According to Beverage Digest, Mountain Dew is the third biggest liquid refreshment brand behind Coca Cola and Pepsi. The soft drink has a unique heritage. The term Mountain Dew was slang for moonshine whiskey. The brand was born out of the Barney and Ally Hartman’s desire in 1940 to create a mixer they liked.
Purchased by Pepsi 50 years ago for $6 million in stock, Mountain Dew now represents a $9 billion dollar a year business. It has become a staple within the Pepsico business. Early marketing efforts for the brand focused on advertising with a campaign entitled, “YaHoo! Mountain Dew. It’ll tickle yore innards.” Here’s the first TV spot featuring Willy the Hillbilly courtesy of Vintage TV Commercials:
Over the years the marketing for Mountain Dew has evolved beyond advertising into experience. Events have become a central focus. Here are three lessons from the brand on leveraging events to create an authentic brand experience:
Photo Credit: Jimmy Curtin, Graphic: Stan Phelps
1. Be an Owner, Not a Renter
Mountain Dew has made a concerted effort to create their own assets. This is a smart move. According to Joseph Jaffe, author of Life After the 30 Second Spot, brands need to, “truly make the shift from being media dependent to media discerning. Freeing themselves of the shackles of being renter and move to where they have the potential of being a landlord.” A former XGames sponsor, 2014 marks the 10th anniversary of the Dew Tour. Over the next five days, NBC will air six hours of coverage from tour stops in Portland, OR and Brooklyn, NY. The Dew Tour has evolved over the years and now includes events under the themes of City, Beach, and Mountain. Ownership allows complete control and the ability to create an authentic experience.
2. Co-create and Support Your Community
In 2o13, the brand created Green-Label.com. In partnership with Complex Media, the digital platform is another owned asset. The site is a hub for youth culture covering action sports, music, art and style. The site brought together legacy programs for the brand including Green Label Sound, Green Label Art and Green Label Exclusives. The site has increased its traffic every month since its launch and now currently gets more than five times the traffic thanMountainDew.com.
At the heart of Green Label is the idea of co-creation and supporting young artists. An example of this is Open Call. Launched at SXSW the contest it challenges up an coming film makers to create their own perspective of “doing the dew.” Nathan Balli won the challenge with his film, “Authentic is Everything.” In addition to a hefty cash prize, Balli will be mentored by the legendary film maker Robert Rodriguez.
During the Dew Tour Stop in Brooklyn, Green Label was brought to life at the event through the Green Label Gallery. Brooklyn-based designer, illustrator and typographer Kevin Lyons curated Instagram submissions and featured emerging artists. The brand is empowering younger artists and giving them a chance to showcase their work to a larger audience. Here is skateboarder Sean Malto providing a tour of the event which highlights the Gallery:
3. Engage Your Employees
Mountain Dew leverages events to engage the brand team. During each of the Tour stops, members of the team attend and work the event. It allows employees to engage with core consumers and the brands biggest fans. Experiencing the brand up close helps bring meaning to the work. It helps build the team and drive engagement.
Ready to own, co-create and build your team? How are you leveraging events to engage customers and create an authentic brand experience?
Lagniappe (a little something extra thrown in for good measure) - Mountain Dew partners with Devin Graham to create branded content. Devin boasts over 2.5 million subscribers on his devinsupertramp YouTube channel. In order to further immerse the brand team, VP of Marketing for Mountain Dew Greg Lyons brought everyone out to be part of the filming of Insane Human Skeeball:
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