PepsiCo made a significant impact at Milan Design Week 2016 with PepsiCo Mix It Up, a dynamic innovation showcase built to delight and inspire. At this immersive, sensorial experience, guests saw, smelled, tasted, touched and heard how PepsiCo is shaping the future of design and culture itself. The exhibit brought together the diverse worlds of the company’s portfolio under one roof—from showcasing the future of beverage innovation to collaborating with renowned designers who brought brands to life in unexpected ways.

Going beyond simple product development, PepsiCo is leading a cultural conversation about how design can innovate and build brands with relevance by engaging with consumer wants and needs. This kind of design-led innovation is helping PepsiCo bring meaningful food and beverage experiences to consumers, which ultimately drives brand growth. The company showcased its latest products and solutions that allowed consumers to further explore their favorite PepsiCo brands.

At the F!ZZ Bar, the centerpiece of the PepsiCo Mix It Up space, attendees discovered the latest in soft drink mixology that uses unexpected ingredient combinations and invites them into a 360-degree, effervescent environment. Guests explored the revolutionary world of Drinkfinity, which lets users pop a Pod to create and enjoy a beverage according to their unique preferences and needs. Gatorade Gx Sports Fuel Customization, a comprehensive digital ecosystem, analyzes user feedback to provide athletes with customized solutions to help them fuel their performance.

Collaborations with renowned designers led to auto, fashion, sports, and artistic interpretations of PepsiCo’s iconic brands. The company teamed up with a classic Italian auto brand to build a customized car that captured the fun, boldness, and excitement that is undeniably Pepsi. PepsiMoji took emoji offline in new and imaginative ways during Design Week, including a bold eyewear collection, custom-designed larger-than-life Italian chairs, sports-specific product packaging for one of the world’s top competitions and more, each bringing a unique take on this global phenomenon. Pure Leaf Tea House and Quaker Oats engaged people with brands in fully immersive environments that were both a sensorial experience and embodiment of a way of life. The interactive elements in each space allowed guests to take the basic product and add ingredients to customize and make it their own. Each of these spaces provided a chance to sit, engage and continue the conversation.

PepsiCo Mix It Up reached over 33,000 live visitors at Milan Design Week and even more online as guests captured and shared their experiences on social media and joined in the co-creation of the future. The event allowed PepsiCo to engage deeply in design-driven conversations, share ideas, and build the momentum to take concepts and experiments forward and turn them into real life consumer experiences. This year’s conversations will help continue to guide PepsiCo toward not only the future of design, but also the future of culture itself – one that we hope to fill with moments of joy and broader global happiness.