"I think Coke just got it right the first time. With the simple perfection of the classic Coke logo, the design possibilities are endless, just looking at what Coke did to their cans for the summer of this year.

Coke can go any way it wants, but it seems like the new Pepsi logo kinda limited itself to words with the letter "o", or one-color backgrounds. Does it work? Yeah, it does, but for how long?"

- Scott Fuller

"great thought here today. you almost don't any content with this post, the chart speaks for itself. do you think coke had the intention when they developed that original logo that it would stand as their "symbol" for over 120 years? or did they get lucky?"

- the ervinator

"Some of the early Pepsi logo designs are somewhat similar in style to the Coke logo, and I suspect somewhere around the 50s and 60s, there was a marketing decision made, which said something along the lines of "we need to be the anti-Coke... we need to appeal to the people who don't like Coke, and to convey that, we need a brand image that shows we are DIFFERENT from Coke"

It was probably something that worked pretty well too. Keep in mind that the whole "New Coke" fiasco was a response to growing consumer demand for the "more sugary" taste of Pepsi at the time. Coke was trying to be more like Pepsi offering what it thought consumers were starting to prefer. Obviously, this was a bad move in retrospect, but it does hint that maybe the anti-Coke play was a good brand strategy for Pepsi.

I think the key learning here is that the brand does not exist in a vacuum. When you talk about any strategy, it has to take into consideration what else is going on in the environment, and there's no such thing as "get it right the first time, and you'll never have to worry about brand imaging again." There's a bit of game theory that can be applied to brand strategy.

If Pepsi was the only player, then its earlier branding may have done very well. Since its strategy changed, the brand image and positioning change was probably a very good move and made them much stronger against Coke than they otherwise would have been. If Pepsi had been the stronger brand 70 years ago, it may have been a smart move for Coke to re-brand as the anti-Pepsi just the same."

- Scully

"I think Pepsi has been trying to play catch-up to the market leader (AKA Coke) ever since its inception. The design similarities up until the 60’s seem to suggest that they were trying to beat Coke at their game, rather than playing to their own unique personality.

It seems that only after the 60s did they start exploring who they really were, and not just ‘let’s beat Coke’.

So while it took Pepsi longer to muster up the courage to be themselves, I’d say they’ve been honing in on it more and more over the last several decades.

Coke had the advantage of being first, and then after, they continued to make courageous decisions all throughout their brand’s history. Some successes, some failures, but their mindset has kept them agile and dominant."

- Dustin

"Coke rules and Pepsi druels, but I will give them credit for differentiating themselves. From 1898- 1940 they looked just like Coke. I also think the newest Pepsi logo is the worst one of the page."

- Blake

"Pepsi vs. Coke at Core77...

http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/will_the_real_cocacola_logo_story_please_stand_up_14264.asp"

- Darrell Kincer

"Indeed, Brand New posted a new, more detailed version of the diagram. As it stands, the oversimplified first version was out to make a point. And other than the earliest non-script version of the Coca-Cola logo and "New Coke", the mark has stayed surprisingly true to the original. The diagram also only scratches the surface of what's really the issue at hand -- regardless of appearance, I'd argue that Coke has strayed far less from its philosophy of what is basically "cola brings joy to the world". Pepsi has tried (and failed) on numerous occasions of trying to be the cool, hip "alternative" brand. And in its newest iteration, Pepsi still hasn't learned its lesson."

- Alvin Diec

"Coke-you can't improve on perfection."

- Carolina Fernandez