Consumer involvement was an integral part in Mountain Dew promotions used in the new millennium. Internet and social media interactive promotions designed to appeal to Mountain Dew fans became a huge vital factor of marketing within the 2000s.
RELATED: Read more about the History of Mountain Dew >>
The internet had changed the way people and businesses communicate. Traditional advertising became less important and the internet offered endless advertising opportunities. Social media forums and ads on websites were now the main focus in advertising. These technological changes were somewhat of a challenge for adults but were embraced by young people.
In 2007, Mountain Dew released “Game Fuel”, a promotion created especially for gamers. It consisted of new Mountain Dew flavors created to correspond with the new release of popular video games. The initial “Halo 3” release was followed by several limited time Game Fuel flavors.
Another significant promotion for Mountain Dew in 2007 was DEWmocracy. This promotion gave the consumers the chance to vote on new flavors, colors, names and packaging. Three flavors were selected as finalists: Supernova (a strawberry-melon flavor), Revolution (a berry flavor) and Voltage (a raspberry-citrus flavor). In August of 2008, Voltage was declared the winner.
Another interactive promotion was Mountain Dew Green Label Art which was introduced in 2007. The promotion was designed as a way for Mountain Dew to expand beyond extreme sports, and into art and other types of youth culture. Six artists were chosen to create original works of art using a 16 ounce aluminum bottle as their canvas. The limited edition Green Label bottles were released by Mountain Dew in 2008. The promotion was so successful that it was repeated several times with new artists and new bottles.
In the same year, a major upgrade of logos and packing of Pepsi products occurred. The logo and graphics of Mountain Dew changed on all the bottles and cans, and the name was shortened to “Mtn Dew.”
Mountain Dew was taking full advantage of technology in their marketing efforts. For example, since DEWmocracy was such a success they spawned a second promotion called DEWmocracy 2. This time around the winner was “Whiteout.” In addition, they also took advantage of major motion picture releases. When the Dark Knight Rises was released they also created a flavor for the film called Dark Berry.
In 2012 Mountain Dew created the advertising campaign, “This is How We Dew.” The goal of this campaign was to reach the urban market. For that reason they asked Lil Wayne, Mac Miller and skateboarder Paul Rodriguez to join the campaign. To increase diversity, country singer Jason Aldean and race car driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. also merged with the campaign.
Mountain Dew was continuing to grow their brand and their products. In 2013, Mountain Dew launched Mountain Dew Kickstart, a drink that was created as a morning drink. The success of that drink spawned two more flavors in 2014- Limeade and Black Cherry. In addition, one of Pepsi’s most popular line extensions in the past ten years was the release of the Mountain Dew Baja Blast.
Without a doubt, over the last few decades Mountain Dew has become infused with the youth culture and has embodied the millennial generation generating a cult-like following. Mountain Dew will continue to create unique and exciting promotions involving sports, art, music and entertainment. Although advertising, marketing and distribution greatly contributed to Moutain Dew’s success, inevitably it would have not been possible without the signature, iconic Mountain Dew flavor.
Check out which Mountain Dew products Mahaska carries on our Beverages page!
