Jan 27 2012 --- PepsiCo has announced 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. PepsiCo offers the world's largest portfolio of billion-dollar food and beverage brands.

The growth of Diet Mountain Dew, Brisk and Starbucks RTD beverages continues PepsiCo's successful efforts to build many of the world's most loved food and beverage brands. With just a rip, twist, flip or tear, consumers in over 200 countries around the world are refreshed, rejuvenated and restored by PepsiCo products every day.

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 successful joint venture partnerships with Unilever and Starbucks, respectively, since the early 1990s.

"PepsiCo is a global food and beverage company with products that are loved and consumed around the world more than a billion times a day," said PepsiCo Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Indra K. Nooyi. "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."

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 U.S., Diet Mountain Dew is the number one 20 oz. diet soft drink, by volume, in the profitable convenience and gas retail channel.

Brisk has seen particularly strong growth in the U.S., with approximately 30 percent 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 successful joint venture formed between PepsiCo and Unilever in 1991 focused on manufacturing and marketing ready-to-drink tea beverages. PepsiCo, through the Pepsi Lipton Tea Partnership, is the RTD tea category leader in several markets around the world, including the U.S. and Western and Eastern Europe.

PepsiCo and Starbucks largely created the North American RTD coffee category in 1994 when they formed the North American Coffee Partnership, a successful joint venture under which PepsiCo manufactures and distributes Starbucks RTD, single-serve coffee beverages. The Starbucks brand is the clear leader in its category, with more than 90 percent share of the RTD coffee segment in the U.S. In addition to bottled Frappuccino beverages, the largest product line in the Starbucks RTD portfolio, PepsiCo has successfully introduced new product innovations such as Starbucks Doubleshot Energy+Coffee.

To celebrate the milestone, PepsiCo 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 is comprised of: 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 U.S.), Sierra Mist, Starbucks RTD beverages, Tostitos, Tropicana and Walkers.