Every Vote Counts! Frito-Lay Needs You To Determine $250,000 Grand-Prize Winner From Five 'Dreamvention' Finalist Inventions

This spring, Frito-Lay celebrated the power of boundless imagination by inviting aspiring entrepreneurs to use their creativity to "dreamvent" a solution to solve everyday problems. After all, Frito-Lay believes that if you can dream, you can invent. This inaugural "Dreamvention" contest, hosted by the Frito-Lay Variety Packs brand of assorted snacks, received thousands of submissions showcasing creative, imaginative and practical inventions from all corners of the country. Today, the entries have been narrowed down to five finalists who are now competing for America's votes to win the grand prize of $250,000.

The finalists who have already won $10,000 had the opportunity to see their inventions come to life recently when MAKO Designs + Invent, a full-service consumer product development firm, developed a prototype of their invention. Their inventions will be available for America to see on MyDreamvention.com, as well as a short video that provides more detail on the Dreamventor and the inspiration for their invention. Starting today and running through November 27, fans can vote on MyDreamvention.com. One winner will be crowned in December and take home the $250,000.

"We were inspired to launch the Dreamvention program because we saw our fans being creative and problem-solving with life hacks in their daily lives," said Jeannie Cho, vice president, marketing at Frito-Lay. "Dreamvention is a celebration of creativity and imagination and an opportunity for people to make their dreams come to life as innovations that could change how we all live. We received so many creative submissions and now we're inviting America to vote for the winning Dreamvention worth $250,000."

About the Finalists + Their Dreamventions

For the chance at a grand prize of $250,000, entrants were asked to dream up an idea and submit their drawing or picture with a description to MyDreamvention.com. Each finalist's submission was judged on creativity, storytelling, feasibility and fun factor. The five finalists and their unique Dreamventions are:

"Pleasant Awakening"

Dreamvention: Pleasant Awakening
Parents: Karina Kazintseva & Darren DeLong
Inventor: Maria DeLong
Age: 8
Hometown: Brownsburg, Indiana

Like many of us, Maria DeLong has a hard time getting up in the morning and finds the sound of her alarm clock annoying. So she decided to put a stop to the ear-splitting noise and devised her own creation that makes waking up more pleasant feathers that tickle your face until you're awake. Because who wouldn't want that? She feels that this experience has inspired her to think creatively to solve more problems and do what may seem impossible.

"Chalkers"

Dreamvention: Chalkers
Parents: Jessica Kreager & Matt Kreager
Inventor: Anna Kreager
Age: 9
Hometown: Cedar Park, Texas

At the heart of a Kreager family athletics competition they host each year is an obstacle course drawn with chalk. In fact, their driveway is more often than not covered in chalk, as "impromptu art" is often a hobby of the family with four children. But after endless hours crawling on the ground, getting her clothes dirty and scuffed up, Anna Kreager decided to take action. She needed a better way to perfect her chalk art. Her submission, Chalkers, was a natural fit for the Dreamvention contest.

"Storm Sleeper"

Dreamvention: Storm Sleeper
Parents: Chucker Luetje& Susan Bernstein
Inventor: Julia Luetje
Age: 10
Hometown: Leawood, Kansas

Whether it's a fear of thunderstorms, difficulty falling asleep due to thunder and lightning, or a need to drown out the noise of siblings, Julia Luetje has found the solution with the Storm Sleeper. The inspiration for her invention was sparked one night when she created a pillow fort to muffle the rumble of a bad Kansas storm. Now, she uses it as a place to relax after coming home from her long gymnastics practices and when she finishes her school work. Her design idea is to have pillows that are supported by custom fabric at the top along with Bluetooth speakers inside that plays music of your choosing.

