Brad Jakeman

Biography

Brad Jakeman is President of PepsiCo Global Beverage Group. Jakeman leads global category strategy, brand building, design, advertising, marketing, innovation and branded content for PepsiCo’s global portfolio of beverages, which includes ten of PepsiCo’s 22 Billion Dollar brands such as Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Aquafina, Mirinda and 7UP. Passionate for developing category-disruptive innovation ideas and marketing programs that challenge the status quo and build famous, world-class brands, Jakeman has led the global expansion of Mountain Dew and the harmonization of that brand, with the first truly global brand campaign under the “Do The Dew” brand credo. He also oversaw the creation of Pepsi Pulse, the brand’s first global media network anchored in a real-time, Pepsi point of view on “glo-cal” pop culture, and unveiled a new global visual identity system for PepsiCo’s flagship beverage. Under his stewardship, Pepsi unveiled the first-ever global positioning for the brand, enlivened under the “Live for Now” tagline, rolled out the brand’s first truly global, synchronized advertising campaign featuring Beyoncé, and unleashed the biggest global football campaign in the brand’s history. Jakeman is also responsible for building new capabilities at PepsiCo, notably Design. He appointed PepsiCo’s first ever Chief Design Officer and built a state-of-the-art Design & Innovation Center in downtown Manhattan which is now home to more than 60 of the world’s most talented designers. In the first 18 months of operation, the center won more than 50 of the most prestigious design awards. In addition, the Design & Innovation team created Caleb’s, PepsiCo’s first new craft cola in over 100 years, and “Spire,” a new, disruptive beverage fountain system able to deliver more than 1,000 flavor combinations for new and classic PepsiCo beverages. Prior to joining PepsiCo, Jakeman was Executive Vice President, Chief Creative Officer & Chief Marketing Officer for Activision Blizzard Inc., where he led all facets of the company’s global marketing functions and was responsible for marketing seminal brands Guitar Hero and Call of Duty. He was instrumental in launching Activision’s new franchise Skylanders. Prior to his work there, Jakeman served as Executive Vice President, Marketing at Macy’s Inc., where he revitalized and re-positioned the Macy’s brand. He developed the retailer’s first-ever national brand campaign that featured some of the world’s foremost entertainment, cultural and fashion icons. In 1998 Jakeman accepted a newly created position as Managing Director, Global Advertising at Citigroup in New York, where he led the development team that created the critically acclaimed, and Emmy Award Winning, “Live Richly” brand platform and the Citi Identity Theft Solutions service. In a career that has spanned fashion, retail, consumer packaged goods, entertainment, technology and financial services, Jakeman has managed some of the world’s biggest brands on a global stage. In the last 10 years Jakeman has been responsible for leading ideas and brand programs that have won more than 200 awards. Jakeman was born in Australia and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mass Communication and Psychology from Macquarie University, Sydney. He currently resides in New York City.

Research Interest

Agri and Aquaculture