Mt. Dew

Joshua Anderson

Mountain Dew Analysis

Hemant Sashittal

November 16, 2011

In early 2000, Mountain Dew, the number three ranked Carbonated Soft Drink (CSD) was facing an identity crisis. Throughout its history, the company has been able to reinvent to move the brand from more of a regional offering, to now a national brand. For instance in its early development the brand was leveraged as an alternative to Cola, but marketed as a “Hillbilly” back woods carbonated drink. After being reassigned ad agencies and the account given to BBDO, the company dropped the “Hillbilly” association to move the brand to the rural consumer segment in the 1970’s. BBDO would have a lock on the Mountain Dew account for the next two decades moving the brand closer and closer to national recognition. By early 1990, Mountain Dew through its development of creative’s for the brand was positioned nationally. It was associated with athletic stunts, aggressive rock music, and an alternative to the Cola. The mid 90’s saw the flourishing of the company under its “Do the Dew” campaign, which had a strong running for almost a decade, but now it was time for a change, and a new creative must be pushed to the forefront. Analyzing the case, I came up with a few conclusions in which Mountain Dew should keep in mind in this development.

Early Inferences

PepsiCo, the parent company of Mountain Dew key competency of creative development needs to be leveraged across the brand of Mountain Dew to create new synergy in the brand for the fading “Do the Dew” campaign.

This conclusion came about from the case at the point where we are told the company; PepsiCo usually spends less on marketing and advertising than its competitors. What this tells us is that the company and its managers put tremendous effort into the development of each creative it has used prior and going forward this key competency must be leveraged to keep Mountain Dew relevant as the third ranked CSD. Each creative has shaped...