Lately, I’ve been thinking about the way I approach my current roles and responsibilities in the workplace. I consider myself a forward thinking person and someone who wants to turn the traditional way of thinking on its head. But I also have some traditional things that I hold on to for the sake of…tradition and this got me thinking about the various messages that I’ve observed of the past few weeks.
When I was an undergrad, my college campus was a Pepsi© campus. Vending machines, banners, the fountains in the cafeteria and even signage in the Rat, were all Pepsi©. When I graduated, the campus switched to Coca-Cola©, and the signage machines etc. all switched. So imagine my surprise when I returned to campus, now some 14 years later, and the campus is again selling Pepsi©.
I had a conversation with an individual over lunch a few weeks ago about this and he had a theory, he felt that maybe Coke© didn’t want to change. Maybe they felt like saying “Hey, we’re Coke© and people will either buy/drink our product or not.”
What got me thinking about how this applies to what I do daily was the recent push by Pepsi© to reach out (yet again) to a younger generation. The campus is flooded with signage extolling the youth and vigor and uncommon thinking. Pepsi’s© message tells me to think outside the box, push the envelope and challenge the status quo.
How many times to we fall back on tried and true traditions, not willing to push the envelope, to try and view issues with a different filter? There are time when I wonder what soda will I get today?
