PepsiCo awards piece of digital business to Huge

PepsiCo has awarded a piece of its digital business for brand Pepsi outside the Omnicom Group family to Interpublic Group of Cos digital agency Huge.

PepsiCo is one of Omnicom's biggest clients and has had the bulk of its $1.2-billion US account with it for years. Interpublic acquired a stake in Huge in 2008.

At the end of 2008, Pepsi named TBWA / Chiat / Day, Los Angeles, as its US communications agency, after decades with Omnicom sibling BBDO. At that time, Pepsi also handed rebranding and packaging duties to Omnicom design firm Arnell. TBWA has since handled digital work for the brand.

Huge was appointed after a recent review in which TBWA and other digital agencies, not including R/GA, competed for the project. It is believed that TBWA's relationship with Pepsi will not change. It will continue to handle some digital work for the brand and partner with Huge.

Pepsi is looking to build an online platform, such as a website or content distribution system. While the agency, with offices in Brooklyn, New York; Los Angeles; Portland, Ore.; and London, has created one-off banner campaigns for clients, it specializes in information architecture, interaction design, customer-relationship marketing and integrated e-commerce, with website redesigns for the likes of Ikea, Warner Music Group, NBC's iVillage, JetBlue.com and About.com under its belt.

Executives indicated that more news on the digital front could be brewing, as Pepsi closes in on its plans for 2010.