Brisk

Brisk is an American ready-to-drink beverage brand best known for iced tea, while also offering lemonade, fruit drinks, and tea-based fusion products. The brand is managed by the Pepsi Lipton Partnership, the joint venture established by PepsiCo and Unilever in 1991 to market and distribute ready-to-drink Lipton beverages. Brisk is therefore associated with the broader Lipton beverage portfolio but operates as a distinct, more youth-oriented brand with its own packaging, flavors, pricing strategy, and advertising identity. The brand’s principal category is packaged iced tea. Its range has included lemon iced tea, raspberry iced tea, sweet tea, peach green tea, diet lemon tea, honey and ginseng tea, and newer combinations such as green tea with mango and dragonfruit. Brisk has also extended beyond conventional tea through lemonade, diet lemonade, fruit punch, strawberry melon, and tea-and-lemonade fusion products. Availability and exact formulations can vary by market and product period. Brisk’s modern identity was shaped substantially by advertising. Its long-running “That’s Brisk, baby!” platform used exaggerated claymation and celebrity appearances to portray tired or depleted cultural figures being dramatically revived after drinking Brisk. The original campaign was launched by J. Walter Thompson in 1996 and was revived in 2010 by Mekanism. The advertisements used an intentionally energetic, irreverent tone and featured entertainers, athletes, musicians, actors, and fictional characters. This creative approach helped distinguish Brisk from more traditional iced-tea advertising and made the brand particularly visible in popular culture. The brand has also competed through accessible pricing and broad distribution. In 2010, Brisk expanded its product line and reduced the price of its one-liter bottles to 99 cents, a move described as a response to the 99-cent canned iced teas sold by Arizona Beverage Company. Pricing was part of a wider effort to maintain Brisk’s position in the value-oriented ready-to-drink tea segment. Brisk’s formulations have changed over time. Earlier versions contained approximately 44 grams of sugar in a 16-ounce can. Following reformulation with sucralose, sugar levels in most varieties were reduced by roughly half, although the precise nutritional profile depends on the product. In 2012, PepsiCo stated that Brisk had exceeded $1 billion in annual revenue, placing it among PepsiCo’s billion-dollar brands at that time. The figure was a company-reported historical measure rather than a current standalone financial disclosure. Brisk remains primarily a United States beverage brand in the supplied reference material. Its portfolio, advertising history, and relationship with the Pepsi Lipton Partnership make it a significant example of a mass-market ready-to-drink tea brand built around flavor variety, value pricing, and high-recognition entertainment marketing.

Brisk developed as a ready-to-drink beverage brand within the Lipton iced-tea business. Its current management structure is linked to the Pepsi Lipton Partnership, a joint venture formed by PepsiCo and Unilever in 1991. The partnership provided a platform for distributing and marketing Lipton-branded beverages through PepsiCo’s soft-drink infrastructure, while Brisk emerged as a distinct brand within the broader portfolio. The brand’s earlier identity was connected to Lipton’s established “the brisk tea” slogan. Brisk later built a more independent personality through the “That’s Brisk, baby!” campaign, launched by J. Walter Thompson in 1996. The campaign used claymation, celebrity likenesses, and comic exaggeration. Its basic narrative was consistent: a visibly tired or exhausted personality drinks Brisk and is suddenly restored to an energetic state. Featured figures over the life of the campaign included celebrities and cultural icons such as Frank Sinatra, Babe Ruth, Reggie Jackson, Elvis Presley, James Brown, Coolio, Willie Nelson, Bruce Lee, Danny DeVito, Bruce Willis, Ozzy Osbourne, Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa, Danny Trejo, Eminem, and Doja Cat. In 2010, Brisk expanded its product assortment and pursued a stronger value proposition. The brand lowered the price of its one-liter bottles to 99 cents, placing it in direct competitive proximity to Arizona Beverage Company’s widely recognized 99-cent iced-tea products. The same period saw the return of the “That’s Brisk, baby!” platform under Mekanism, reinforcing Brisk’s association with pop culture, animation, humor, and high-energy transformation. Brisk’s portfolio has included traditional black iced teas, sweetened and diet teas, green-tea variants, lemonade, fruit drinks, and combination beverages. Its product strategy has therefore combined familiar tea flavors with fruit-oriented and tea-lemonade formats. The brand has also modified its formulations. A previous 16-ounce can formulation contained approximately 44 grams of sugar; after reformulation using sucralose, sugar content in most varieties was reduced by approximately half. In 2012, PepsiCo reported that Brisk had passed $1 billion in annual revenue. This placed the brand among PepsiCo’s group of billion-dollar brands at that time and indicated the scale Brisk had reached within the North American ready-to-drink beverage market. The available reference material does not establish a separate current corporate entity, public listing, headquarters, or standalone financial reporting for Brisk. It continues to be described as a beverage brand managed through the Pepsi Lipton Partnership.

• 2012

  Brisk exceeds one billion dollars in reported annual revenue

  [1]Brisk (drink)en.wikipedia.org

  PepsiCo said Brisk had surpassed $1 billion in annual revenue, making it one of PepsiCo’s billion-dollar brands.

