After a long design incubation, Pepsi-Cola relaunched its Mug brand of root beer with a new label designed to appeal to both teen boys and their mothers who buy soft drinks for them.

The result? A 3% increase in sales of the brand.

The old packaging design centered on an illustration of a drink mug with foam running over the top. Pepsi marketers, however, identified a mid-teens boy as the target for Mug root beer.

“We wanted to appeal to older kids without turning off the younger ones,” says Rita Stockett, Mug Marketing Manager. To assure this appeal, Pepsi determined the Mug packaging needed to develop a youthful attitude and a brand “personality.”

. Culver Design created the face of a rugged bulldog. Next, Character LLC helped to develop a story behind the bulldog that appears on the Mug Web site. The bulldog anchors the label on cartons, bottles, and cans of the root beer.

. Deutsch Design Works helped to place both the image of the mug and the bulldog illustration on carton panels.

By Arnie Orloski, VP/Executive Editor