Young changemakers from five Arab countries conclude PepsiCo’s Youth Impact Studio with regional summit in Jordan

More than 100 young people from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE have spent the last few weeks reimagining some of PepsiCo’s favorite brands for their local communities.

The second edition of Youth Impact Studio (YIS), PepsiCo’s program for nurturing a new generation of innovators in the Middle East, saw young changemakers invited to step into the role of brand strategists for Aquafina, Pepsi Zero, and Sting to run brand audits, dig into consumer insights, and build integrated brands campaigns designed to resonate with their generation.

Teams from each market were briefed to create campaigns with a big social impact. The briefs included “Moments of Clarity” and “Drops of Change” for Aquafina, inviting young people in Jordan and Lebanon to capture stillness and small acts of positive change. In Saudi Arabia, teams created campaigns around the “The 12th Player”, celebrating the energy of football fans and the nation’s momentum under Saudi Vision 2030, while the UAE teams’ “Full Throttle” campaigns channeled the spirit of ambition and creative drive. In Iraq, Sting inspired campaigns built around the spirit of local energy.

The program, delivered in partnership with parachute16 and supported by PepsiCo’s local bottlers, culminated last weekend in a regional summit in Amman with five participants attending from each country. At the summit’s conclusion, five individuals – one from each country – were selected to visit PepsiCo’s R&D hub in Dublin.

"As a company deeply rooted in the Middle East, we believe in the power of young people to shape the region’s future,” said Wael Ismail, VP of Corporate Affairs for MENAPAK. “This year’s participants challenged assumptions, debated ideas, and co-created solutions from their communities and cultures. They gave us valuable insight into how youth see our brands and reminded us that the best ideas for positive change often come from young people themselves. Our role is to listen and give those ideas a platform.”

While participants used AI to support the creative process, the competition heavily emphasized human creativity with young people developing skills in public speaking and pitching, design thinking, teamwork, leadership, and problem solving.

YIS 2026 expanded beyond the first edition’s focus on sustainability to include broader themes like social impact, storytelling, and community engagement. More than a one-off competition, YIS is a growing community where young people across the region come together to learn, share perspectives, collaborate, and innovate. It forms part of PepsiCo’s ongoing commitment to investing in the region’s youth and providing a platform to amplify young people’s voices and ideas.