the stories of customers?

Of course you know I've been playing with this idea since I saw the Nike "Fate" commercial a couple weeks back.

For me here's the big whack on the side of the head contained in this post; "Focus on the people, and think of the new can/logo as the reason - the tangible reason for being together."

Brand as convener of people is a fascinating notion.

Keep creating...stories worth repeating,
Mike

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Kat - of course, the other thought I had was to reach out to fans of the brand. Surely Pepsi monitors the 'sphere and searches for its brand mentions. I can see how they'd want to integrate the launch with their own social media learning by doing. That could also have been part of it. I had the same perception about cherry soda!

@Chris - it's easy to get wrapped up in the effort from the inside out, instead of looking at it from the outside in. The design that is most fascinating to me is that of business and experience. Hopefully, this is the start of that. Yes, I can imagine how funny and painful it might be to "drink" soda through your nose.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Andrew - I love the story about your grandfather's case under the bed! Your idea about the social cause is worthy to pursue as well. I thought a logo and branding initiative would kick off nicely with a lighter tone, especially when the intent from Pepsi, as I understand it, was also to baptize the team in social media. It's akin to saying start with small talk to get to know each other.

@Rich - funny, I witnessed people asking for their favorite brand - Pepsi or Coke - in restaurants, some not settling for the other. My first job was selling gelato, and we had all kinds of flavors.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Perry - ah, the seventies! That whole era had its own brand associated with it, didn't it? Now that you mention it, I have not seen a diving board at a pool in a long time. You painted such a vivid picture, I can see it.

@Mike - to me a FriendFeed room is a special invitation to be in a non-company hosted community. So I would run it less like a focus group and more like a space where stories are narrated. A product is a much more concrete reason than a service, too. I do wonder if the Pepsi team will be let out or venture out of the room and join these conversations. The outreach couldn't have been just to talk about the new logo, right? It's the whole brand.

[A. J. Mahler]

As a 6 year old boy at summer camp for the first time I had an account at the canteen at the water front. I bought a Mountian Dew every day. It came in a glass 10oz bottle. Sometimes I also got a candy bar. My friends and i would sit on the bench to drink our pop and talk about whatever.

The sun was warm. We wore t-shirts and shorts. Our Ked's shoes without socks. We were a bunch of sun drenched boys having the time of our lives.

No parents. Water, horses, rifles, archery, hiking, camping, skits, campfires and endless summer days. Nirvana.

[Paul Soldera]

I think the problem Pepsi is going to run into is that, essentially, soda is not a social object. Stories about soda are, well, kinda boring. My experiences with snorting fizzy drink out my nose is not exactly what I would call social lubricant. A social object needs a reason that makes it compelling enough to carry a discussion. That discussion needs to evolve to a point where it self-perpetuates as the value inherent in the conversation exceeds the effort required to have it. Tbh I can't see the long-term viability of conversations about soda (or even my personal experiences with the Pepsi brand).

Perusing the FF group, people seem to already be asking questions about Pepsi's motivation and intentions - the legal garb and moderation seems to irk people the most - not surprising.

I agree they should be trying this though. I love it in fact. I just think they need a more compelling idea. It doesn't hold out any value to me as a consumer.

Brand as conversation enabler, brand as social object, etc. all make perfect sense. But they really need to be wrapped around a compelling reason to socialize.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@AJ - what a great story. It reminds me of the days at the sports center playing tennis table and fussball and eating icicles.

@Paul - they do need a more compelling idea, but the stories not focused on the brand may be a good start. I am waiting for the moment when they will jump off the relative safety of the FF room and into the www conversation ;-)

[Len Kendall]

I like the idea that brands are stories not logos. Automobiles are also a great example of this. Despite the logo being fairly constant, the actual vehicle brands undergo massive changes. But is the stories. The road trips, the friends, the learning that people associate with a certain type of car. Consumers are becoming more and more fickle these days when it comes to products and sharp new logo isn't going to sway them towards a brand. Reminding them of the feeling they will have for staying/joining will have much more potential.

[Darryl Parker]

@Paul - I think you are on to it

Just FYI - I'm tracking the Pepsi 25 on my blog. I think learning more about these folks helps to get insight into how the team views the social media space.

I also had a good Twittersation with Bonin Bough that presented a different objective than the obvious one...

[Ari Herzog]

Several years ago, while driving through Atlanta, I stopped at the global headquarters of Coca-Cola and entered their museum.

Laid out as an experience with a start, middle, and end, there was a point about halfway through the "tour" when I entered the tasting room and its elaborate schema of cylinders and tubes -- where I held Dixie cups and tasted the World of Coca-Cola that I never knew existed because they weren't distributed in Amerca: recipes from China, Japan, England, and South Africa. Fuzzy drinks that tasted more like watermelon juice than, err, Coke.

Coca-Cola, like Pepsi, is not a logo. They're not even brands. They are conversations, if such a concept could have a physical image that can connect people.

Who in the world doesn't know what a sip of Coke or Pepsi tastes like? A social conversation of carbonation!

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Len - the other consideration is that a car is quite a tangible product, as is a drink. How about focusing on the product and yes, using the symbol to alert customers that something has changed, but go ahead and tell us what has changed (and why we care).

@Darryl - glad you found this conversation useful and congratulations on making contact with Bonin.

@Ari - I'll remember that: "a social conversation on carbonation!" I know people who are quite passionate about drinking only Pepsi or only Coke. for me growing up it was Fanta, the orange carbonated drink. I think today you can also find Orangina in some stores, Trader Joe's has had them in stock.

[Ari Herzog]

Heh. Orangina! I don't consider that a soda, though; more like fizzy juice. The first time I drank, let alone heard of, Orangina was at Au Bon Pain about 10-15 years ago.