Thomas StewartAs part of the brand’s The Art of Football campaign, Pepsi has partnered with Original Penguin for the recently announced ‘Live For Now’ capsule collection. A select 23 pieces aim to bring life to the vibrant artworks of a carefully chosen six emerging street artists. The sextet includes Hattie Stewart, professional doodle bomber from the UK; Jaz, the Argentinian urban artist; Ricardo AKN, the Brazilian illustrator-come-street artist; Spanish visual artist, Zosen; Meijn Hos, visual artist of The Netherlands, and Ever, the Argentinian street artist.
Director of design at Original Penguin, Adam Weir has spoken of his excitement about the collaboration. “Not only was the entire process a combined effort between Pepsi and our brand throughout, but being able to integrate our brand into the world of these street artists allowed us to support our ‘Be an Original’ positioning and break out of the box that we typically work in as a fashion brand.”
The overarching global campaign, The Art of Football, is typical of Pepsi’s ever-memorable marketing. “Pepsi at its core isn’t a sports brand,” explains Dave Horton, creative director behind the work, “but it has a long history of culture, both in terms of celebrities and music, so they wanted to take a stand in the culture of football and do something that brough those things together.”
And now fashion too. The capsule collection blends loud colours and graphics which have their origins all around the world. Solid t-shirts, iconic polo shirts and a statement Ratner jacket boast contrast breast pockets and bold all-over prints, each based on a design of one of the six artists.
“Motivated by our 2014 global football campaign, the ‘Live For Now’ collection brings the best of art and football to life,” said Kristin Patrick, Pepsi global chief marketing officer, who also indicated that the brand was inspired by the “link between the sport of football and the world of art, both places where passion leads to great acts of creativity.”
The collection, now available for purchase at Liberty in London and online at www.originalpenguin.co.uk, boasts accessible prices which start from £40 for graphic and printed tees and £65-70 for polos.