Pepsi once repainted a Concorde as part of a $500M project and it had a major impact on the plane’s performance

Did you know that Pepsi once repainted a Concorde as part of a $500M project, and it had a major impact on the plane’s performance?

Back in 1996, Pepsi was not as popular as it is today. So in a last-ditch attempt to save itself, the brand approached the biggest pop culture icon of the ’90s for help, Concorde.

Even though the iconic blue, white, and red branding as we know it today is well-recognizable as Pepsi, back when it was first rolled out, The Independent newspaper described it as ‘a bold, perhaps desperate, gamble.’

The soda company approached both Concorde operators, Air France and British Airways, to try and get their new marketing scheme ‘off the ground’ – get it?

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Pepsi once repainted a Concorde as part of a $500M project

It wouldn’t seem like it now, but back in 1996, the delicious soda brand Pepsi was struggling to get people on board with its new look.

The now-iconic blue, white, and red rebrand was declared ‘a bold, perhaps desperate gamble,’ by The Independent, and the sodas were not selling the way the company wanted them to.

Because it was the ’90s, the company decided that if it could get its branding on the side of the biggest pop culture icon of the time, it might help sales. So it went to the Concorde operators with an idea.

It approached both Air France and British Airways with the frankly audacious proposal. Shockingly, the French operator agreed that for two weeks and $500M, Concorde would fly with full true blue Pepsi livery.

It had a major impact on the plane’s performance

Concorde was kind of known for its supersonic speed. And it turns out that after the soda rebrand, Pepsi blue was cramping Concorde’s style.

Flying supersonic means that the plane is very much subjected to extremely high temperatures. To help deflect some of the heat, all the Concorde craft were painted white.

The blue livery actually stopped protecting the supersonic plane from the extremely high temperatures. Which meant that it only cruised at its iconic Mach 2 speeds for 20 minutes at a time.

While we know that the soda brand went on to be defined by its new blue, red, and white branding, Air France probably regretted the collaboration in hindsight.

We don’t think blue supersonic planes will be taking off again any time soon.

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