Introduced in 1940, Fanta is a popular brand across the globe most commonly known for its orange, zesty flavour.
Not only is the fizzy drinks brand the second oldest of The Coca-Cola Company but it’s also the second largest brand outside of the US.
As you can probably guess, Coke is the biggest brand in both of these instances, and in the US, Sprite is more popular than Fanta.
The problem with Fanta’s previous branding was two-fold. For starters, Fanta is no longer limited to orange as it’s available in a whole range of fruity flavours across 180 markets.
On top of this, its previous brand identity and packaging was different depending on the market it existed in, which was highly confusing and overall just unnecessary.
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Bringing things forward, the identity for Fanta has been unified to create a consistent, cohesive brand regardless of where you pick up your next bottle.
The project was led by the Coca-Cola Global Design team alongside Jones Knowles Ritchie (brand identity and packaging), Relative (packaging guidelines and imagery), Gretel (motion identity), Colophon (typography), Tim Marsella (lifestyle photography), Martin Wonnacott (product photography), and Lucas Wakamatsu (illustration).
Fanta, part of The Coca-Cola family, has announced its first ever global brand identity aimed at inspiring people to reinstate playfulness into the world with bright and bold designs that punch through the routine of everyday life. The new brand identity aims to inspire people to find the fun in life and make the plain playful, with a look that remains unmistakably Fanta. – The Coca-Cola Company
Confusion across different markets
Let’s kick things off by delving into why there was such a need to unify the brand across all markets.
A brand having different logos/ identities in different markets is confusing and can weaken the overall identity. A key part of creating a strong brand is to create one clear vision that customers regardless of where they’re purchasing from.
Changing the visual aspect of this depending on the location simply makes no sense, and in particular the US version of the Fanta logo just didn’t work.
It actually felt quite awkward and was in desperate need of a revamp.
Why the fizzy drinks giant kept these two versions for seven years is baffling in itself, but who are we to argue?!
Rolling the clock back a few years to 2016, Fanta introduced a blocky new logo for European and Asian markets designed by Koto. This was quite a contrast with the US version created in 2008 which had been using a bubbly, swirly logo.
I think it’s good news all round that the new, unified logo is based on the non-US-version and makes a much stronger impact.
Credit to Under Consideration
Dropping the orange
As mentioned in the intro, what’s the first colour that springs to mind when you think of Fanta?
Let me guess… orange!
Not only is this historically the flavour of the drink, but also what we immediately think of as the primary colour.
Orange is (and always has been) synonymous with the Fanta brand; until now.
In an effort to move away from this limitation, and to embrace the fact that Fanta is available in lots of different flavours, the new logo drops the orange silhouette and leaf.
This makes a lot of sense and helps consumers understand the full range of Fanta flavours. From a brand perspective, the inclusion of the orange fruit was very restricting and almost suffocated the brand. It gave them a ceiling and cemented the idea that Fanta was just orange in the mind of the consumer.
The latest iteration of the logo also removes the subtle smile in the counter of the second “A”, on the non-US version which whilst being playful, kinda wasn’t needed. Again, it feels like one of those design elements which probably worked when it was first created but now isn’t necessary.
Within the lettering, the inner drop shadows have also been removed which allows for a smoother, more impactful wordmark.
Credit to Under Consideration
Blue as the primary colour
Similarly to Coca-Cola and Sprite, the packaging for Fanta is fairly minimal.
If we take a look at the cans for example, the clean logo sits at the top of the packaging whilst the bold colours do the talking.
Whilst there’s not many design elements to unpick here, there doesn’t need to be. The colours of the cans are so vivid that they uplift the logo and bring the different flavours of the drink through.
In contrast to Coca-Cola and Sprite, the logos are slightly more detailed to represent the different flavours of the drink inside and to communicate the full range of Fanta flavours.
Also, regardless of which favour illustration is used, the new, clean logo works perfectly with pretty much all of them.
What’s also interesting is that blue has become the primary colour of the Fanta brand, taking centre stage on each of the packaging designs.
This helps consumers move away from always associating Fanta with orange and creates a more cohesive brand identity.
Credit to Under Consideration
A Fanta-stic New Identity: The Fanta Rebrand Explored
The new Fanta logo and brand identity just makes so much more sense.
Instead of having different logos existing in different markets, bringing everything together into one visual identity strengthens the overall brand.
Despite these changes, Fanta has still managed to retain its fun, playful look which is what consumers know and love.
It’s less rigid than other brands in The Coca-Cola Company and it’s important this continues – otherwise you risk stripping Fanta of the very thing that makes it so popular in the first place.
Overall, this is a Fanta-stic new approach and allows the fizzy drinks brand to extend into other flavours with ease.
At Canny, we love diving into rebranding projects to see what’s worked and what hasn’t. We’ve worked on some fantastic rebrands for clients across a range of sectors, helping them to better connect with their audience. To find out more about how we could help your business, simply get in touch with our team.
