• March 7, 2012

PepsiCo is continuing and expanding its presence at this year's South by Southwest Interactive/SXSW conference, which kicks off on March 9 in Austin, Tex.

During the conference, PepsiCo will announce that it is expanding PepsiCo10, the incubator program that matches PepsiCo brands with digital start-ups, into two new key digital markets in India and Brazil. The program is already operational in the U.S., Europe and portions of India.

Also during SXSW 2012, PepsiCo will sponsor a "What If? Unconference," during which SXSW participants will be asked to brainstorm about a future in which digital solutions are applied in "surprising ways." PepsiCo will share the results of some of its own digitally driven experiments, then have digital thought-leaders lead discussions about topics relating to how digital innovations can influence how marketers make and interact with products, how they can use "big data" to create consumer benefits, and digital talent's growing role in leading organizations.

Examples of specific questions explored include "What if every company was like working at a start-up?" and "What if mobile technology and wireless sensors could reduce water and carbon consumption?"

More PepsiCo brands are participating in SXSW this year, including Doritos, its first food brand to be represented at the conference.

The PepsiCo Central Station in the Austin Convention Center will feature wall-to-wall whiteboards and interactive screens; a Livescribe data feed of notes and conversations from around the conference recorded by "big-name" digital luminaries, employees, attendees and artists/visual writers; and PepsiCo Zeitgeist, a real-time ticker of social media activity around the conference (also viewable on Pepsi's site).