"Shoe Purse"

Dreamvention: Shoe Purse
Parents: Ellen Murphy &TJ Murphy
Inventor: Grace Murphy
Age: 12
Hometown: Needham, Massachusetts

As a busy student and soccer player, Grace Murphy found herself losing a lot of jewelry because she did not have a safe place to put it during practice and games. Ever since Grace's school hosted an invention convention when she was in 5th grade, she has been thinking about creating a product that would help solve this problem many of her teammates and other young athletes in Needham were also facing. The Dreamvention contest was the catalyst in helping act on this idea and now she'll be able to save a few of her favorite pieces of jewelry along the way.

"Toaster Shooter"

Dreamvention: Toaster Shooter
Parents: Denise Young & Andrew Young, Sr.
Inventor: Andrew Young
Age: 14
Hometown: Batavia, NY

With four kids and a busy schedule, the Young family consumes a lot of toast. After burning himself and getting in trouble with his mom for sticking a metal fork in the toaster, the youngest sibling, Andrew, decided he needed to invent something that could help retrieve toast with more ease and less risk. Andrew hopes the Toaster Shooter will help those who have experienced this same struggle with this solution that pushes items up and out of the toaster once they are ready.

How to Vote

Voting is open from now until November 27 at MyDreamvention.com. People can vote once a day. Once registered, those who place a vote will also be eligible for a chance to win $1,000.

In addition to casting a vote for the chance to win $1,000, when consumers purchase specially marked Frito-Lay Variety Packs they will receive additional opportunities to win $1,000. The winner of the Dreamvention contest will be announced in December.

Continuing to Dreamvent

There's inspiration all around us each and every day. To give you something to snack on while you "dreamvent" on-the-go, purchase Frito-Lay Variety Packs. Each Variety Pack includes pre-portioned, single servings of everyone's favorite Frito-Lay snacks, such as: Cheetos cheese flavored snacks, Doritos tortilla chips, Fritos corn snacks, Funyun's onion flavored rings, Lay's potato chips, Rold Gold pretzels, Smartfood popcorn, and SunChips multigrain snacks. The simplicity and ease of use with Variety Packs frees up time to tackle life's everyday hurdles after all, the brand believes in the power of unlocking creativity and imagination to make every moment count.

For more information about the contest and finalists please visit www.magicbulletmedia.com/MNR/Dreamvention.

About Frito-Lay Variety Packs

Frito-Lay Variety Packs is one of many Frito-Lay brands in North America - the $15 billion convenient foods business unit of PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP), which is headquartered in Purchase, NY. Learn more about Frito-Lay at the corporate website, http://www.fritolay.com, the Snack Chat blog, http://www.snacks.com and on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/fritolay. Learn more about Frito-Lay Variety Packs by visiting www.MyDreamvention.com.

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $66 billion in net revenue in 2014, driven by a complementary food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Quaker and Tropicana. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.

At the heart of PepsiCo is Performance with Purpose our goal to deliver top-tier financial performance while creating sustainable growth and shareholder value. In practice, Performance with Purpose means providing a wide range of foods and beverages from treats to better for you snacks; finding innovative ways to minimize our impact on the environment and reduce our operating costs; providing a safe and inclusive workplace for our employees globally; and respecting, supporting and investing in the local communities where we operate. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com.

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About MAKO Design + Invent

MAKO Design + Invent is North America's leading end-to-end consumer product development services firm. MAKO helps both established companies and early-stage invention start-ups take their idea from a sketch on a napkin to store shelves. With a 25-person team across 3 offices (Austin USA, London UK, & Toronto CAN), MAKO has complete in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and prototyping services. To assist inventors and start-ups, MAKO has a subsidiary branch named MAKO Invent that, in addition to the above, helps with product strategy, business strategy, marketing, patent referrals, and sales & distribution for most consumer product categories. MAKO was started by visionary entrepreneur Kevin Mako in 1999 with the dream of providing everything inventors need to turn their product ideas into successful businesses. This vision earned MAKO Design + Invent a spot in the top 100 businesses of 2016 from Entrepreneur Magazine.

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