PURCHASE, N.Y. -- PepsiCo said that Diet Mountain Dew, Brisk and Starbucks ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages have each grown to more than $1 billion in annual retail sales, expanding PepsiCo's portfolio of billion-dollar brands to 22.
The company has doubled the size of its billion-dollar brand portfolio since 2000, adding five new billion-dollar brands in the past five years. PepsiCo has manufactured and distributed Brisk and Starbucks RTD beverages through joint ventures with Unilever and Starbucks, respectively, since the early 1990s.
"Our ability to accelerate the growth of our billion-dollar brand portfolio with Diet Mountain Dew, Brisk and Starbucks reflects the success of our product marketing and innovation initiatives, the strength of our joint-venture partnerships and the power of our distribution systems. It's a proud achievement shared by the entire PepsiCo family, and we remain laser focused on continuing to strengthen and grow our entire global brand portfolio," chairman and CEO Indra K. Nooyi.
First introduced in 1988, Diet Mountain Dew became the company's eighth carbonated soft drink brand to reach the billion-dollar annual retail sales milestone. Diet Mountain Dew, which has achieved record levels of fan engagement via NASCAR driver sponsorships, college basketball and other consumer programs, has seen volume more than double in the past 10 years. In the United States, Diet Mountain Dew is the No. 1 20-ounce diet soft drink, by volume, in the profitable convenience and gasoline retail channel.
Watch the embedded YouTube video of Brett O'Brien, vice president marketing for Mountain Dew (or click here).
Brisk has seen particularly strong growth in the United States, with approximately 30% volume growth over the past three years. Brisk, which recently kicked off its multi-media Star Wars partnership, is sold under the Pepsi Lipton Tea Partnership, a joint venture between PepsiCo and Unilever in 1991 focused on manufacturing and marketing RTD tea beverages. PepsiCo, through the Pepsi Lipton Tea Partnership, is the RTD tea category leader in several markets around the world, including the United States and Western and Eastern Europe.
Click here to view a YouTube clip featuring Mary Barnard, vice president and general manager for Pepsi Lipton Tea Partnership.
PepsiCo and Starbucks largely created the North American RTD coffee category in 1994 when they formed the North American Coffee Partnership, a joint venture under which PepsiCo manufactures and distributes Starbucks RTD, single-serve coffee beverages. The Starbucks brand is the leader in its category, with more than 90% share of the RTD coffee segment in the United States. In addition to bottled Frappuccino beverages, the largest product line in the Starbucks RTD portfolio, PepsiCo has introduced new product innovations such as Starbucks Doubleshot Energy+Coffee.
Click here to view a YouTube clip featuring Seth Kaufman, vice president and general manager for the North American Coffee Partnership
To celebrate today's milestone, PepsiCo has placed advertising welcoming these three new brands to its billion-dollar brand portfolio in the Financial Times, The New York Times, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal.
The growth of Diet Mountain Dew, Brisk and Starbucks RTD beverages gives PepsiCo 14 billion-dollar beverage brands. According to Information Resources, Inc. data, PepsiCo has three of the top six food and beverage trademarks in retail sales in the U.S., with its Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew and Gatorade brands. PepsiCo also has eight billion-dollar food brands, the largest of which is Lay's. The growth of the Lay's portfolio has been driven by expansion in many international markets, including several key emerging economies like Russia, where Lay's is getting ready to celebrate its 20th anniversary.
The company's billion-dollar brand portfolio includes Aquafina, Brisk, Cheetos, Diet Mountain Dew, Diet Pepsi, Doritos, Fritos, Gatorade, Lay's, Lipton, Mirinda, Mountain Dew, Pepsi, Pepsi Max, Ruffles, Quaker, 7UP (outside the United States), Sierra Mist, Starbucks RTD beverages, Tostitos, Tropicana and Walkers.
Diet Mountain Dew offers consumers the citrus taste of Mountain Dew without the calories. In addition to original Mountain Dew and Diet Mountain Dew, the permanent DEW product line includes Mountain Dew Baja Blast, Mountain Dew Code Red, Mountain Dew Livewire, Mountain Dew Throwback, Mountain Dew Voltage and Mountain Dew White Out.
The Brisk lineup of iced teas and juice drinks includes Lemon Iced Tea, No-Cal Lemon Iced Tea, Tea-Lemonade, Raspberry Iced Tea, Peach Iced Green Tea, Sweet Tea, Fruit Punch, Lemonade Sugar-Free Lemonade and Strawberry Melon.
The North American Coffee Partnership offers bottled Frappuccino, Starbucks Doubleshot and Doubleshot Energy + Coffee drinks.
Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo's main businesses include Quaker, Tropicana, Gatorade, Frito-Lay and Pepsi Cola.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.