• 2010

  Product expansion and value-price move

  [1]Brisk (drink)en.wikipedia.org

  Brisk expanded its offerings and reduced the price of one-liter bottles to 99 cents in response to competition from Arizona iced tea.

• 2010

  Advertising platform is revived

  [1]Brisk (drink)en.wikipedia.org

  Mekanism revived the brand’s well-known celebrity and claymation campaign.

• 1996

  That’s Brisk, baby! campaign launches

  [1]Brisk (drink)en.wikipedia.org

  J. Walter Thompson introduced Brisk’s claymation-led advertising platform featuring exhausted cultural figures being revived by the drink.

• 1991

  Pepsi Lipton Partnership is established

  [1]Brisk (drink)en.wikipedia.org

  PepsiCo and Unilever formed the joint venture that manages the Lipton ready-to-drink beverage portfolio, including Brisk.

An accessible, mass-market ready-to-drink tea and juice brand positioned through bold flavors, value pricing, and irreverent, celebrity-led advertising.

• Iced tea

  Brisk iced tea

  The core Brisk line consists of ready-to-drink iced teas sold in familiar fruit and tea profiles. Referenced varieties include lemon, raspberry, and sweet tea. The brand has historically emphasized convenient packaged formats and accessible pricing for everyday consumption.

• Green tea

  Brisk green tea

  Brisk’s green-tea range includes peach green tea and a green tea flavored with mango and dragonfruit. These products extend the portfolio beyond traditional black iced tea through fruit-forward flavor combinations.

• Reduced-sugar tea

  Brisk diet tea

  Diet tea with lemon is part of Brisk’s reduced-sugar offering. The brand has also reformulated most varieties with sucralose, lowering sugar levels compared with earlier formulations, although nutritional values differ by product.

• Tea and lemonade beverages

  Brisk tea fusions

  Fusion products combine tea with lemonade or related fruit flavors. Referenced examples include iced tea with lemonade and white tea with pink lemonade, providing a bridge between conventional iced tea and fruit-flavored refreshment.

• Juice and lemonade beverages

  Brisk lemonade and fruit drinks

  Beyond tea, Brisk has offered lemonade, diet lemonade, fruit punch, and strawberry melon beverages. These products broaden the brand’s role from an iced-tea label into a wider ready-to-drink refreshment range.

• 2010That’s Brisk, baby! revival

  United States

  Mekanism revived the claymation and celebrity format, continuing Brisk’s humorous portrayal of exhausted personalities being restored by the beverage.

  Outcome. The revival returned the brand to a high-profile entertainment-led advertising style.

  Source
• 1996That’s Brisk, baby!

  United States

  J. Walter Thompson launched a claymation campaign in which tired celebrities and cultural figures were dramatically energized after drinking Brisk.

  Outcome. The campaign became Brisk’s signature advertising platform and established its irreverent pop-culture identity.

  Source

• 2010

  Brisk adopts a 99-cent one-liter pricePrice change

  Background

  The move was made while competing with Arizona Beverage Company’s 99-cent iced-tea cans.

  Action taken

  Brisk lowered the price of its one-liter bottles to 99 cents and expanded its product line.

  Aftermath

  The action strengthened Brisk’s value-oriented positioning in ready-to-drink tea.

  • Arizona Beverage Company — Arizona’s established 99-cent iced-tea pricing was identified as the competitive reference point; no specific public reaction is provided.

  Source

• 2010

  Revival of the signature advertising platformStrategy

  Background

  Brisk sought to reinforce its distinctive pop-culture identity in the iced-tea market.

  Action taken

  Mekanism revived the “That’s Brisk, baby!” campaign using celebrity appearances, claymation, and exaggerated transformations.

  Aftermath

  The campaign continued Brisk’s association with irreverent humor and entertainment marketing.

  Source

• Reformulation reduces sugar in most varietiesOther

  Background

  Earlier Brisk formulations contained approximately 44 grams of sugar in a 16-ounce can.

  Action taken

  Most varieties were reformulated with sucralose, reducing sugar content by approximately half.

  Aftermath

  The reformulation changed the nutritional profile of much of the portfolio, although exact values depend on the product.

  Source

• 2012

  Brisk reportedly surpasses one billion dollars in annual revenue[1]Brisk (drink)en.wikipedia.org

  Other

  PepsiCo announced that Brisk had exceeded $1 billion in annual revenue, making it one of the company’s billion-dollar brands at the time.

• 2010

  Brisk expands products and adopts a 99-cent one-liter price point[1]Brisk (drink)en.wikipedia.org

  Pricing · Product launch

  Brisk broadened its product range and lowered the price of one-liter bottles to 99 cents as it competed with Arizona Beverage Company’s low-priced iced teas.

• 2010

  Brisk revives its That’s Brisk, baby! advertising platform[1]Brisk (drink)en.wikipedia.org

  Campaign

  Creative agency Mekanism brought back Brisk’s celebrity-focused claymation advertising platform, originally introduced in the 1990s.

1. 1Brisk (drink)en.wikipedia.org
2. 2Cosmetics company Sodalis acquires brands from Meiyume, strengthens European footholdcosmeticsbusiness.com