Food and beverage multinational PepsiCo is looking ahead to a data-driven future, establishing an in-house ‘media and consumer data team’.

First reported in The Drum, it is said that the company is creating the new team, to be based in North America, with roles in CRM, digital, data management and adtech.

Its directive will be to build “awareness and adoption of the adtech” within PepsiCo in addition to working with external vendors.

There is also an objective to create and implement a new digital media purchase strategy around adtech.

Leading the initiative will be PepsiCo director of marketing technology and data strategy Mike Scafidi, who took on the role in October last year.

In recent weeks Scafidi has been advertised a consumer data manager and ad tech lead on his LinkedIn.

Adtech and innovation have been significant areas of investment for PepsiCo in recent times.

The company recently trialled a blockchain-based test of programmatic advertising, which improved ad efficiency by 28 per cent thanks to the use of smart contracts.

The test took the existing programmatic advertising system and added verification methods so that advertisers only pay for ad impressions that are viewable, brand-safe and free from ad fraud.

It compared the viewable impressions from one campaign that used blockchain smart contracts for verification and one that didn’t.