OK, I know I’m a bit late on this one. I hesitated about featuring this as I thought everyone had already seen it. However, apparently that’s still not the case and this report is a must-read for anyone involved in marketing or brand strategy.

The report in question is a PDF which purports to be the Arnell Group’s strategy doc for the much-derided new Pepsi logo. You get a hint of what’s to come from the bombastic title: “Breathtaking Design Strategy”.

The 27 page report outlines how the new Pepsi logo embodies everything from the facial proportions of the Mona Lisa to the theory of relativity, with handy explanatory diagrams like the one above to ‘prove’ the connection.

While it’s always good to see some thinking going into these things, presenting a potted history of human achievement seems a touch pretentious.

However, what makes this document really feel like an own goal is how superficial it is. While there is plenty of information about shapes and images that have inspired the rebrand, the report completely fails to mention either the product or consumer, let alone how the new identity actually relates to these apparently incidental details.

If you haven’t already seen it, check out the complete strategy document here