PepsiCo Launches European Search for Emerging Communications and Technology Companies

Leading food and beverage company announces open call for entry to PepsiCo10

PURCHASE, N.Y. and LONDON, June 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- PepsiCo today announced an open call for digital entrepreneurs across Europe to apply to take part in 'PepsiCo10', an innovation incubator program designed to discover and support emerging technology companies whose ideas and solutions can be applied to drive business value for PepsiCo.

Launched successfully in the United States last June, PepsiCo has expanded PepsiCo10 to Europe. The goal of the PepsiCo10 Europe program is to identify up to 10 of the most promising companies and give them the opportunity to work with PepsiCo in the U.K. to deliver pilots of their technologies, whilst receiving the support and guidance from industry-leading mentors. Prospective applicants can find out more about the program and apply online until July 15, 2011 at www.pepsico10.com.

PepsiCo is looking to identify businesses with 'ready-to-go' technologies across five categories; social media; mobile marketing; place based technology; digital video; and gaming or learning platforms. Highland Capital Partners, OMD and Weber Shandwick will continue to serve as advisors to PepsiCo throughout the program.

Selected applicants will undergo a series of rigorous assessments, and a subset will be invited to participate in a second round and submit video presentations, which will be judged by senior brand representatives from PepsiCo brands Pepsi, Walkers, Tropicana and Quaker. Companies' ideas and solutions will be evaluated on their potential ability to impact PepsiCo's business and to deliver on Performance with Purpose, the company's commitment to finding innovative ways to minimize its impact on the environment; to provide a great workplace for its associates; and to respect, support and invest in the local communities where it operates.

Near completion, PepsiCo10's pilot programs in the United States have resulted in the execution of successful digital marketing activations across U.S. brands. These winning technologies include: Tongal, a video sharing platform that is currently sourcing animation video for the Brisk Tea brand; BreakOut Band, a collaboration music platform that worked with Pepsi MAX to execute at the 2011 South by Southwest Interactive and Music conference; and Evil Genius Designs, a mobile gaming platform with which PepsiCo has worked to develop a virtual reality video game featuring products across the PepsiCo portfolio.

Bonin Bough, PepsiCo's Global Director of Digital and Social Media comments,

"PepsiCo10 offers start-up businesses a unique opportunity to share and develop their ideas with some of the leading brand marketers and media consultants in business. It also gives our brand teams access to a new arsenal of tools, helping them remain at the cutting edge of creative consumer engagement.

"We had a fantastic response to the inaugural PepsiCo10 last year, with more than 400 innovative entries and we are excited to be rolling out the initiative across Europe."

Ian Ellington, General Manager for Walkers Crisps, one of the brands which will benefit from the PepsiCo10 technologies said,

"There is a huge appetite amongst consumers for new and exciting social media technologies and for us as a business, digital is a dynamic and increasingly important area for innovation. We've already used digital and social media to great success in our past campaigns, such as Walkers' Do Us A Flavour campaign and we now look forward to harnessing the emerging tech and start-up landscape and cultivating the next generation of digital pioneers."

Michael Gaiss, Senior Vice President of Highland Capital Partners added,

"Last year's PepsiCo10 provided an outstanding opportunity to connect with some of the best and brightest digital entrepreneurs. Throughout the course of the initiative, we found start-ups and technologies that were novel and driving the next wave of innovation. We are excited to lend our expertise in launching the initiative across Europe and applaud PepsiCo for their commitment to supporting emerging start-ups."

To find out more or enter, please visit www.pepsico10.com.

About PepsiCo10

How to Enter

To enter, applicants can visit www.pepsico10.com. The deadline for entries is July 15, 2011.

Criteria

PepsiCo is looking for emerging technologies and start-ups that meet the following requirements for entry:

Early-stage: The product or service must be in an early stage, meaning, that it has been in the marketplace for less than two (2) years as of June 1, 2011
Technology business: The company must have a demonstrable business technology or application. No agencies or consultancies should apply
Ready-to-go: A viable product or service ready for business application. The product must have been publicly launched or be in beta ready for immediate launch

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo offers the world's largest portfolio of billion-dollar food and beverage brands, including 19 different product lines that generate more than $1 billion in annual retail sales each. Our main businesses -- Quaker, Tropicana, Gatorade, Frito-Lay, and Pepsi Cola -- also make hundreds of other enjoyable and wholesome foods and beverages that are respected household names throughout the world. With net revenues of approximately $60 billion, PepsiCo's people are united by our unique commitment to sustainable growth by investing in a healthier future for people and our planet, which we believe also means a more successful future for PepsiCo. We call this commitment Performance with Purpose: PepsiCo's promise to provide a wide range of foods and beverages for local tastes; to find innovative ways to minimize our impact on the environment, including by conserving energy and water usage, and reducing packaging volume; to provide a great workplace for our associates; and to respect, support, and invest in the local communities where we operate. For more information, please visit www.pepsico.com.

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About Highland Capital Partners

Highland Capital Partners was founded with the mission of helping great people build great companies. Since its inception in 1988, the firm has taken a sector-focused approach to investing in exceptional communications, consumer, digital media, healthcare, and information technology companies. With more than $3 billion of committed capital and offices in Geneva, London, Silicon Valley, Boston and Shanghai, Highland has invested in and worked to create such firms as Ask Jeeves, Avid Technology, CheckFree, Conor Medsystems, Coremetrics, lululemon athletic, Lycos, MapQuest, Navic Networks, P.A. Semi, PhotoBox, Privalia, Qihoo 360, Quattro Wireless, Quigo, Spartoo.com, Starent Networks, Sybase, Vertica and VistaPrint. For more information, visit Highland's website at www.hcp.com.

About Wired

Every month in the magazine and every day online, WIRED explores the ideas, innovations and people that are reshaping our world. In a time of increasingly rapid change and unlimited access to information, WIRED determines what to look for: it is the guide to what's to come. WIRED is the only media brand whose mission is to map change - and then turn the points into a chart by which to navigate the future.

About OMD

OMD is the largest and most innovative media marketing company in the world, with more than 8,000 employees in 97 markets serving many of the most successful and well-known global brands. OMD is recognized for its global footprint, strategic integration and creativity; and has been rated as the Most Creative Media Agency by The Gunn Report for an unprecedented five consecutive years; and Best Digitally Integrated Network 2010 by M&M Global. OMD is part of Omnicom Media Group, the media services division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC).

SOURCE PepsiCo