• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, December 19, 2008

Tribal DDB Worldwide Wednesday announced that it had won the digital business for PepsiCo in China, spanning seven brands including Pepsi, 7 Up, Mountain Dew, Tropicana and Gatorade.

The agency did not put an estimated dollar value on the account, which it will start work on next month.

"As clients see the value and power of online, we've proven repeatedly that we can be the linchpin to connect their brands to China's vast Internet and mobile phone users," said Jit Hoong Ng, managing director of Tribal DDB Shanghai, which beat out three other agencies to handle's PepsiCo's digital branding in China.

A Tribal DDB spokesperson said the agency has previously done project work for PepsiCo in overseas markets, including Europe. It recently also relaunched the food and beverage giant's corporate Web site.

PepsiCo announced in November that it plans to invest $1 billion in China over the next four years as part of its wider strategy to expand into emerging markets.

The investment is expected to generate thousands of new jobs in China, where PepsiCo employs more than 22,000 people. Capital will also go toward expanding local research and development facilities and increasing the company's local sales force.

China represents a huge and rapidly growing online market. The country earlier this year surpassed the U.S. as the leading country in Internet users when it hit 220 million online, according to estimates from official Chinese statistics compiled by the Beijing-based research group BDA China.