PURCHASE, N.Y., Jan. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP) today announced that Brisk Iced Tea has seized the timing of the surging ready-to-drink iced tea category to double its volume in just two years and reach more than $1 billion in annual retail sales in 2011. Now "That's Brisk, Baby!™"

Brisk Iced Tea, which is part of the Pepsi Lipton Tea Partnership, joins fellow beverage brands Diet Mountain Dew® and Starbucks, which also passed the $1 billion mark in 2011. This brings PepsiCo's portfolio of billion-dollar food and beverage brands to 22.

"Creativity and authenticity are central to all that we do at Brisk," says Mary Barnard, Vice President, Pepsi Lipton Tea Partnership. "These core values have driven innovative marketing programs that have allowed us to share inventive content with our growing community."

Brisk, known for its bold flavors and its "That's Brisk, Baby" tagline, began reinvigorating iced tea drinkers in 2010 with colorful emerging artist-designed cans, partnerships with Foursquare and Stickybits and the revitalization of its next-generation stop-motion animation via cheeky web films staring a few noteworthy characters. In 2011, Brisk went big with a stop-motion animated Super Bowl ad featuring a Detroit-based rap superstar, which was recently named one of the "The 20 Most-Shared Super Bowl Spots of All Time" by ADWEEK, and partnerships with Instagram, Tongal and Warner Bros. Pictures' Green Lantern.

Building off the momentum of 2011, Brisk leveraged the force of the 3-D theatrical release of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace to kick off 2012 and debut a :30-second stop-motion animated TV spot that features a never-before-seen epic battle between the iconic Star Wars characters Darth Maul and Yoda. Brisk has also brought lightsaber battles to smart phones via the Brisksaber mobile game, an application that features a progression of content that allows fans to incrementally unlock new characters, lightsabers and more based on the nationwide redemption of codes found on specially marked packages of one-liter Brisk Iced Tea.

"We will continue to invigorate our fans' creative mojo in 2012 and beyond in unexpected ways," says Barnard, noting that Brisk met another major milestone this month when its Facebook fan base grew to surpass one million.

Brisk is available in one-gallon (new in 2012), one-liter, two-liter and 20-ounce packaging. Additionally, Brisk can be found in 24-ounce cans and 12-ounce 12-, 24- and 36-packs of cans.

For more information about Brisk Iced Tea, fans can visit Facebook.com/Brisk. Watch the Brisk Billion Dollar video on YouTube.com/Brisk.

About Brisk
Brisk® is a product of the Pepsi Lipton Tea Partnership, a joint venture between PepsiCo and Unilever. Brisk is available in seven tea flavors: Lemon Iced Tea, No-Cal Lemon Iced Tea, Tea-Lemonade, Raspberry Iced Tea, Sweet Tea, Peach Green Tea, Mango Dragonfruit Green Tea and five juice drinks: Strawberry Melon, Fruit Punch, Lemonade, Pink Lemonade and Sugar-Free Lemonade.

About PepsiCo
PepsiCo offers the world's largest portfolio of billion-dollar food and beverage brands, including 22 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 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.

About Unilever
Unilever works to create a better future every day. We help people feel good, look good and get more out of life with brands and services that are good for them and good for others. Each day, around the world, we serve over 2 billion consumers. In the United States, Canada and the Greater Caribbean (Trinidad & Tobago, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico), the portfolio includes brand icons such as Axe, Becel, Ben & Jerry's, Bertolli, Blue Band, Breyers, Caress, Country Crock, Degree, Dove personal care products, Hellmann's, Klondike, Knorr, Lipton, Omo, Popsicle, Promise, Q-Tips, Skippy, Slim-Fast, Suave, Sunsilk and Vaseline. All of the preceding brand names are registered trademarks of the Unilever Group of Companies. Dedicated to serving consumers and the communities where we live, work and play, Unilever employs more than 13,000 people across North America—generating nearly $10 billion in sales in 2009. For more information, visit www.unileverusa.com, www.unilever.ca or www.unilevercaribbean.com.

Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm, the Lucasfilm logo, STAR WARS™ and related properties are trademarks and/or copyrights, in the United States and other countries, of Lucasfilm Ltd. and/or its affiliates. TM & © Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved. All other trademarks and trade names are properties of their respective owners.

SOURCE Brisk Iced Tea