Designing PepsiCo’s Next Decade of Growth

Designed to set the foundation for the next decade, this future vision initiative explored where enduring consumer needs, cultural shifts, and new models of value creation converge. Sponsored by senior leaders across Global Snacks, Beverages, and Food Service, the work defined what could shape the next era of food and beverage innovation.

Challenge

Build a future vision broad enough to unite multiple business groups, while identifying opportunity spaces to both grow existing brands and inspire new ventures.

  • Converge global MegaTrends into clear future opportunity spaces

  • Build a portfolio view of growth

  • Translate long term shifts into tangible concepts

MegaTrends

Strategic Lens

Anchor PepsiCo’s future growth in three human drivers that cut across every category, brand, and occasion: health, joy, and ease.

• Health: Evolve the portfolio to support well-being
• Joy: Deliver taste, reward, and emotional connection
• Ease: Win in how people actually live, reducing effort

Solution

We built multiple innovation platforms, each framed by a provocative “what if” question that pushed beyond category norms and opened new spaces for PepsiCo to play. Rather than stopping at product ideas, the work expanded into broader ecosystems spanning service, retail, in home, and on-the-go experiences. Each platform was designed to stretch across brands, creating opportunities that could both evolve existing businesses and serve as the foundation for entirely new ventures.

Water for Everyone

What if water were accessible and profitable beyond the plastic bottle?

Uniting a successful water business with PepsiCo’s philanthropic mission to make water a human right. In the future, water will be a scarce resource and everyone will have a responsibility to protect it. Through public-private partnerships, our business model will go beyond bottled water to include water-access infrastructure, like modern drinking fountains and in-home systems that offer flavorful and nutritious water enhancements.

  • Infrastructure program brings clean fortified water to developing areas

  • Delicious water flavor enhancements

  • Hydration available everywhere, on-demand with at-home systems, retail service, and public fountains

Take the Stage

What if we venture product innovation through entertainment venues?

Build upon PepsiCo’s strength in entertainment to create win-win partnerships and innovate faster than ever. In the future, PepsiCo will partner with food startups to offer drinks and snacks at concerts, games, and festivals that are as memorable as the event itself. We’ll introduce new-to-world brands to huge audiences and gather realtime market feedback.

  • Freshly made snacks and drinks made at typically unhealthy venues

  • Unexpected chance to explore new options, plus offers live research for PepsiCo brands

  • Healthy snacks readily available, no need to prep in advance

Freshly Made

What if packaged foods were as nutritious as whole foods?

The nutrition of whole food meets the convenience and cost of ready-made. In the future, PepsiCo will go beyond finished products sealed in a bag, bottle or can. By choosing to process raw ingredients far less than we do now, we’ll offer consumers the building blocks of healthy, wholesome meals and snacks. Our products will still be safe, consistent, and fairly-priced, but they’ll be sold in the supermarket perimeter, not the aisles, next to the fruits and vegetables they’re made of.

  • Lightly processed fruits, vegetables, and grains with no artificial ingredients

  • Delicious ingredients and prepared foods you can enjoy at home

  • Pre-selected, prepared and ready to use

Results

Leadership began investing in a faster path to market for new brands, recognizing the need to turn future vision into tangible portfolio moves. Building on this momentum, we developed Hilo Life end to end, including user research, product strategy, and brand strategy. The brand helped extend PepsiCo’s presence in better-for-you snacking, with broad retail reach through national accounts like Walmart alongside e-commerce.