ABOUT

PepsiCo is known for spearheading some of the most innovative brand activations in the world. Mountain Dew is no exception. We push boundaries and rethink what's possible after the spotlight fades. The 2025 Mountain Dew Upcycling Initiative asked a simple but powerful question: What happens to all this after the event? Our team in North America transformed post-activation signage into upcycled goods, turning what would have been waste into wearable memories.
Every great brand activation tells a story, yet most of that story ends when the event does. We saw an opportunity to give our world-class event materials a second life and spark a new way of thinking across other PepsiCo brands. Our goal was to create less waste through creating more meaning. By reimagining discarded signage as collectible, functional art, we would empower people to carry a piece of Mountain Dew history home with them, while pioneering a scalable model for circular, design-led sustainability.
Each piece in this upcycled collection began as something temporary: a banner, a backdrop, a story from a moment in time. Our team reimagined these remnants into bold, one-of-a-kind merchandise such as colorful totes, accessories, and keepsakes that blend abstraction with nostalgia. Every product is different, every pattern unique, and every stitch infused with the spirit of Mountain Dew: being willing to shake things up. To expand impact across PepsiCo brands, we built a turnkey upcycling function on the PepsiCo Premiums site with a how-to guide and creative toolkit that make sustainable action simple.
In its first four activations, our Upcycling Initiative diverted more than 1,500 pounds of material from landfills, with every upcycled Rockstar and Mountain Dew product selling out. Now adopted across Pepsi, Starry, and Mountain Dew brands, the program is redefining what “leftover” means in our ecosystem. This initiative proved that great event design doesn’t stop at storytelling. It can extend those stories sustainably and create products that people can truly connect with.
With every upcycled piece, Mountain Dew turned what once was waste into an ownable piece of the moment, proving that the end of one story can be the start of another.