NETLORE EP. 9: Pepsi's Insane Design Document 

They gotta bring back Pepsiman. He was an unstoppable force of marketing.

"How is that Max? That's like Pepsi-Minimum." That line is way too hard. You just roasted a whole ass brand.

This feels like they paid one guy 50 dollars to slightly redesign the logo, and another guy 500 dollars a day to make the most in-depth schizo theory to explain it.

I would KILL to see the faces of the people in the board meeting when they revealed The Pepsi Ratio

My favorite part of Steel Ball Run is when Gyro told Johnny to use the Pepsi Spin, loved it

I had the pleasure of introducing a teacher of mine to this document back when I was in highschool/secondary school, he read the entire document out loud in class while laughing hysterically and yelling "WHY DID THEY BUY THIS???" and other such phrases. It was a glorious descent.

I just love how most of these podcast episodes are things I haven't actually heard about. Not the same 5 serial killers, or the same news stories being told by 100 different RU-vid channels. I dunno what to expect with this podcast but I'm always excited to listen.

Ok, this was the funniest Netlore episode yet. Cybershell trying to explain each step of the Pepsi ratio was pure gold. I can only imagine what the Spotify listeners thought of that.

I'm so glad Uillillia found gainful employment in the wonderful world of brand marketing.

Seeing the new logo in step 6 behind all the math was a gut punch. It rides the fine line between being insane scribblings of a mad man and the mathematically-tuned designs of a Mad Man.

It's perfectly fine to walk into the shelves in the Pepsi aisle. The Pepsi aisle is a five-dimensional tesseract allowing us a continued resource of future magnetic dynamism for the reinvention of our DNA.

I'm just shocked that everyone at PepsiCo sat through this presentation without laughing them out the door. This looks like an Impractical Jokers bit.

as a graphic design student, the day I saw this document I genuinely got pissed at how bullshit designers have to make meaningless stuff just to have a chance to sell a design.

As a person who actually took a marketing class, I have to say that I got lost about where they were coming from at around page 2 of the document.

You guys should look into the Weegee lore detailed in the Weegeepedia and the history behind it, I know Cybershell mentioned it offhand in his "Best Wiki On The Internet" video, but looking into the sheer insanity behind some of the shit that happens in the Weegee lore detailed on that wiki wold make for a very entertaining episode.

"pepsi minimum" thanks for that cybershell

I don’t think there’s such a thing as a “weirder” NETLORE episode at this point, and that’s a great thing imo I just enjoy hearing you guys talk in-depth about things

The level corporate brain rot has reached is truly... ...Breathtaking

Honestly, they're not lying. It's indeed breathtaking, because I can't stop laughing

as someone who's into graphic design, learning about the pepsi gravitational force was truly a "breathtaking" experience

Fun fact, Pepsi Max has been the name of completely different products. In Europe and parts of Asia it was the name of a high-caffiene version, as the name implies. But the thing that actually makes it "Max" is the fact that they use a unique blend of artificial sweeteners, one of which was not initially approved for sale in the US. Some of the flavors released are really out there, too. Ever wanted your aspertame cola mixture with mojito flavoring?

This just makes me wonder if there are crazier docs out there that just haven’t been leaked…

Some art director did a ton of some kind of stimulant before thinking this up. I think this subject can only be explained by someone that talks fast to get the right effect. Good thing Cybershell is the one presenting this.

I like how the drawing for this image introduces the logo as a new character.

They listened and added an RSS feed, thanks!!!!!

This made me think about the Vantablack license. That story is just as crazy as this one.

This document reminds of that one episode of 'Arthur' where Arthur was trying to come up with a new jingle for a cereal commercial contest, and he goes overboard trying to even come up with the right notes, as though trying to break it down into a science through his piano

i appreciate the korean flag bit. there's a funny scene about that in the korean film "Attack the Gas Station" : The film also makes a comment on American economic imperialism during a scene where Ddan Dda-Ra drinks from a can of Pepsi and a police officer chides him for his choice, chastising him for "giving money to the Yankees". The young punk defends his choice, saying that Pepsi is a Korean product, referring to the Pepsi logo's resemblance of the Taeguk symbol on the South Korean flag.

