Mountain Dew: Selecting New Creative

Case Analysis Note

AnkitGoel (PGP/17/309)
Gomathy A. (PGP/17/319)
Nikhil Kumar Gupta (PGP/17/329)
Shaukat Ali Shahee(FPM/07/09)
Rachna Ravi (PGP/17/339)
Supriya Pushkar (PGP/17/349)

Introduction:
-

In the 1960s and 1970s, Pepsi attacked Coca-Cola heavily during the Cola wars
The soft drink category, especially Pepsi and Coca-Cola, boomed in the 1970s and 1980s
PepsiCo spent much lower percentage of it s sale on advertising as compared to its
competitors
BBDO was among the top ten ad agencies and was related with PepsiCo since the 1960s,
and took over advertising Mountain Dew in 1974
More emphasis on creativity, PepsiCo focused on the younger generations and their
campaigns were made famous by using celebrities, especially musicians, to reach the
crowds.
Mountain Dew was the third leading brand and carried PepsiCo revenues through the
1990s when cola sales suffered.
In 1990s Sprite, Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper all enjoyed great success while 7Up
suffered
Mountain Dew though had limited penetration, it had the highest loyalty among its
consumers

Trends:
-

In the 1990s, cola growths slowed and flavored CSDs did extremely well
In 1999, all CSD sales suffered due to 5 % retail price hike and also due to trends in
experimentation towards drinks like Red Bull.
The advertising campaigns were done carefully keeping in mind current cultural and
other trends and events
In the 1990s, gangster rap, gangster-light and grunge were emerging styles of music that
were gaining huge popularity in the field of music. Then came techno in the late 90s
which were very popular at raves
Alternative sports took off in the early 1990s and ESPN and MTV started covering these
sports and they gained popularity
Cynicism towards dominant work-oriented values and increasing awareness about
marketing
Due to this the youth got interested in non-trendy products

Problems Faced:
-

Competitors started sponsoring the same alternative sports(that Mountain Dew depended
upon for furthering the brand) and they became over-exposed
Teens were shifting to new activities and music used by Dew competitors
Increase in ad budgets by competitors
Lower penetration of total population as compared to other brands
Highest gate-keeping rating of all CSDs
Difficulties in assessing impact of advertising on the health of Mountain Dew brand

Objectives:
-

To find alternative ways to express Mountain Dews distinctive features

To assess the decision filters to chose the creative
Decide upon the creative to be used in the next campaign based on decision filters
To change from the over-used image they had been following for over 8 years
To expand its appeal to new users and capture urban markets as well

Creative Decision Filters:

-

Product Attributes/ benefits

Talk Value or Buzz
o The extent to which an advertisement has been picked up by the mass media
particularly the famous shows
Feedback from Mountain Dew and other websites
Response by sales force and bottlers
Market research to determine relation between advertisements and sale
Key performance indicators:
o These are the factors directly impacting the advertising and which impact sales
o Tracking these factors for teens and persons of age group 20-39 years will provide
the managers useful insights to evaluate brand communications
Product integration
o Whether the product is integrated in the ad story
Story
o Can people relate to it? Is it easy to understand, humorous and simple?
Brand awareness
o Whether the ad is expected to have/ has had positive impact on sales volumes
Brand Feelings
o Emotional responses to the ad
Brand resonance
o The degree to which customers feel in-sync with the brand

Choice of advertisement:
-

Labor of Love
o Pros:
o Story : Funny, simple
o Product is integrated into the story and relates the birth of a Dew Dude
o The ad aims to evoke feelings in the viewers by touching upon the pride of a
father in his son (the father says thats my son at the end of the ad)
o Its sends a signal that the drink is energizing
o Cons:

o Relates to Baseball rather than to football

o Their teen market may not relate to the ad directly
-

Dew or Die:
o Pros:
o Story : Quirky, edgy, funny
o Brand feelings : Creates an image of coolness
o Product integration : The product is integrated in the story
o Cons:
o Low resonance
o Long winded and complicated story
o Gave off feelings of militancy, carelessness and flippancy
o Give a negative image of the Dew Dudes
o Does not send out positive message to female viewers

Cheetah:
o Pros:
o Story: Simple, fun, daring, related to adventure sports
o Evokes a sense of high possessiveness about the product
o Focuses on 18-30 years people
o Caters to Afro-Americans as well
o Symbolic value : Irreverence
o Resonates with target audience
o Consistent with the past campaigns
o Product benefits
o Cons:
o Another ad based on extreme sports
o No new idea
Mock Opera:
o Pros:
o Resonance: Audience can relate to the Queen song and keeps up with trends
o A new ad idea stepping away from extreme sports
o Product is integrated in the ad well
o Connected to a larger audience, stepping away from pure adventure sportsmen
o Cons:
o Comparatively lower energy levels
o The ad shows that the adventure sports enthusiasts couldnt catch the Dew while
the singers could. Even though they wanted to concentrate on newer customers
they shouldnt lose their existing ones
Showstopper:
o Pros:
o Simple, fun story
o Focus away from adventure sports while maintaining high energy levels
o Cons:

o Musical from 30s, not easy to relate to

o Product not integrated with story
o No feelings or resonance created with viewers
The three new ads selected for 2000:
-

Cheetah
Labor of love
Mock Opera

Two ads to be presented at SuperBowl

-

Cheetah
Mock Opera
(Labor of Love relates to baseball rather than football)