Mountain Dew Plugs Into Online Campaign for New Drink

Pepsi introduced a new drink under the Mountain Dew label and plans to promote it with a digital campaign. The flavor, packaging, and design of Voltage, the new flavor, is the online collaboration of Mountain Dew fans.

“It’s a new flavor created digitally,” said Chrstian Dietrich, director of the Pepsi client business at Tribal DDB. Pepsi created three variations on Voltage theme and allowed consumers to vote on their favorites. “As of January 8 the people have voted,” he said. The new beverage is on store shelves and a marketing campaign created by Tribal DDB Dallas was released in conjunction with the launch.

The campaign components surround its main site, www.dewmocracyvoltage.com. The campaign also includes banner ads, a mobile ad campaign, Facebook integration, and e-mail messaging through Pepsi’s “Dewsletter.”

Games and activities allow users to earn points toward weekly sweepstakes on the Voltage Web site. The first two activities, Electrify Yourself and The Motherboard, are games built by the Tribal DDB team to get users involved. The first requires a Webcam; the user sees the Webcam image, which is distorted by colorful electrical waves and bolts. Motherboard requires participants to navigate a maze using the arrow keys.

“We created the mechanics by which you engage with your camera,” said Dietrich. “We as an agency across our clients have explored different apps to use Webcam and phone cameras for interactions. But this is a first for Pepsi to deploy one-to-one interaction with a Webcam.”

Site visitors log in using their Yahoo ID, earn points by participating in activities such as Motherboard, and redeem their points by entering in a sweepstakes. Prizes include Xbox 360 gaming consoles, snowboards, and branded hoodie sweatshirts. “The primary offering, which is an innovative and new approach, is not just ‘hey here is a new product you can win,’ but here is a new currency… We are offering new prizes every week,” said Dietrich.

A Facebook buzzbadge is an additional way to earn points. Users who download it to put it on their page will accumulate two points toward a prize. “We’re giving people the opportunity to talk about themselves, about being excited in their involvement [with Mountain Dew Voltage],” Dietrich said. There’s more content for Facebook and other social platforms to come.

The media plan for the campaign includes an initial mix of standard and rich media ads running on Yahoo and College Humor, though the ads will likely spread to more sites over time. The ads are a “classic invitation to participate,” said Dietrich. There are mobile ads running on the iPhone app for Xbox Live powered by Zumobi.

Consumers who already have an affinity with Pepsi’s Mountain Dew are linked into the new brand through the Web site and newsletter. The Web site’s main page has a central tile specifically for the Voltage drink. Consumers signed up for the newsletter Pepsi calls the Dewsletter also receive messaging about the new drink and marketing campaign. “It’s maximizing the reach of a program towards greater participation,” Dietrich said. “The consumers do the work for us.”