A New Design for 7UP Pushes Lime Lemon Flavors

The Keurig Dr Pepper brand 7UP, which dates from 1929, is updating its packaging and debuting a new formation and recipe to emphasize its lemon lime roots.

Alongside the new recipe, the other parts of the 7UP lineup, including 7UP Regular, 7UP Zero Sugar, Cherry 7UP and Cherry 7UP Zero Sugar will also debut a “refreshed visual identity, featuring a vertical logo, bolder colors, a more distinctive design and a new Lime Lemon designation”. They will also debut a campaign called “Flip the Sip,” a with social media and in-store events.

In a press release,  Drew Panayiotou, chief marketing and innovation officer at Keurig Dr Pepper, said, “7UP has an incredible legacy, but by giving lime the spotlight, we’re rewriting the rules of the lemon lime category. We are transforming a beloved heritage brand into a modern disruptor—delivering a sharper visual identity, a more refreshing taste experience, and a distinct position that attracts new users and deepens brand loyalty.”

The original brand was born in St. Louis when founder Charles Grigg decided that the orange drink he was making was not enough, and created a lemon lime drink. Originally, it came in 7 oz. bottles, thus the 7 in the name. The “up” is not clear, though there was a similar drink called Bubble Up in St. Louis, which dated from 1917. While there were hundreds of other lemon lime drinks in the U.S., it was 7UP that won.

The most recent version of the logo had a sort of “swish” look which evoked the 1929 logo but was decidedly modern. Always, there was a lemon-lime color scheme, with the red bubble. In the 1970s, 7UP had a disco bubble look, where the 7UP was made of bubbles arranged in a way that would evoke kleig lights or a disco ball, down to the “ting” of a reflection.

In the 1970s, it was advertised as the Uncola. It kept a strong look to separate from colas. In 1974, J. Walter Thompson’s Chicago office under director Robert Abel promoted a sort of MGM dance routine for the advertising, where a “See The Light” image with neon, a Ziegfield-like butterfly dancer took the Uncola to a groovy new direction, using a mix of nostalgia and Sargeant Pepper-like psychadelic imagery.

The most famous ad 1970s ad for 7UP, as The Uncola.

Below, an actual disco ad, though the disco design was not present on the bottles.

The beverage company Keurig Dr Pepper (Nasdaq: KDP) owns or licenses more than 150 brands, a sort of aggregation of orphaned brands that were not in the fold of Coca-Cola or Pepsi. In North America, they sell carbonated soft drinks, water, juice and mixers with a portfolio that includes Dr Pepper, Canada Dry, Mott’s, A&W, Peñafiel, GHOST, Snapple, Clamato and Core Hydration. Globally, they are in 100 markets and include Keurig single‑serve brewing system in the U.S. and Canada, along with Peet’s, L’OR and Jacobs.