I personally really appreciate the more visual direction of the podcast, since I like watching things on the side while multitasking

This is where "pepsi meatbrain" entered my vocabulary when Deadwing Dork talked about this!

if this PDF was made today, i’d only believe it was generated by AI after someone told it to come up with some bs

This is almost inspiring as an artist who has trouble explaining the meaning of their own work to others. For now on, if someone asks me what an artwork of mine means I’ll just find a way to make it about the golden ratio or the magnetic pull of the earth.

my favorite funny computer men talk explain something that i wanted to know more about but then forgot about. god thank you. sincerely great topic

I'd seen bits and pieces of this document over the years but never the whole thing, which. God. That whole bit at the beginning reminded me of the Zybourne Clock, which is another good candidate for a Netlore episode, probably.

Yeah, i learned in artschool how to sell your designs, and my techer just said to make up bullsht when presenting it. And it works, you are selling the emotion to thw clients really. Admitetly i only did jobs for small businesses

Oh so that's what Neil was singing about

Oh snap I didn’t expect a new episode this soon lol, as a Graphic Design Student this is gonna be a good one ^^ can’t wait for the nonsense

Pepsi is high up there in terms of corporate madness, from accepting soviet ships as payment for soda, the whole jet sweepstakes fiasco and this design doc.

its insane that this podcast is as consistent as it is

it’s been 2 weeks… we had it so good

I think the Pepsi logo did it better than the Korean flag, because the white streak breaking up the red and the blue gives it more contrast. In the Korean flag, it just kind of becomes a void of indeterminate color.

This whole thing feels like a Pepsi employee got caught mindlessly drawing circles in his notepad during a board meeting and to not look like an absolute fucking fool in front of his peers came up with this whole elaborate theory as a cover up.

This is exactly the kind of weird obscure knowledge I need. I love this podcast

this presentation is the definition of 'fake it til you make it'

I think I'm starting to get it. If I throw a steel cube using the principles of the Pepsi ratio and achieve a perfect Pepsi rotation by riding a vending machine, it should create limitless expansion into the future.

I don't care if this has nothing to do with the net, I love everything from this podcast.

Netlore always has something interesting. Not always enough to entice every click but just enough to always give a quick glance because of how interesting the topics are.

"What the fuck that should be Pepsi Minimum" Funniest thing Cyber has ever fucking said.

Listened to this on spotify, and honestly cybershell described it better than it actually looked

Listened to this while drinking Pepsi. Truly a Breathtaking experience

Thanks for being my favorite visual podcast

Somewhat related Pepsi fun fact, during the cold war Pepsi's CEO stopped a fight between the leaders of the us and the Soviet union by offering a glass of Pepsi to them, Kylie Jenner style, and the Soviet leader liked it so much, he gave them a bunch of warships in exchange for Pepsi, making them one of the most powerful navies at the time

They missed a week, it’s over yall

My favourite edit of the Pepsi logo is where the blue part is a sticker of the old Pepsi logo peeling off and revealing the Coca-Cola logo on the red.

This is SUCH a good idea for an episode, lol.

You guys are tapping into things that I only remember when I’m laying in bed trying to fall asleep

vexillology/NAVA member here! I think Pepsi has a better design as a logo but I think South Korea's yin-yang works better on a flag.

I love manic, sarcastic Cybershell. It’s my favorite thing ever.

15:03 as a Graphic Designer, I kinda died inside trying to follow this madness 😭

Another great episode! Normally I would complain that these are too short, but so long as we’re getting regular uploads, it’s not a problem!

I love how you guys could talk about literally anything and make it entertaining

weekly netlore really was too good to be true

I discovered the new pepsi logo announcement on my own a few weeks ago and the conclusion i came to when looking at it and the old logo was that the old logo was made at a time when every company wanted to be apple which is why they went with such a soft font but now thats seen as boring and corporate so they went back to the old logo (because its just better) and now are going back to their old strategy of copying sonic the hedgehog

I fucking love this document because it really is a schizophrenic amalgam of geometry, shape theory, and fucking pepsi it's so fascinating

I love how this episode was Cybershell's revenge against Bernie for being lead last episode. Cybershell: "I'm gonna end this man's whole brain"

The main takeaway of this is that working in advertising just fucking destroys your brain

This document, unironically, was a major factor in my career path... away from advertising & design. I do hardware repairs for robots now.

Redesign your logo, we know what we're doing Make the calculations, put them into action

It's accurate that Cybershell mentioned Jojo Part 7 because all of this sounds like something Araki would come up with in the latest parts

Thanks for the mention! The Doc must be shared. It is simply too insane not to obsess over...

There’s an entire album that is scathing of Pepsi’s marketing (Dispepsi by Negativland, released in 1997.) Some of the songs use actual parts of Pepsi commercials and other advertising materials, but my favourite is “Drink It Up,” which is essentially a a list of puns on various drink brands with a chorus that begins “and my mind just turns to Pepsi.” I feel like my mind’s turned to something way worse personally, but that’s my cross to bear.

I remember being in a logo design class and my teacher used the Pepsi document as an example of how much thought goes into logo design. He was an absolute moron.

Thank you so much for the frequent uploads, I just found out you both had this channel a while ago and I love these topics as well as your guys’ energy a ton!

Cybershell: "It's not sexual, DON'T say it sounds sexual." Also Cybershell: "It's got this cummy-looking color..."

So that's why Modern Sonic was changed to a lighter blue, so he could be cool and fresh. SEGA learned from the best.

I was just talking about the ‘Breathtaking’ document with my friends the other day! Perfect timing ❤

This show actually lasted a while as far as podcasts go

I want to be a fly on the wall of this meeting I NEED TO BE A FLY ON THE WALL OF THIS MEETING

this is legitimately my favourite podcast right now, keep up the good work boys

Oh man. This reminds me, would you guys want to cover those Sony email leaks from like 2015?

just an ad exec clearly having a manic episode

Every copy of the pepsi design document is personalized

It never ends. It never lets up. The pepsi logo document is as 5 dimensional and relentless as the logo itself. I hope one day someone gets a hold of the recording for this meeting, and we get to see the greatest salesman in the galaxy.

As a Pepsi enjoyer, I always liked looking through their older logos. Personally my favorite one would have to be the one from the 2000’s, just because it has a lot of design and shading. Sometimes it will have water droplets on it too, giving it a refreshing look. Just gives me a certain vibe. All that said, this is the most insane document I’ve ever seen for a logo. Clearly I don’t have the Rick and Morty IQ for this.

We are here to help you. Everything's connected.

22:43 - The Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi’s concept colour here only seems visible on mobile if you tap the screen while playing the video.

highly recommend being a spotify listener for this one... trying to conceptualize all that shit really does take 14 million IQ lmao 10/10

I knew that Neil Cicierega song was about someone redesining the Pepsi logo but now that I've discovered the full story behind it, the full magnitude of the madness of these leaked documents, I'm really convinced the Neil Cicierega song has some more reasonable discourse in it. And that song goes into world order, planning phenomenons and redesinging society, stuff like that. I really find the topics Neil goes into to be less crazy and more comprehensible than all this geometry balance shit, this is more far-fetched and seems to require a deep understanding of geometry. I think the guy is kinda of a genius because even if all this nonsense is aimed at making it like look like there's more to it than just the designing of a fucking logo, the guy used some real geometry theory shit that's hard to comprehend and I think part of it it's real. I mean the universe of Pepsi is definitely completely made up, but some of this stuff looks legit. I repeat, I'm sure he used all of this in order to oversell his design in a sort of psychology trap, but in doing so I think he actually apllied some kind of deeper knowledge. A defintelly misplaced deeper knowledge.

Hey man, I'm fine with the visual heavy topics. I think they are awesome.

i definitely skimmed this document before, but that didnt stop this from still surprising me with how insane it is. glad to catch another podcast, love these

9:26 omg i can’t believe i understand this. They’re saying “we can make a new logo, so if people don’t like it we’ll know just about what people will like, so we’ll be able to redesign it, until we exactly have what people like”

i love this video so much, i shared it with al my friends

Honestly you guys should do an episode on Infamous Wikipedia users, seems like it fits the niche.

I like how the art/fanart for net lore has Bernie as this cute little snowman but cybershell is a gross, alcoholic Sonic

I love that the whole pepsi ratio thing ends with just getting rid of all the circles and drawing a swoosh in the middle anyway. Like they dont even show the relation of the swoosh to all the other circles in detail

I can't believe I'm this early to a Netlore episode! (I'm watching this instead of working)

NET LORE RETURNS

I’m starting to realize that soda lore is really where cybershell shines.

00:52 Cyvershell’s sarcasm here has me cracking up lmfao

About two pages into the document I realized that this was the basis for “redesign your logo” by lemon demon. This is insane